Performance comparison of 1200V Silicon and SiC devices for UPS application

In this paper, a comparative study of 1200V Silicon IGBTs with Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs is presented for a 6kVA single-phase 230V online Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system. The UPS is first tested with the 1200V silicon IGBT/Diode devices (2 parallel 34A IGBT/diode) and then the inverter devices are replaced by next generation SiC 1200V MOSFET/Diode devices (2 parallel 20A MOSFET/10A Diode co-packs). The UPS efficiency is compared with two different sets of devices, at different loading and gate driving conditions. SiC MOSFETs significantly improve the efficiency of the UPS at light load conditions. The experimental results are presented at 20kHz switching frequency.