Efficiency Evaluation Of A Bridgeless Totem-Pole Power Factor Correction Rectifier Using Gan And Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor Devices For Battery Charger

Wide-bandgap semiconductor materials, like gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC), promise to deliver a substantial advancement in the level of energy efficiency and overall size reduction in power electronic converters. This work uses the bridgeless totem-pole power factor correction (PFC) rectifier to compare theoretical and experimental efficiency and switching energies when using GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) and insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) devices. An experimental prototype of 1-kW output power and 220-V input voltage is built to verify the characteristics of GaN HEMT technology as well as the performance of the converter in power supplies for application with battery charging. The theoretical switching energies that are calculated to the traditional methods, were shown to be in close agreement with the experimental data, simplifying the design and choice of GaN devices by the designers. GaN devices showed a marginally better efficiency than theoretical predictions, even at low switching frequencies, whereas IGBT devices showed a poorer efficiency than theoretical predictions. Peak efficiency using GaN HEMTs was 98.43% at 50% load and 98.16% at full load. With the use of IGBTs, the peak efficiency was 96.69% at 30% load.