A Programmable Low-Voltage GaN Switching Cell with an Electronic Fuse to build Modular and Scalable Multilevel Power Converters

This paper presents the design of a new programmable and compact switching cell with an integrated intelligent electronic fuse (iFuse). The switching cell forms an elementary block from which modular, scalable, and robust multilevel power converters can be built. Based on a 40-V GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT), this new design incorporates self-powered driving circuitry, a switching-cell state-monitoring circuit with fault-detection capabilities, and an intelligent electronic fuse (iFuse), all within a significantly optimized PCB area. A reprogrammable signal processing device is used, consolidating the functions of multiple discrete components into a single unit. This results in a more flexible, reduced-cost, and reduced-size design. The iFuse ensures the isolation within 5 μs of the GaN HEMT from the rest of the converter when a failure event occurs, preventing the damage of other devices and increasing the converter reliability. The correct operation and good performance of the design are successfully verified through experimental tests.