Xiang Wang

• Email: x.wang108@ncl.ac.uk

Supervisors

• Prof Volker Pickert
• Dr Haimeng Wu

Project description

The metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) is arguably the most important invention in modern electronics. It was the first transistor to be miniaturised and mass-produced. Many applications use MOSFETs.

A SiC MOSFET makes it possible for medium voltage power converters to be smaller, faster and more efficient. But it is less reliable compared to its Si counterpart. We need to tailor the gate driving signal for a SiC MOSFET to exploit its advantages to the full.

We are developing a fully-controlled gate driver for SiC MOSFETs. The driver will improve the switching transient and evaluate the health condition of the device.

Two modes are available in the gate driving system.

In the operating mode, an optimised gate driving signal is generated. This reduces the oscillation as well as the switching losses. The detection mode investigates various detection signals for condition monitoring. This allows evaluation of the health condition and prediction of the remaining useful life of the device.

Publications

• Wang X, Wu H, Pickert V. Design of an Advanced Programmable Current-Source Gate Driver for Dynamic Control of SiC Devices. In: 2019 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC). 2019, Anaheim, CA, USA: IEEE.
• Wu H, Gu B, Wang X, Pickert V, Ji B. Design and control of a bidirectional wireless charging system using GaN devices. In: 2019 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC). 2019, Anaheim, California, USA: IEEE.
• Wu H, Wang X, Gu B, Pickert V. Investigation of a GaN-based Bidirectional Wireless Power Converter using resonant inductive coupling. In: IEEE MTT-S Wireless Power Transfer Conference (WPTC) (WPW 2019). 2019, London: IEEE.
• Luo H, Wang X, Zhu C, Li W, He X. Investigation and emulation of junction temperature for high-power igbt modules considering grid codes. In: IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics. 2017, 6(2): 930-940.
• Zhu C, Wang X, Luo H, Zhou Y, Yang H, Li W, Xiangning HE. Dynamical Junction Temperature Online Extraction With Thermal Sensitive Electrical Parameters for High Power IGBT Modules. In: Proceedings of the CSEE 2017 (9): 24.
• Shi W, Wang X, Zhou Y, Luo H, Li W, He X, Ma J, Chen G, Tian Y, Yang E. A current sensorless IGBT junction temperature extraction method via parasitic parameters between power collector and auxiliary collector. In: 2017 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC). IEEE, 2017: 3021-3026.
• Luo H, Iannuzzo F, Blaabjerg F, Wang X, Li W, He X. Elimination of bus voltage impact on temperature sensitive electrical parameter during turn-on transition for junction temperature estimation of high-power IGBT modules. In: 2017 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE). IEEE, 2017: 5892-5898.
• Wang X, Zhu C, Luo H, Li W, He X. Elimination of collector current impact in TSEP-based junction temperature extraction method for high-power IGBT modules. In: Chinese Journal of Electrical Engineering. 2016, 2(1): 85-90.
• Wang X, Zhu C, Luo H, Lu Z, Li W, He X, Ma J, Chen G, Tian Y, Yang E. IGBT junction temperature measurement via combined TSEPs with collector current impact elimination. In: 2016 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE). IEEE, 2016: 1-6.

Interests

The active gate driving technique for SiC MOSFETs, condition monitoring of WBG (wide-bandgap) semiconductors.

Qualifications

• BSc in Electrical Engineering and Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China (2014)
• MSc in Power Electronics, Zhejiang University, China (2017)