Impact of key technologies on future road and light rail traction converters

For future road traction converters the introduction of new technologies is necessary to achieve volume reduction and to meet the cost goals dictated by combustion engine propulsion. Furthermore, the implementation of high performance rail traction systems based on distributed single wheel drives is only reasonable if a drastic reduction of volume and cost of drive system components can be achieved. The key technologies presented in this paper include efficient direct cooling of power semiconductors, filter capacitors with high ripple current capability at elevated temperatures and semiconductor devices based on silicon carbide. These technologies will offer synergy effects between light rail vehicles and passenger cars with an electric power train. First demonstrators verify that the introduction of these technologies reduce converter volume and power semiconductor effort by a factor of more than two for both applications.