EP8- Silicon carbide based power electronics for electric trains

Researchers: PhD student: Martin Lindahl

Supervisors: Hans-Peter Nee, Stefan Östlund

Reference group members: Hans-Peter Née KTH, Anders Blomberg Bombardier Transportation, Stefan Östlund KTH

Sources of funding: KTH Railway Group, Bombardier Transportation

The power semiconductor material silicon carbide (SiC) gives the benefits of large reductions of power losses. SiC power semiconductors have the potential to enter the commercial market in electric traction for trains. The
purpose of this work is to investigate how the benefits of SiC can be utilized in the best way for rail applications. Areas of investigation are e.g. reduced total energy losses, improvements in system topology and overvoltages on the motor winding. The work includes building of prototype converters.