1966 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 50, NO.
3, MAY/JUNE 2014
A Hybrid-Switch-Based Soft-Switching Inverter for
Ultrahigh-Efficiency Traction Motor Drives
Jih-Sheng Lai, Fellow, IEEE, Wensong Yu, Member, IEEE, Pengwei Sun, Member, IEEE,
Scott Leslie, Member, IEEE, Beat Arnet, Member, IEEE, Chris Smith, Senior Member, IEEE, and Art Cogan
Abstract—This paper presents a hybrid switch that parallels a
power MOSFET and an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)
as the main switch of a zero-voltage switching (ZVS) inverter. The
combination features the MOSFET conducting in the low-current
region and the IGBT conducting in the high-current region, and
the soft switching avoids the reverse recovery problem during
the device turn-on. A custom hybrid switch module has been
developed for a variable-timing-controlled coupled-magnetic-type
ZVS inverter with a nominal input voltage of 325 V and the
continuous output power of 30 kW for a traction motor drive.
Experimental results of the hybrid-switch-based inverter with
the total loss projected by temperature indicate that the inverter
achieves 99% efficiency at the nominal condition and demonstrate
ultrahigh-efficiency operation over a wide load range. At 375-V
input, the maximum measured efficiency through temperature
projection and loss separation analysis is 99.3%.
Index Terms—Electric vehicles, high efficiency, hybrid switch,
motor drives, soft-switching inverter.
I. I NTRODUCTION
A soft-switching inverter allows elimination of switching
loss; however, its conduction loss remains as the major
part of the overall loss. If the switching device is a power
MOSFET, it is possible to parallel a large number of power
MOSFETs to reduce the conduction voltage drop. The prob-
lems with excessive number of paralleled MOSFETs are high
cost and increased voltage drop at high temperatures. Thus,
most high-power inverters have been using the insulated-gate
bipolar transistor (IGBT).
In high-power dc–dc converter applications, using IGBT as
the main switch and MOSFET as the auxiliary switch, whether
series- or parallel-connected [1], [2], was suggested for effi-
Manuscript received November 10, 2012; revised March 1, 2013; accepted
May 2, 2013. Date of publication October 2, 2013; date of current version
May 15, 2014. Paper 2012-IPCC-611.R1, presented at the 2012 IEEE Energy
Conversion Congress and Exposition, Raleigh, NC, USA, September 15–20,
and approved for publication in the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON I NDUSTRY
A PPLICATIONS by the Industrial Power Converter Committee of the IEEE
Industry Applications Society. This material is based upon work supported
by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Award Number DE-FC26-
07NT43214 with final testing witnessed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
J.-S. Lai, W. Yu, and P. Sun are with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA (e-mail: Laijs@vt.edu;
wensong@vt.edu; spw21st@vt.edu).
S. Leslie is with Powerex, Inc., Youngwood, PA 15697 USA (e-mail:
sleslie@pwrx.com).
B. Arnet, C. Smith, and A. Cogan are with Azure Dynamics, Woburn, MA
01801 USA (e-mail: arnet@plexim.com; chsmit15@gmail.com; aceriley@
comcast.net).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2013.2284296
0093-9994 © 2013 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
ciency improvement. The benefit of conduction loss reduction
with parallel-connected IGBT and MOSFET hybrid switch
configuration was extensively evaluated in [3]–[5]. In [6], the
use of a parallel-connected hybrid switch was configured with
the hybrid switch serving as the main switch that operates in
low frequency, with each switch operating in line-frequency
square-wave mode and the neutral connected IGBT and diode
combination operating in high frequency to allow pulsewidth
modulation (PWM) operation.
The conduction voltage drop of a power MOSFET is resis-
tive, and its temperature coefficient is positive. On the other
hand, the IGBT voltage drop is a constant voltage plus a re-
sistive drop, and its temperature coefficient can be negative for
certain types such as punchthrough (PT) and light PT [7]–[11].
An inverter draws ac sinusoidal current, which runs from zero to
positive or negative peak and back down to zero. Its low-current
region will consume a high conduction loss if an IGBT is used
as the main switch because of its fixed voltage drop. With the
MOSFET as the main switch, the voltage drop is proportional to
the current and is relatively low at low currents. Such a feature
is very desirable for light-load efficiency. Therefore, combining
the best features of power MOSFET and IGBT will ensure high
efficiency at light loads and high temperatures.
The basic hybridization idea is to have the power MOSFET
share the current below a threshold level and the IGBT take
over for the rest. In general, the current flows through the
low-impedance path. Thus, when a current-associated voltage
drop is lower than the fixed IGBT voltage drop, the current
will flow through the power MOSFET. Such a simple idea
is not appropriate for hard-switching PWM inverters because
turning on one side of the switch needs to turn off the opposite-
side diode, which, in this case, is the internal body diode of
the power MOSFET. With typical slow reverse recovery and
snappy characteristic of MOSFET body diode, the penalty of
the added switching loss will offset any gains on the conduction
loss. Therefore, such a hybrid switch has not been adopted in
the conventional hard-switching PWM inverters.
With soft switching, the diode current is always diverted
to the opposite-side diode before the opposite-side switch is
turned on; therefore, the switch can be turned on under the zero-
voltage condition. In this case, the slow reverse recovery is no
longer an issue. Therefore, it is possible to adopt the hybrid
switch in most zero-voltage switching (ZVS)-based inverters.
The only concern is during the turn-on process, during which
a majority of the load current may flow through the power
MOSFET and result in transient overcurrent and associated
losses. It is necessary to delay the turn-on process of the
LAI et al.: SOFT-SWITCHING INVERTER FOR ULTRAHIGH-EFFICIENCY TRACTION MOTOR DRIVES
Fig. 1. Hybrid switch configuration for a soft-switching inverter with both
delay turn-on and turn-off for power MOSFET.
MOSFET. The turn-off delay, however, will depend on the die
size of the MOSFET. If the MOSFET size is too small, turning
off IGBT can easily cause MOSFET overcurrent and even result
in an avalanche breakdown. Thus, the MOSFET cannot be
delayed too much during turn-off.
Fig. 1 shows the circuit diagram of the hybrid switch for the
phase leg of a soft-switching inverter. The “delay” block can
be configured with three possible cases: 1) turn-on delay only;
2) turn-off delay only; and 3) both turn-on and turn-off delays.
If the MOSFET die area is large enough, it is possible to delay
the MOSFET turn-off so that the IGBT turn-off tail current-
induced loss is minimized. The circuit here is a generic soft-
switching leg that can employ different auxiliary circuits to
achieve ZVS [12]–[18].
The upper switch consists of M1 , Q1 , and D1 . In a con-
ventional hard-switching inverter, only IGBT Q1 and diode
D1 are used. IGBT Q1 is to conduct the positive current,
whereas diode D1 is to conduct the negative freewheeling
current. With added M1 , the positive load current IL can be
shared between M1 and Q1 , and the negative freewheeling
current can be shared between the body diode of M1 and D1 .
The lower switch consists of M2 , Q2 , and D2 . IGBT Q2 is to
conduct the negative current, whereas diode D2 is to conduct
the positive freewheeling current. With added M2 , the positive
load current can be shared between M2 and Q2 , and the positive
freewheeling current can be shared between the body diode of
M2 and D2 . Only one gate signal is required for each hybrid
switch pair. G1 controls both M1 and Q1 , and G2 controls both
M2 and Q2 . The auxiliary resonant current ILr can be created
by an auxiliary circuit or the other phase switches. Resonant
capacitors C1 and C2 are connected across the hybrid switches
to slow down the device voltage slew rate and to reduce the
turn-off loss. If the MOSFET die size is large enough, then D1
and D2 can be eliminated to save cost.
Unlike most other literature’s suggestion to use the IGBT
as the main switch and the MOSFET as the assist switch, the
proposed approach for a soft-switching inverter is to use the
MOSFET as the main switch and the IGBT as the overflow
switch.
II. U SE OF H YBRID S WITCH IN
C OUPLED -M AGNETIC -T YPE S OFT-S WITCHING I NVERTERS
Fig. 2(a) shows the circuit diagram and terminals of the
proposed hybrid switch. Note that the conventional IGBT’s
1967
Fig. 2. (a) Forward-conduction characteristic. (b) Reverse-conduction
characteristic.
Fig. 3. (a) Forward-conduction temperature characteristic. (b) Forward char-
acteristic comparison between three generations.
antiparallel diode has been eliminated in this case because the
MOSFET die size is large enough to handle the continuous re-
verse current. In this case, the total number of the main devices
in the hybrid soft switch is the same as that in the conventional
IGBT modules. Fig. 2(b) shows the forward-conduction char-
acteristic of a recently developed hybrid switch. When the total
device current, i.e., Isw , is less than 75 A, the IGBT shares
almost zero current, and the voltage drop is about 0.68 V. When
Isw is above 140 A, the IGBT starts sharing some noticeable
current. At 280 A, both the IGBT and the MOSFET share nearly
equal current. During the reverse-conducting period, the hybrid
switch operates under synchronous rectification mode, and its
reverse-conducting characteristic is shown in Fig. 2(b). When
current Isw is below 75 A, the MOSFET conducts most of the
current, and the voltage drop is about 0.67 V. After 100 A, the
body diode starts sharing some current. At about 200 A, both
the body diode and the MOSFET channel share nearly the same
current.
The well-known positive-temperature-coefficient MOSFET
forward-conduction voltage drop will increase from room
temperature to nearly double when the junction temperature
reaches 125 ◦ C. Such a problem can be solved by adopting
the negative-temperature-coefficient IGBT [7]–[11] for the pro-
posed hybrid module. Fig. 3(a) compares the forward-voltage-
drop characteristic at room temperature (25 ◦ C) and 125 ◦ C
temperature conditions. Under the light-load condition, less
than 100 A in this case, the inverter may operate mostly at lower
temperatures, and the MOSFET will take over more current.
Under the heavy-load condition, the IGBT will dominate, and
the voltage drop is in fact decreased while temperature in-
creases. A similar temperature characteristic can also be found
in the reverse-conduction condition.
1968
Fig. 4. Photograph comparing the three generations of soft-switching module.
The developed hybrid switch for a soft-switching inverter
has been going through three design iterations. Their forward-
voltage-drop characteristics are compared in Fig. 3(b). The
first and second design generations used the IGBT and diode
chips from a 600-V 400-A module [19] in paralleled with two
650-V 47-mΩ CoolMOS chips used in a commercially avail-
able discrete product [20]. The first generation (Gen-1) adopted
an internal bus bar structure to reduce the substrate resistance
loss with the major penalty on parasitic inductance. The second
generation (Gen-2) adopted a low-profile module housing to
reduce the parasitic inductance, but the substrate path causes
significant conducting path resistance penalty. The third gener-
ation (Gen-3) adopted two latest available larger die MDmesh
power MOSFET chips [21] in parallel with the same IGBT
used in the early generations. However, the external diodes are
completely eliminated to make room for the substrate area to
provide sufficient conduction path. As a result, both parasitic
inductance and package resistance are substantially reduced.
Fig. 4 shows the photograph comparing the three generations of
the hybrid soft-switching module package. The first-generation
module adopts the integrated cooling structure. The second and
third generations moved back to the conventional module that
allows natural convention or forced-air cooling because the
inverter built with the first-generation modules demonstrated
ultrahigh efficiency of 99% through calorimeter testing, thus
suggesting that it is possible to eliminate the extra cooling
system to save the cost of both the module package and the
cooling system itself [22].
Fig. 5 shows a coupled-magnetic-type soft-switching inverter
circuit adopting the proposed hybrid switch. The basic operat-
ing principle is discussed in [11]. For the hybrid switch, the
MOSFET turn-on delay circuit can be implemented with a
resistor. Q1 is the upper main switch, Q2 is the lower main
switch, D1 is the upper freewheeling diode, and D2 is the lower
freewheeling diode. Qx1 and Qx2 are the auxiliary switches
to produce the resonant current, i.e., ILr . The gate-to-emitter
voltage of Q1 , i.e., VGE−Q1 , is to control Q1 on and off. The
gate-to-source voltage of M1 , i.e., VGS−M 1 , is to control M1 on
and off. When Q1 is turned on, the collector conducts current
IQ1 . When M1 is turned on, the drain conducts current IM 1 .
Under the normal conducting condition, the sum of IQ1 and
IM 1 equals the load current IL .
Fig. 6(a) and (b) shows the switching sequence and associ-
ated key voltage and current waveforms for the aforementioned
coupled-magnetic soft switching using the hybrid switch. Ini-
tially, the load current is positive, and the bottom freewheeling
diode D2 conducts load current IL .
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 50, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 2014
Fig. 5. Use of the hybrid switch in a phase leg of the coupled-magnetic-type
soft-switching inverter.
Fig. 6. (a) Control timing diagram for the proposed soft-switching inverter
phase leg using hybrid switch. (b) Key voltage and current waveforms.
At t0 , the bottom main hybrid switch gates VGE−Q2 and
VGE−M 2 turn off. Because their antiparallel diodes conduct
initially, the turn-off action does not change voltage or current
waveform.
At t1 , the upper auxiliary switch gate VGE−Qx1 is turned on
by the PWM command. Auxiliary switch Qx1 conducts and
produces a resonant current ILr , which linearly rises initially
with a slope that is proportional to the dc bus voltage and in-
versely proportional to the inductance of the coupled magnetics,
i.e., Lr .
At t2 , ILr exceeds the load current, and its excess portion
will charge and discharge resonant capacitors C2 and C1 ,
respectively. With C1 being discharged, switch voltage VCE1
starts falling, and with C2 being charged, bottom switch voltage
VCE2 starts rising
At t3 , C1 and C2 are fully discharged and charged. VCE1
falls to zero, and M1 and Q1 can then be turned on under the
zero-voltage condition.
At t4 , the main switch Q1 gate VGE−Qx1 is turned on by the
control circuit. The delay between t1 and t4 , i.e., tdly , can be
controlled by a fixed delay timer or by zero-voltage detection.
The load current starts shifting to Q1 , and IQ1 starts rising.
At t5 , which is a small delay controlled by the added delay
with the gate resistor, the MOSFET switch M1 gate VGE−Qx1
is turned on. The small delay is to avoid M1 carrying too much
current initially. After both M1 and Q1 are turned on, the load
current will be shared by both M1 and Q1 , or IL = IQ1 + IM 1 .
With the conduction of M1 and Q1 , the secondary winding of
the coupled magnetics will see a reverse voltage due to Dx4
LAI et al.: SOFT-SWITCHING INVERTER FOR ULTRAHIGH-EFFICIENCY TRACTION MOTOR DRIVES
Fig. 7. Simulated voltage and current waveforms under Vdc = 325 V,
IL = 200 A condition.
conducting. Resonant current ILr will be reset by this reverse
voltage.
At t6 , resonant current ILr falls to zero. The slope of the
resonant current falling rate depends on the secondary induc-
tance of the coupled magnetic. With turns ratio larger than 1,
the slope can be gentler, and the zero-voltage crossing period
can be widened.
At t7 , both M1 and Q1 are gated off. With an added gate
resistor, M1 turns off after Q1 is turned off. M1 will temporarily
assume all the load current, which is generally not a problem
provided that the die size is large enough. After M1 turns off,
the current shifts out to charge and discharge C1 and C2 . With
C1 being charged, switch voltage VCE1 starts rising, and with
C2 being discharged, bottom switch voltage VCE2 starts falling.
At t8 , capacitor C1 is fully charged, and VCE1 rises to the dc
bus voltage. Meanwhile, capacitor C2 is fully discharged, and
VCE2 falls to zero. The load current is conducted in the bottom
freewheeling diode D2 after capacitor C2 is fully discharged.
At t9 , the bottom auxiliary switch VGE−Qx2 is turned on
by the PWM command. Auxiliary switch Qx2 conducts. With
bottom freewheeling diode D2 being conducting, the voltage
across the coupled magnetic is zero; hence, the resonant current
cannot be established. Moreover, with VCE2 being zero, the
bottom switch gate signals VGE−Q2 and VGE−M 2 can be turned
on under the zero-voltage condition.
Fig. 7 shows PSPICE simulated Gen-3 module voltage and
current waveforms under the 325-V Vdc and 200-A IL con-
dition using the circuit shown in Fig. 5. The upper window
shows that the auxiliary switch gate signal VGE−Qx1 is turned
on at t = 0.75 μs. The bottom window indicates that resonant
current ILr starts rising, and at t = 1.7 μs, ILr exceeds IL .
The middle window indicates that VCE1 starts falling due to its
paralleled capacitor being discharged. At about 2.7 μs, VCE1
drops to zero, the upper main gates VGE−Q1 and VGS−M 1 are
turned on under the zero-voltage condition. When it is fully
conducted, MOSFET M1 shares the majority of the current,
i.e., 135 A, whereas IGBT Q1 shares a smaller portion. The
proportion depends on the voltage drop of both devices. In
the first-generation design, the IGBT shares more current at the
200-A condition.
1969
Fig. 8. Photograph of the custom hybrid soft switch power and gate drive
circuit boards sitting on top of the modules.
Fig. 9. Experimental device voltage turned on at zero voltage under different
load conditions.
III. VARIABLE -T IMING -C ONTROLLED S OFT-S WITCHING
I NVERTER U SING H YBRID S WITCHES
Fig. 8 shows the photograph of the complete assembly of
the power module, including a power board that connects all
the power pins and a gate drive board that interfaces to the
controller through ribbon cables. The copper weight and the
number of layers of the printed circuit board (PCB) depend
on the power requirement. In this specific design case, rather
than using a heavy copper board or a multilayer board with a
typical 1-oz copper, multiple four-layer standard PCBs were
stacked to allow sufficient current handling capability.
The device turn-on gating is adaptive to different load condi-
tions based on zero-voltage condition sensing [12]. Fig. 9 shows
the device voltage and gate voltage VGE switching waveforms
at three load current IL conditions: 100, 200, and 300 A. With
adaptive gate timing control described in [18], all three current
conditions show gate voltage vGE turn on right after collector
voltage vCE drops to zero. Small collector voltage ringing
immediately after gating on and off is observed. This is due
to parasitic inductance between the resonance capacitor and the
device chip. Such a small oscillation is difficult to avoid unless
that resonant capacitor is noninductive and is directly attached
to the substrate.
As compared with the waveforms obtained from the early-
generation modules [22], however, the waveform obtained in
this latest generation is considerably cleaner because of signif-
icant reduction in parasitic inductances for both power traces
1970 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 50, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 2014

Fig. 10. Photographs of a 325-V 55-kW prototype. (a) Complete inverter

assembly. (b) Setup on a test stand.

and gate signal connections. With the ZVS verified in the

complete load range, a complete three-phase soft-switching
inverter was constructed for a traction motor drive with 325-V
nominal input and 55-kW peak power.
Fig. 10(a) shows the photograph of a 325-V 55-kW traction
drive inverter, and Fig. 10(b) shows the photograph of the
inverter sitting on a test stand for dynamometer testing. The
continuous power rating was specified at 30 kW, but with ul-
trahigh efficiency achieved, the continuous testing was actually
performed at 39 kW with a 3-W fan installed to help circulate
the air and serve as the base load for auxiliary power.

IV. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS

The inverter operates under discontinuous PWM mode with
a 10-kHz switching frequency. It was tested with three voltage
levels: 275, 325, and 375 V with a four-pole 90-kW induction
motor for electric vehicle traction drives. Fig. 11(a) shows the
output phase current waveforms at the 1030-r/min 225-Nm load
condition. The inverter output current is 146-A rms, and the
output power is 27 kW under this load condition. Fig. 11(b)
Fig. 11. Experimental inverter output current waveforms at (a) 325-V, 27-kW,
shows the inverter output current waveforms at the 3030-r/min 1030-r/min; (b) 275-V, 39-kW, 3030-r/min; and (c) 375-V, 38-kW, 2980-r/min
110-Nm load condition at 275-V input. In this case, the inverter conditions.
output current is 150-A rms, and the output power is 39 kW.
Fig. 11(c) shows the inverter output current waveforms at
2980-r/min 110-Nm motoring load under the 375-V dc input
voltage condition. In this case, the inverter output current is
about 100-A rms, and the output power is 38 kW. Higher input
voltage tends to have lower output current at the high-speed
region because the control loop adapts the maximum torque per
ampere (MTPA) control to minimize the motor current with
the available input voltage. Note that the continuous testing
power level far exceeds the continuous rated power because
the heat sink and chassis used in the existing vehicle chassis
have a sufficient thermal capacity margin. The peak power was
not tested with the dynamometer; however, it was tested on the
vehicle during startup and short-term acceleration conditions.
Fig. 12 shows the efficiency as a function of the output Fig. 12. Measured efficiency as a function of output power at 3000-r/min
power at the 3000-r/min condition. In this measurement, the operation.
auxiliary power and fan losses are included as part of total
losses. With hybrid switch and adaptive-timing soft-switching Such high efficiency cannot be accurately measured with a
operation, the efficiency at 325-V input exceeds 99% at the power meter that measures the dc input and PWM ac output.
30-kW nominal load condition. At 375-V input and 38-kW Some operating points, however, were verified with a differen-
output, the efficiency reaches 99.3%. tial calorimeter [22], which has a small chamber to serve as
LAI et al.: SOFT-SWITCHING INVERTER FOR ULTRAHIGH-EFFICIENCY TRACTION MOTOR DRIVES
Fig. 13. Calorimeter measurement results at 12.2 kW with (a) coolant tem-
peratures and (b) inverter efficiency.
Fig. 14. Measured module case temperature over a 12-min interval at 38-kW
output condition.
the reference and a large inverter chamber to house the inverter.
The power loss is proportional to the ratio of the temperature
difference between the two chambers. Each calorimeter test
needs to be performed for more than 5 h to ensure that the
thermal condition reached its steady state for each test point.
Fig. 13 shows the coolant temperatures of the calorimeter and
the corresponding inverter efficiency under the 325-V dc input
and 12.2-kW output condition. Temperatures Ta−in , Ta−out ,
Tb−in , and Tb−out represent the inlet and output temperatures of
the small reference and main chambers, respectively. Different
motor speeds tend to have different power factors, which, in
turn, affects inverter efficiency. The test was conducted with a
motor-generator set at 2800-r/min 35.5-Nm torque. The mea-
sured motor power factor is 0.836, and the steady-state inverter
efficiency is 98.7%.
To further verify the efficiency numbers, a loss separation
method was used to calculate individual component losses with
assistant of measuring the temperatures of the module case and
couple magnetic windings over a long period. Fig. 14 shows
the measured power module case temperature over a 12-min
interval. The 325-V condition was started at a temperature that
was already in steady state; hence, over the 12-min interval,
1971
Fig. 15. Coupled magnetic losses as a function of temperatures.
TABLE I
L OSS S EPARATION AT 375-V DC I NPUT AND 37.59-kW AC
O UTPUT C ONDITION
there was not any appreciable temperature rise. At the 20 ◦ C
room temperature test condition, the entire inverter was only
cooled by a 3-W fan, and the monitored module, which is far
away from the fan, has a case temperature of 47 ◦ C under the
steady-state 325-V input and 38-kW output condition.
The coupled magnetics’ temperatures and their correspond-
ing losses were measured offline, and the results were then
used to project their losses under inverter operating conditions.
The total coupled magnetic losses as a function of temperature
under different ambient temperature conditions are shown in
Fig. 15.
Under the 375-V dc input voltage and 37.59-kW output
power condition, the inverter output measurements showed a
phase-to-neutral voltage of 143-V rms, a peak current of 144 A,
a power factor of 0.862, and the input power of 37.86 kW. The
individual loss components under this condition can be calcu-
lated through device conduction and switching characteristics
and temperature monitoring. The loss analysis results are listed
in Table I.
It should be noticed that the main power switches are the
dominant loss component. Without using hybrid switch and soft
switching, the main power switch loss will be much higher.
With soft switching, the achieved ultrahigh efficiency is mainly
attributed to the conduction voltage drop reduction by the
hybrid switch. The next major loss item is the magnetic com-
ponent, which accounts for 11% of the total loss in this specific
case. The third major loss item is the auxiliary power supply
that supplies power to the gate drives, controller, conditioning
circuit, and fan with a total of 19 W, or 7.0% of the total loss.
1972 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 50, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 2014
Fig. 16. Photographs showing (a) the tested vehicle accommodating the soft-
switching inverter and the (b) in-vehicle testing setup.
Fig. 17. Drive cycle data of the soft-switching inverter under in-vehicle
testing.
The dc bus capacitors, power bus, and other parasitic losses at-
tribute another small percentage. With continuing improvement
of the superjunction power MOSFET technologies, the room
for efficiency improvement can be anticipated in a near future.
Fig. 16(a) shows the test vehicle that was equipped with the
soft-switching inverter. Fig. 16(b) shows the test stand and mon-
itoring instrumentation. The soft-switching inverter replaces the
existing vehicle inverter for on-the-road test. The inverter and
motor operating conditions are monitored through the entire test
cycle. Fig. 17 shows the 4-min drive cycle data including the
motor speed, peaking at 1100 r/min and inverter output current,
which peaks at 360 A. The inverter performed very well with
unnoticeable temperature rise after 15-min driving around a city
block near Boston, Massachusetts.
V. C ONCLUSION
A hybrid switch has been proposed as the main switch
of soft-switching inverters. The switch consists of the power
MOSFET to conduct the low-current portion and the IGBT
to conduct the high-current portion. The use of the proposed
hybrid switch in a soft-switching circuit avoids the reverse
recovery problem of the power MOSFET while taking ad-
vantage of the low-voltage-drop body diode with synchronous
rectification. This combination not only eliminates the switch-
ing loss but also reduces the conduction loss substantially.
Using the custom hybrid switch module in a variable-timing-
controlled coupled-magnetic-type ZVS inverter demonstrated
an ultrahigh-efficiency operation over a wide load range. Exper-
imental results with the total loss projected by the temperature
rise and loss separation analysis indicate that at the nominal
325-V input and 30-kW output, the efficiency is 99%, and at a
375-V input and 38-kW output, the efficiency exceeds 99.3%.
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LAI et al.: SOFT-SWITCHING INVERTER FOR ULTRAHIGH-EFFICIENCY TRACTION MOTOR DRIVES
Jih-Sheng (Jason) Lai (S’85–M’89–SM’93–F’07)
received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electri-
cal engineering from the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, TN, USA, in 1985 and 1989, respectively.
In 1989, he joined the Electric Power Research In-
stitute (EPRI) Power Electronics Applications Cen-
ter (PEAC), where he managed EPRI-sponsored
power electronics research projects. In 1993, he
joined the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak
Ridge, TN, USA, as the Power Electronics Lead
Scientist, where he initiated a high-power electronics
program and developed several novel high-power converters, including multi-
level converters and soft-switching inverters. In 1996, he joined the Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA. Currently,
he is the James S. Tucker Professor with the Bradley Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering and the Director of the Future Energy Electronics
Center. He has published more than 305 technical papers and two books. He
is the holder of 22 U.S. patents. His main research areas are in high-efficiency
power electronics conversions for high power and energy applications.
Dr. Lai chaired the 2000 IEEE Workshop on Computers in Power Electronics
(COMPEL 2000), the 2001 IEEE/DOE Future Energy Challenge, and the 2005
IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC 2005). His
work brought him several distinctive awards, including the Technical Achieve-
ment Award at the Lockheed Martin Award Night, five prize paper awards from
the IEEE Industry Applications Society, and best paper awards at the 23rd
International Conference on Industrial Electronics, Control and Instrumentation
(IECON ’97), the 7th International Power Engineering Conference (IPEC ’05),
and the 4th Power Conversion Conference (PCC ’07). His student teams won
first place at the 2009 TI Enginous Prize Analog Design Competition and the
2011 Grand Prize Award at the International Future Energy Challenge.
Wensong Yu (M’07) received the M.S. degree in me-
chanical and electrical engineering from Huazhong
University of Science and Technology, Wuhan,
China, and the Ph.D. degree in mechanical and
electrical engineering from the South China Univer-
sity of Technology, Guangzhou, China, in 1995 and
2000, respectively.
In 2000, he was with Emerson Network Power
Company, Ltd., Shenzhen, China, where he was
engaged in digital uninterruptible power supply
projects. In 2004, he joined the School of Electronic
and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology. He is
currently a Research Assistant Professor with the Bradley Department of Elec-
trical and Computer Engineering, Future Energy Electronics Center, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA. He is the
author or coauthor of more than 20 technical papers and holds three patents. His
research interests include soft-switching power converters, grid-tied inverters,
industrial power electronics, digital control applied to power electronics, and
renewable energy power conditioning systems.
Pengwei Sun (S’07–M’12) received the B.S. and
M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from North
China Electric Power University, Beijing, China, in
2004 and 2007, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree
in electrical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA,
in 2012.
Since May 2012, he has been a Global Rotation
Engineer with International Rectifier. His research
interests include the design and control of high-
efficiency single-phase and three-phase inverters, as
well as multilevel and cascade inverters for renewable energy applications,
including electric vehicle, solar, and wind power systems.
1973
Scott Leslie (S’72–M’78) received the Ph.D. de-
gree in electrical engineering from the University of
Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA,
in 1978.
He is currently the Chief Technologist with
Powerex, Inc., Youngwood, PA, USA. For the past
32 years with Westinghouse and Powerex, he has
developed high-voltage high-power silicon-based
silicon-controlled rectifiers, diodes, static induction
transistors, and bipolar transistors. Over the last
12 years, he has developed power insulated-gate
bipolar transistor/metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor modules
for vehicle, alternate energy, aerospace, and military applications, as well as
high-temperature, high-voltage, and high-frequency power modules utilizing
SiC devices.
Beat Arnet (M’88) was born in Switzerland in 1968.
He received the Diploma and Ph.D. degrees in elec-
trical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland, in 1994 and
1998, respectively.
In 1999, he joined Azure Dynamics (formerly
Solectria Corporation), Woburn, MA, USA, where
he led the development of electric-drive compo-
nents, including traction inverters and electric ma-
chines. Since 2012, he has been with Plexim, Inc.,
Cambridge, MA, USA, where he serves as the Gen-
eral Manager and Head of Engineering. He has authored or coauthored over 15
publications. He is the principal inventor of four U.S. patents. His main areas
of interest include the modeling, design, and control of inverters and electric
machines, particularly for vehicular and industrial applications.
Dr. Arnet is a member of the IEEE Power Electronics and IEEE Industry
Applications Societies.
Chris Smith (S’00–M’03–SM’12) was born in
Cherry Point, NC, USA, in 1979. He received the
B.S. degree in science and computer engineering
and the Master’s degree in electrical engineering
from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Uni-
versity, Blacksburg, VA, USA, in 2001 and 2003,
respectively.
He was a Graduate Research Assistant under
Dr. J. Lai with the Future Energy Electronics Lab-
oratory. After having completed his Master’s degree,
he joined Fairchild Controls Corporation, Frederick,
MD, USA, where he worked on several Mil Spec high-speed motor drives, both
permanent magnet and ac induction, and on 400-Hz power factor corrections
circuits. In 2006, he joined Azure Dynamics, Woburn, MA, USA, designing
both power electronics and controls for electric vehicle drive inverters. The
areas of insulated-gate bipolar transistor temperature management, motor diag-
nostics, and general digital signal processing software were areas of focus. He
is currently with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory,
Lexington, MA, USA. His primary focus has been on strategies to successfully
implement vehicle-to-grid systems. This ranges from advanced power electron-
ics for bidirectional energy flow to control algorithms for efficient use of the
energy storage. His research interests include motor drives, alternative energy
conversion, hybrid vehicles, electromagnetic interference, and control systems.
Mr. Smith is a member of the IEEE Power Electronics Society.
Art Cogan received the B.S. degree in civil engineering from Merrimack
College, North Andover, MA, USA.
He was a Test Engineering Manager with Azure Dynamics, Woburn, MA,
USA, where he was responsible for electric vehicle inverters and motor
drive testing. He was then the Director of Quality at Comprehensive Power,
Marlborough, MA, USA. Since 2013, he has been with Moog Inc., East Aurora,
NY, USA, as a Program Engineer in the Space and Defense Group.