Advanced aircraft power electronics systems — The impact of simulation, standards and wide band-gap devices

The rapid pace of change in the wide band gap (WBG) power semiconductor area has led to an explosion in potential uses for WBG devices in a huge variety of applications. The applications include automotive, aerospace and traction applications, as well as grid related or charging systems, with the potential to provide paradigm shifts in performance and efficiency over Silicon devices in current use today. Despite these exciting developments, however, there are still many outstanding challenges for both researchers and industry to solve before WBG technology becomes pervasive. In this paper we will explore some of these challenges and highlight the strengths of WBG devices, some of the specific issues for machine drives and develop some potential solutions for future developments in power electronics.