PCIM: SiC makes 99.1% efficient solar inverter

An impressive peak efficiency of 99.1% is claimed for 50kW a solar inverter made with silicon carbide (SiC) mosfets and diodes from Cree, which claims it is “one-fifth the average size and weight of today’s silicon-based inverter units”.

Size reductions have come from lower power losses and making use of the higher switching frequency available with SiC devices to cut the size of associated inductors and capacitors.

While the mosfets are more expensive, Cree claims a unit-cost reduction approaching 15%.

Shown first in the US at the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) in March, the solar inverter, which weighs less than 33kg, is coming to PCIM in Nuremburg, Germany next week.

The solar inverter will be shown alongside a new family of 900V SiC mosfets, a 220W SiC-based LED power supply, and a power stack concept for swapping 1.2kV, 300A SiC modules into existing IGBT-based systems. See this lot on the MEV Elektronik Service stand in Hall 9.

Cree is also making several presentations at PCIM, covering the inverter, a single-stage LED driver with a 1,200V mosfet, SiC in chargers and inverters, and mosfets from 900V to 10kV.

 

Richard Wilson

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via Yuichun