Analysis of Energy-Saving Effect for Applying a SiC Switching Device to Inverters for Railway Vehicles Drives

Abstract

In recent years, applying SiC to switching devices of traction inverters has been attracting attention. By applying SiC devices, motors are able to increase the regenerative energy and reduce the power consumption by shortening powering time due to improved motor torque performance by driving motors with the larger current than the case of an Si-IGBT inverter. In this study, the trade-off relationships between increasing the loss of inverters and the effect of saving-energy are quantitatively studied by numerical simulations, assuming that SiC devices are applied for 1.5 kV DC railway vehicle traction inverters.