Light-Load Efficiency Enhancement of Soft-Switching Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole Inverter With Dual Active Modulation

The Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole (ARCP) inverter is recognized for its high efficiency due to reduced switching losses and for effectively minimizing Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) by achieving lower dv/dt. These characteristics make it ideal for Electric Vehicle (EV) and Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) applications. However, conventional modulation methods often result in significant conduction losses in auxiliary switches, particularly during light load conditions, limiting its practical adoption. This paper introduces a novel dual active modulation strategy that minimizes auxiliary conduction losses, significantly improving the efficiency of the ARCP inverter for the entire operating range. The developed method has been implemented with both fixed-timing and variable-timing control of the ARCP in simulation and hardware. The experimental results demonstrated that the method achieved an improvement in efficiency of up to 1.4% compared to conventional modulation strategies. Notably, the proposed approach maintained superior efficiency even at significantly lower power levels. These findings broaden the potential for the ARCP inverter to be widely adopted in electric transportation systems.