SOLVING THE

CHALLENGES
OF EV CHARGER
DESIGNS
WITH SiC POWER MODULES

Tiago Jappe, Product Marketing Manager

Contents
1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 3
2 EV charger architectures – the DC charger ............................................................ 3
3 SiC-based power electronics devices .................................................................... 5
4 Three-phase active front-end converters .............................................................. 6
4.1 Two- and three-level PFC converters .................................................................... 6

5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 9

2
1 Introduction
Automotive industry is going electric. With automakers rolling out more and more models, all
those e-vehicles will need EV chargers with key requirements of power density, overall system
efficiency and capability for fast battery charging. Diverse industries and markets have to
adapt to this mega trend towards electrification. But regardless of the line of business, every
stakeholder expects the same things from the Power Electronics that drive these systems –
highly efficient performance from a package with a small footprint and a competitive system
level price. This trade-off between performance and cost brings several challenges in the
system design and implementation for companies that build EV chargers. The adoption of SiC
power electronics devices in EV chargers is an interesting approach due their outstanding
intrinsic electrical and thermal benefits compared to standard Si devices. This paper reviews
EV charger implementations and presents Vincotech solutions designed for these use cases –
power modules that strike the right balance between size, performance, efficiency and price.

Figure 1: Block diagram of an electric vehicle (EV) battery charging system and the key power electronics stages

2 EV charger architectures – the DC charger

The basic and generic structure of EV DC chargers is represented in the block diagram in
Figure 2. The system draws power from the grid for the charger to process and convert. It
then delivers regulated DC voltage and current to the battery in a proper shape and behavior.
The power flow of the most common types of chargers on the market is unidirectional, in which
energy flows one way, from the grid to the battery. However, some use cases require

3
bidirectional power flows: EV chargers send power from the grid to the battery and from the
battery to the grid. This paper focuses on solutions for designs with unidirectional power flows.

DC Charger
AC/DC Isolated DC/DC
Section DC Link Section

AC/DC DC/AC AC/DC

Figure 2: Block diagram of a DC charger system’s generic architecture, including the AC/DC and DC/DC power
electronics blocks

The global specifications for EV charging systems are high efficiency, high power density,
modular architecture and fast-charging capability. In the generic architecture of DC charger
system, the following blocks can be identified:

First stage: The AC/DC stage provides the interface between the grid and the other segments
of the EV charger. PFC converters are often selected because of their inherent function and
benefits they provide – specifically, sinusoidal main currents with low harmonic distortion and
regulated DC link voltage. Several power electronics topologies have been used to this
function.

Second stage: An isolated DC/DC converter provides the interface between the PFC stage and
the EV battery. This intermediate block generally is implemented by resonant DC/DC
converters that operate under soft switching techniques in order to maximize the overall
system efficiency. There are several topologies addressed for this segment, such as DAB, LCC.
This power conversion stage is generally isolated for the safety reasons.

4
The EV charger versions can be classified differently as seen in Table 1. The most common
approach is to follow the maximum power that a charger can process, which defines, basically,
its capability for the charging time. Nowadays, the most significative trend are the Level 2 and
Level 3 implementations due to fast charging time capability.

Power Level Types Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Grid voltage 120 V (US) 240 V (US) 208 V up to 600 V in

230 V (Europe) 400 V (Europe) AC or DC

Power range Lower than 3.7 kW 3.7 kW up to 22 kW More than 50 kW

Charging time 11-36 hours 1 – 6 hours 20 min up to 60 min

(approx)

Charger Concept ON-board ON-board OFF-board

OFF-board

Grid Supply 1 phase 1 phase or 3 phase 3 phase

Charging Type Slow charging Semi-fast charging Fast charging

Battery Capacity 15- 50 kW 15- 50 kW 15- 50 kW

Table 1: Basic definitions for categorizing charger systems

3 SiC-based power electronics devices

Silicon Carbide (SiC) material gives the flexibility to implement power electronic devices with
superior performance compared to standard material such as Silicon (Si). The literature shows
many documented instances of SiC-based power semiconductor devices’ benefits over
standard Si-based devices. For one, SiC devices’ higher breakdown field characteristic and
higher electro-saturation velocity gives lower conduction losses. For the other, higher bandgap
energy levels and better thermal performance mean SiC-based devices can operate at a higher
temperature and with a smaller chip area. These are some of the reasons why SiC is a better
choice of material for power electronics devices that provide converters that demand higher
efficiency and power density.

The most common SiC-based devices available on the market currently are diodes and
MOSFETs. Various suppliers offer both types of devices for different voltage levels and current

5
ratings. This is the reason why the SiC devices are nowadays so successful in power electronics
applications across several sectors. Nearly all suppliers have SiC devices in the range of 650 V
up to 1700 V for different current ratings and manufacturing technologies.

SiC devices are used frequently in EV chargers because of the benefits and characteristics they
bring to these applications. SiC-based devices are valued above all for their role in maximizing
efficiency and power density.

Vincotech offers an independent chipset supplier chain. It gives the flexibility to design and
build power modules with the chipset that provides the best technology, features and
characteristics for each use case from different suppliers. This freedom of choice also allows
the designers to calibrate the best balance between cost and performance.

4 Three-phase active front-end converters

The active front-end converters are the first stage inside an EV charger. They provide the
interface between the grid and the DC-DC converter. For 22 kW EV chargers (Level 2, see
Table 1), the most common approach is to use three-phase active front-end topologies. The
following section describes the three-phase PFC converters most commonly found in EV
charger systems.

4.1 Two- and three-level PFC converters

Literature often classifies power electronics converters according to the number of levels they
can synthesize. Two- and three voltage-level topologies are very popular choices for active
front-end converters. In this context, the two-level converters mean that a converter
synthesizes just two distinct voltage values during the nominal operation in steady-state.
Three-level converters do the same for three distinct voltage levels. A generic description of
this operation can be observed for the equivalent circuits depicted in Figure 3. The two-level
converter can apply the levels P or N; the three-level converter does the same for the states P,
O and N.

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 Figure 3: The ideal topologies for the two-level three-phase converter (a) equipped with SPDT devices and a three-
level converter (b) equipped with SPTT devices

Figure 3 demonstrates the ideal implementation of two-voltage-level and three-voltage-level

converters. The two-level converter, in the ideal implementation, features three units of SPDT
(Single Pole Double Throw). The three-level converter contains three SPTT (single pole triple
throw) units. This ideal implementation is useful, in order to investigate several aspects for the
power converter operation. Based on that, the ripple current in the AC input inductor can be
properly analyzed.

Figure 4 depicts the results of simulated steady-state operations for both types of PFC
converters. These simulations clearly indicate the voltages synthesized by each converter, with
the local average value shown as 〈𝑢𝑥 (𝑡)〉 and the instantaneous voltage as 𝑢𝑥 (𝑡) – where 𝑥 ∈
{1,2,3}.

Two level converters have some performance limitations. First, the two-level output voltage
waveform and second, they require semiconductor components with high voltage rating. Both
aspects impact negatively on the converter losses and the grid-side filter size. Even though SiC
MOSFETs can increase the two-level converters’ performance by reducing losses and allowing
for higher switching frequencies, the three level converter solutions have demonstrated higher
achievable performance, both in terms of efficiency and power density. Actually, these
topologies simultaneously reduce the stress on the AC-side filter components and allow the
implementation of semiconductor devices with lower voltage rating, consequently lower cost.

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 2 Level 3 Level
Grid Converter Grid Converter
ug1 LB u1 ug1 LB u1
+ +
ug2 LB u2 ug2 LB u2
+ +
ug3 LB u3 ug3 LB u3
+ +

2 Level Converter 3 Level Converter

600 600
ux(t) ux(t)
400 400
<ux(t)> <ux(t)>
200 200

0 0

200 200

400 400

600
0 600
0
(a) (b)

Figure 4: The simulated results for the voltages synthesized by two- and three-level converters

Since the three-level PFC converters provide the volume reduction of passive filters, the focus
of this paper is on implementing three-phase / three-level PFC converters.

Figure 5 depicts the basic cell for the most popular three-level PFC converters; the Symmetric
Boost PFC (SPFC), Neutral Boost PFC (NPFC) and Advanced Neutral Boost PFC (ANPFC). These
topologies have unidirectional power flow and they have reduced number of power
semiconductor devices.

Udc Udc Udc

2 2 2

Udc Udc Udc

2 2 2
ux(t) ux(t) ux(t)

SPFC (Symmetric Boost PFC) NPFC (Neutral Boost PFC) ANPFC (Advanced Neutral Boost PFC)

Figure 5: The basic cell for the most popular three-level PFC converters with unidirectional power flow

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Figure 6 demonstrates the efficiency and cost benchmarks for these three-level PFC converters.
The NPFC power converter has the highest efficiency compared to all other three-level
converters, but also the highest cost. The ANPFC converter is next – its second highest efficiency
comes at lower cost. This option demonstrably gives the best balance between performance and
price, which is why the ANPFC converter is highly recommended as the topology of choice for EV
chargers.

Efficiency Benchmark for a 22kW AC/DC Stage with Cost Benchmark for 3L-PFC Topologies
99,60
3L-PFC Topologies 1,6
Vin 230V, Vout 700V, Irms 32A, Ths 80°C
1,4
99,20
1,2
Efficiency [%]

1
98,80
0,8
NPFC with SiC-Diode
0,6
98,40 ANPFC with SiC-Diode
0,4
SPFC with SiC-Diode
0,2

98,00 0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 NPFC ANPFC SPFC
Switching Frequnecy [kHz]

Figure 6: A graph and a chart benchmarking 3-level PFC converters’ efficiency

5 Conclusion
The market for EV chargers demands power electronics solutions that provide a balanced
trade-off of high performance and competitive pricing. Vincotech power modules meet this
demand. The company’s solutions cover these use cases well and support efforts to design
chargers that are more efficient yet cost less to build.

The SiC-based power electronics devices have been used successfully in EV charger systems.
SiC diodes and MOSFETs’ inherent thermal and electrical properties bring several benefits to
power electronics designs. For one, they provide the flexibility necessary to improve the
switching frequency. For the other, a system equipped with these devices and the proper
power electronics circuit has smaller passive components. This saves overall system volume
and cuts costs. In this context, three-level converters are much more interesting topologies
compared to the standard two-level converters. The right SiC technology paired with the
proper power electronics circuits is a tremendously beneficial combination that boosts the
overall system’s performance and cuts its overall cost. The three-phase, active front-end
converter described in this paper features this combination and delivers both of these benefits.
The ANPFC three-level power converter with a SiC-based power module design is available
from Vincotech.

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