GaN Devices Drive Strategy for Totem Pole PFC Converter in Compressor Drive Systems

The gallium nitride (GaN) devices possess excellent reverse recovery characteristics, which provides a new opportunity for the topology of the totem pole PFC converter to operate in CCM mode. However, the driving technology of GaN devices in the totem pole topology complementary conduction mode needs further research. Firstly, this paper introduces the driving characteristics of GaN HEMT devices, then analyzes the problems of fault-turn-on and damages of the GaN control transistor and the freewheeling transistor caused by the high dv/dt in the totem pole topology. A drive circuit is proposed to suppress the influence of dv/dt in the process of turn-on and turn-off process of the control transistor with little influence on the switching speed and switching loss of the device. The validity of proposed scheme is verified in the double pulse test experiment, and finally applies it to a 2.2kW air conditioning compressor drive system including the totem pole PFC converter.