Parasitic Capacitive Couplings in Medium Voltage Power Electronic Systems - an Overview

Recent developments within the field of medium voltage wide-bandgap semiconductor devices are drawing attention from both researchers and industries due to the demanding requirements for more efficient high-power energy conversion. The rapid development has entailed an increased awareness of the negative impact of the increased rate of change in voltage, dv/dt, and its derived issues caused by the inevitable parasitic capacitive couplings. This article is dedicated to present an overview of the parasitic capacitive couplings in high-power medium voltage power electronic converter systems, using an example reference system enabled by medium voltage SiC mosfets. The definitions of capacitive couplings are presented and the impacts raised by parasitic capacitive couplings are reviewed. In addition, the similarities of different capacitive couplings introduced by components in practical medium voltage systems are presented and summarized. Lastly, the challenges and future work with respect to parasitic capacitive couplings in medium voltage power electronics converter systems are shared from the authors' perspective.