Live Review | TI's new generation of gallium nitride (GaN) technology helps photovoltaic inverter design become more compact and more efficient

What is the difference between integrated driver and discrete GaN?

The GaN gate with integrated driver has smaller parasitic parameters, which can achieve faster switching waveforms and reduce losses.

What are the advantages of TI GaN technology and how does it contribute to achieving higher power density and efficiency in PV inverters?

TI GaN technology and devices integrate drive, protection, temperature monitoring, and DC/DC power supply, simplifying the complexity of system design and improving system integration. For micro inverters, TI GaN technology can make their overall efficiency exceed 96%. At the same time, GaN's higher switching frequency can make the system's magnetic components and other passive devices smaller, thereby reducing the size of the system by 40%. Compared with equivalent silicon-based designs, designs using GaN can provide more than twice the power density. In summary, the use of gallium nitride in micro-inverters and string inverters can increase system power density, improve efficiency, and reduce system size and weight.

What are the advantages of TI's integrated driver GaN power unit compared to traditional designs?

First, TI uses an integrated drive GaN power unit solution, which greatly shortens the drive loop, eliminates the parasitic inductance caused by the PCB, reduces additional parasitic inductance, and can achieve a switching speed of up to 150V per nanosecond and reduce overall switching losses. Secondly, it can make the magnetic components of the system smaller and have a higher power density. Our GaN devices can help achieve a switching frequency of more than 500K Hz, thereby reducing the size of magnetic components by up to 60%, improving performance and reducing the overall cost of the system. In addition, the reliability of the solution is that TI GaN devices use a dedicated silicon-based GaN process and have undergone more than 40 million hours of reliability testing. They have various protection functions to ensure the overall safety of the high-voltage system.

Can the LMG3100 be driven directly on the top tube?

LMG3100 integrates an internal bootstrap circuit, so the PWM signal and power supply can be output through the LMG3100 of the lower tube to the upper tube as a driving signal and power supply.

How does TI's microinverter reference design enable efficient bidirectional conversion?

The goal of the TIDA-010933 microinverter reference design is to build an efficient bidirectional hybrid microinverter that can provide high power density at a low cost. The reference design implements a 1.6kW single-phase microinverter based on GaN technology, achieves efficient bidirectional conversion through three stages, and supports a DC side voltage of up to 60V and a current of 14A in a four-channel design, and is connected to a photovoltaic (PV) panel or a 48V battery energy storage system (BESS).

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How is the safety margin considered in TI's string inverter reference design?

Texas Instruments' GaN-based 7.2kW string hybrid inverter reference design (TIDA-010938) takes safety margins into full consideration. For example, extra capacity is reserved in power design to cope with emergencies; reasonable thresholds are set in temperature management to avoid overheating; and protection mechanisms are set in voltage and current management to prevent overvoltage and overcurrent.