Design of a SiC-based High Bandwidth Switch-Mode Power Amplifier as Grid Emulator for a PHIL-System

This paper presents the design of a SiC-based switch-mode power amplifier (SMPA) for grid emulation. With a power rating of 34.5 kVA and a large signal bandwidth of 20 kHz the SMPA is perfectly suited for testing of grid-connected converters in power-hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) environments. In order to provide 23 kVA in the single phase operation, a three-phase four-leg (3P4L) topology is used. Each phase is realized with a three-level five-times interleaved flying capacitor inverter. The targeted efficiency is 97%. To reduce the cost of the amplifier, a compact overall design is emphasized aiming for the integration into a 19-inch rack.