A 2 kW, single-phase, 7-level, GaN inverter with an active energy buffer achieving 216 W/in3 power density and 97.6% peak efficiency

High efficiency and compact single phase inverters are desirable in many applications such as solar energy harvesting and household appliances. This paper presents a 2 kW, 60 Hz, 450 VDC to 240 VRMS power inverter, designed and tested subject to the specifications of the Google/IEEE Little Box Challenge. The inverter features a 7-level flying capacitor multilevel converter, with low-voltage GaN switches operating at 120 kHz, the highest switching frequency to date at this power level. The inverter also includes an active buffer for twice-line-frequency power pulsation decoupling, which reduces the required capacitance by a factor of eight compared to conventional passive decoupling capacitor, while maintaining an efficiency above 99%. The inverter prototype is a self-contained box that achieves a high power density of 216 W/in3 and a peak overall efficiency of 97.6% while meeting the constraints including input current ripple, load transient, thermal and EMC specifications.