Survey of Cryogenic Power Electronics for Hybrid Electric Aircraft Applications

The design considerations for power converters operating at room or at ultra-low temperatures are the same in terms of power density, reliability, and efficiency. In order to design power converters at cryogenic temperatures, the passive and active components should be carefully selected. Understanding the behavior of the components at cryogenic temperatures leads to power converter systems that have many superior advantages such as high power density (reduced size and volume), higher efficiency (reduced system losses), and even increased system reliability. This paper reviews the status of the recent research on the cryogenic temperature behavior of Si semiconductor devices, wide bandgap semiconductor devices, passive components, and power converter topologies.