Development of High-Power Bidirectional DC Solid-State Power Controller for Aircraft Applications

The high-power solid-state power controller (SSPC) will be a critical component for the future electrified aircraft propulsion system. This article presents the development of a 1 kV 500 A bidirectional dc SSPC using SiC power modules and transient voltage suppression (TVS) diodes. The design procedure and implementation of the SSPC are presented in detail and the system level influence is discussed. Due to the limited power of a single switch, parallel and/or series connections of switches are necessary for high-power SSPCs, and the corresponding challenges are investigated with possible solutions. In addition, the high peak-to-average clamping voltage ratio caused by Ldi/dt of the turn-off current commutation and foldback characteristics of high-power TVS diodes is addressed. Finally, the testing setups for the high-power SSPC are presented, and all key functions are tested for the SSPC. The power rating and the specific power of the developed SSPC are superior to state-of-the-art counterparts to show the advantage of the developed one.