Practical Evaluation of GaN Heterojunction-Field-Effect-Transistor (HFET)-applied Zero Voltage Soft-Switching Resonant Converter for Inductive Power Transfer

Abstract

This paper presents a novel prototype of a soft-switching resonant dc-dc power converter with high breakdown-voltage Gallium Nitride Heterojunction-Field-Effect-Transistor (GaN-HFET) for inductive power transfer (IPT) systems. The edge-resonant zero voltage soft-switching (ZVS) operation using lossless snubbing capacitors is essential for effective reduction of switching power losses and noises with low threshold voltage of the GaN-HFET. The excellent performances such as high efficiency, low switching noises and normally-off operation are originally demonstrated in experiment of a 950W prototype by comparing with a super-junction (SJ)-MOSFET based prototype under the fair conditions of breakdown-voltage and current rating. The feasibility of GaN-HFET-applied IPT-ZVS converter is discussed from a practical point of view.