Optimal Control and Configuration of Hybrid Parallel Si/SiC Switch-Based ANPC Converter for Off-Board EV Chargers

Abstract

This paper presents an optimal switching strategy and a cost-effective hybrid configuration employing silicon (Si) IGBTs and silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs in a three-level active-neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) converter for high-power off-board electric vehicle (EV) chargers. A three-stage switching scheme is proposed to achieve balanced current sharing and minimize switching losses over a wide load range. In addition, a cost-saving function (CSF) is introduced to quantify the total lifecycle cost of the converter utilizing hybrid parallel switch sets, encompassing both the initial device procurement cost and the operating cost arising from power losses over the system lifetime. The proposed CSF effectively identifies the optimal hybrid switch configuration for the ANPC converter. PLECS simulations using actual device data and characteristics from multiple suppliers demonstrate that the proposed design achieves up to a 12.02% reduction in power losses compared with single-Si-switch designs and a 66.42% cost saving relative to all-wide-bandgap solutions, thereby providing an effective efficiency–cost trade-off for next-generation EV charging systems.

Keywords

ANPC / Parallel switches / Three-stage switching technique / Hybrid structure / Loss analysis

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