Title: Loss assessment and experimentation of gallium nitride-based integrated charger for electric vehicles

Authors: Kundan Kumar

Addresses: Electrical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology Manipur, Imphal, Manipur-795004, India

Abstract: The research on electric vehicles (EVs) and their charging infrastructure are advancing very fast and the adoption of EVs can reduce the burden of fossil fuels, results in a green and healthy environment. The compact sizing and design of an efficient charging system are the major concerns that can be addressed by implementing an onboard integrated charger. The integrated charger works in two modes: the first one is charging mode when the vehicle is in a stationary position while the second one is the propulsion mode in which the vehicle is in motion. In this work, an integrated charger is explored using gallium nitride (GaN)-based semiconductor devices for propulsion as well as charging modes. Further, a scaled-down prototype of 400-watt GaN-based integrated charger is tested for both modes. The various performance results and efficiency of the integrated charger are presented. It is observed that the efficiency of the GaN-based integrated charger is on an average of 4-5% higher than Si and 2-3% higher than SiC which shows the dominance of GaN.

Keywords: efficiency; gallium nitride; integrated charger; MOSFET; power losses; propulsion drive; silicon; silicon carbide.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPT.2024.140107

International Journal of Powertrains, 2024 Vol.13 No.2, pp.113 - 140

Received: 15 Aug 2022
Accepted: 23 Oct 2023
Published online: 24 Jul 2024 *

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