Performance Investigation of Power Inverter Components Submersed in Subcooled Liquid Nitrogen for Electric Aircraft

Abstract

Investigating the performance of power electronics devices and thus power inverters at cryogenic temperatures for electric aircraft systems are of great interest. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to examine the inverter circuit technologies used in cryogenically-cooled electric aircraft applications from three perspectives: inverter topologies, power capabilities, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) that may occur. At a cryogenic temperature, the characteristics of five power semiconductor switches with different technologies (Si MOS, SiC MOS, and GaN HEMT) used in cryogenically-cooled electric aircraft inverters were tested and the results were presented. Furthermore, the low-temperature performance of three types of capacitors commonly used in power electronics inverters was investigated. The research findings provide crucial considerations for the research and development of power inverters cooled by sub-cooled liquid nitrogen for modern electric aircraft.