KY EPSCoR: Ultra-Compact High-Reliability Electric Propulsion Drives for Aircrafts Based on Silicon Carbide Current Source Inverter

The proposed high-efficiency electric propulsion system dramatically improves fuel economy for aircrafts, in addition to reducing the engine emissions to quasi-zero level. At the core of this proposal is a high-efficiency high-density current source inverter (CSI) based on intelligent power control strategy and ultra-efficient Silicon Carbide (SiC) semiconductor devices, in which the dc-link inductance is achieved by leveraging the synchronous inductance of the generator connected to the engines, instead of having bulky dc-link inductors. Also, unlike voltage source inverters (VSI) intensively used in conventional electric vehicles, the CSI exhibits higher reliability due to the ride-through capability to dc-link short-circuit faults, uncontrolled generator faults, and the elimination of the vulnerable dc-link capacitor banks. M oreover, by leveraging the availability and maturity of the SiC semiconductor technology, the dc-link voltage of the hybrid powertrain system is increased from the conventional low voltage to 800V to dramatically reduce the power cable weight and copper losses in the system. Therefore, the system efficiency and power density can be improved up to 97.5% and 12 kW/kg, respectively.