Design of High Current, High Power Density GaN Based Motor Drive for All Electric Aircraft Application

The past decade has seen noticeable advancements in the miniaturization of wide-band gap semiconductor technology making it feasible to be applied in demanding applications such as more-electric-aircrafts (MEA). Multiple high speed electric motors operating in parallel with current ratings in hundreds of amps are required to match the power delivery capability of conventional jet engines. As a result, the power electronics driving the motors require special attention to parallel multiple active switches in order to meet the high current requirements. This paper presents the design of an axially stator mounted 250 kW integrated modular motor drive for MEA applications. The design considerations presented include optimal component placement and layer stackup to minimize voltage overshoots during switch commutation, optimal gate drive layout to synchronize the current sharing of multiple GaN active switches, and the selection process of the on-board current sensor. Lastly, experimental test results are presented that verify the efficacy of the proposed design.