Drive-Cycle Optimized 99% Efficient SiC Boost Converter Using Planar Inductor with Enhanced Thermal Management

This paper presents a boost dc-dc converter design that maximizes drive-cycle weighted efficiency based on the CAFE standard. A drive-cycle simplification approach is introduced to enable faster yet accurate CAFE-based optimization. The optimization is based on calibrated loss models, including soft switching operation in boundary conduction mode (BCM) using a compact planar inductor. An enhanced thermal management strategy based on additional thermally-conductive layers is proposed to address design limitations related to the planar inductor realization. The design approaches are verified on an experimental 400 V, 11 kW SiC boost converter prototype, which achieves 99% measured efficiency over a wide operating range, and a CAFE-weighted efficiency of 99.1%.