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Fraunhofer obtains 98.5 percent efficiency from SiC MOSFET-based PV inverters
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In a test using prototype silicon carbide-based MOSFETs (Metal Oxide
Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors) manufactured by CREE, the
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has said it has
achieved a maximum efficiency rating of 98.5 percent for photovoltaic
inverters, the highest such rating to date, according to the institute.
The higher the efficiency rating of the inverter, the
greater the energy yield of the entire photovoltaic system. The silicon
carbide MOSFETs have not been made available before for PV applications.
“Silicon carbide components switch faster and have a smaller forward bias power loss than traditional silicon-based transistors,” says Dr. Bruno Burger, head of the Power Electronics Group at Fraunhofer ISE. Fraunhofer ISE is the first organization known to test silicon carbide MOSFETs in this application. “Our work involved characterizing the components and integrating them into existing inverters. If, in a further step, the inverter circuitry is optimized specifically for silicon carbide, then even greater efficiencies could certainly be achieved.”
The Fraunhofer team achieved the efficiency rating record with a single-phase inverter with their patent-pending ‘HERIC’ topology and a nominal power rating of 5 kilowatts. They also increased the efficiency rating of a three-phase inverter with a nominal power rating of 7 kilowatts from 95.1 to 97.5 percent.
Fraunhofer researchers succeeded in reducing the power dissipation of conventional inverters by 30 to 50 percent when compared with results obtained using traditional silicon-based transistors.
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