How Increasing Frequency of Motor Drive Design Increases Efficiency
This video shows the advantages of using GaN-based inverters for motor drive designs to operate smoother and reduce size and weight. These advantages are critical for the motor drives used in eMobility solutions, robotics, and drones.
GaN FETs and ICs switch faster and smoother with zero reverse recovery. This faster and better switching opens the possibility of operating at higher switching frequencies in inverter designs which can eliminate electrolytic capacitors. Further, GaN can operate at minimal dead time and this reduction in dead time increases the effective torque per ampere obtained from the motor, making the motor more efficient.
Filmed in the EPC Italy lab, Marco Palma – Director of Motor Drives Systems and Applications, tests two-motor drive setups and compares the performance. The first operates at 20 kHz, 500 ns dead time, and uses 2 x 330 µF electrolytic capacitors and 1 x 27 µH input inductor, which is typical of a traditional silicon MOSFET based motor drive. The second operates at 100 kHz, 14 ns dead time, and uses 2 x 22 µF ceramic capacitors and no input inductor, which is something only achievable with GaN. The higher frequency setup increases the overall system efficiency from 65.3% to 71.8%.
For more information on the EPC9146 demo board used in this video visit: https://epc-co.com/epc/Products/DemoB...
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GaN...Changing the Way We Live