PCB Busbar Design and Verification for a Multiphase 250 kW SiC based All-electric Aircraft Powertrain Converter

The development and implementation of silicon carbide (SiC) devices is steadily increasing facilitating the electrification of air carriers. In this paper, a print circuit board (PCB) based heavy copper busbar design and verification are introduced for a SiC based 250 kW multiphase drive system operated at 40,000 ft. Finite-element analysis (FEA) simulation studies of the PCB busbar are conducted to optimize the electric field intensity. Busbar modeling technic is also discussed to derive the current distribution and extract the loss. The measured partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV), switching transients and converter-level validations are provided for insulation, thermal and commutation loop verifications.