A SiC MOSFET-Based Electric Propulsion Inverter Design Consideration for Dynamic Imbalance in Failure

In this paper, a virtual, distributed electric propulsion system comprising eight motors, propulsion propellers, and SiC MOSFET-based inverters for electric aircraft is evaluated via a virtual power profile. In any usage scenario, an unplanned event and failure can occur, which overloads the distributed electric propulsion inverter. Additionally, the dynamic imbalance due to mechanically unsymmetrical configurations in the one engine inoperative leads to 2.5 times higher maximum transient power in one DEP system with comparison of its operation power in previous OEI for tens of seconds to make flight attitude stabilized. Measurement-based power loss and thermal loss simulations are conducted using a demo power inverter board with the selected SiC MOSFET and isolated gate driver IC. This measurement-based simulation is done for checking whether the device can endure the overload conditions with a safe thermal margin or not, under liquid cooling conditions.