Highly efficient SiC inverter for aircraft application with innovative thermal management

Power electronic systems for aircraft applications gain more and more interest due to increasing gravimetric power density on power stage level by utilizing advantages of WBG devices. However, the overall system design has to be optimized, including housing, mechatronic design and thermal management. This paper presents the power stage design of a highly efficient SiC drive inverter with fail-operational capabilities for a small electric aircraft utilizing only the laminar flow given by the air speed on the surface and thermal capacities of the inverter housing for cooling means.