The industry’s most versatile modular silicon carbide evaluation platform - Wolfspeed’s SpeedVal™ Kit Modular Evaluation Platform speeds the transition from silicon to silicon carbide (SiC) with a flexible set of building blocks for in-circuit evaluation of system performance. Quickly evaluate and optimize the high-speed dynamic switching performance of Wolfspeed silicon carbide MOSFETs paired with your choice of range of gate driver options from industry-leading partners. Perform high-power thermal testing to evaluate operation at real operating points. An accurate modular spice model for each block in the system allows engineers to compare test data with simulation and model their own system. SpeedVal™ Kit consists of a motherboard, power daughter card, gate driver card, an optional control card, and other optional accessories.
Flexibility Without Compromise
SpeedVal Kit’s unique card-edge connection enables users to change silicon carbide devices in seconds while maintaining a low-inductance connection to the DC bus, meaning testing that took weeks can be completed in minutes. The versatile power daughter cards come in a range of packages from surface mount TOLL devices through TO-247 packages.
Design with Confidence
SpeedVal Kit supports a range of voltages, package types, and power topologies to support many applications and enables testing silicon carbide devices, gate drivers, and controls at real operating conditions. This system enables users to:
- Measure Switching Loss (Eon, Eoff, Qrr)
- Select from a range of gate driver options to suit your needs
- Adjust Rg to optimize switching behavior
- Evaluate 650 to 1200 V SiC devices
- Operate as a buck or boost converter using the Half-Bridge Motherboard, or as an inverter using the 3-Phase Motherboard
- Perform high-power thermal testing to evaluate real-world scenarios
Coming Soon – SpeedVal Kit™ 3-Phase Modular Evaluation Platform
Designed with the same building blocks as the half-bridge SpeedVal Kit to support development of single or three-phase industrial motor drive systems. Join the waitlist to be notified of the upcoming release of the three-phase motherboard.
Explore The Options
Learn more on each individual components of the system below and see the available options for each. Components may be purchased separately or use the SpeedVal Kit Configurator to build your complete test system.
SpeedVal™ Kit Modular Evaluation Motherboards
Motherboards are the hub of the platform that the power, gate driver, and controller daughter cards plug into. They contain the DC link capacitors, sensing circuitry, as well as the power and signal connections for the system. The half-bridge motherboard is ideally suited for performing switching loss measurements and operating at continuous power as a buck or boost converter. The three-phase board enables additional topologies for power testing such as motor drives, as well as retaining the same capability to perform switching loss testing and buck or boost testing as the half-bridge board.
SpeedVal™ Kit Modular Evaluation Platform Power Daughter Cards
The SpeedVal Kit Modular Evaluation Platform features power daughter cards arranged in a half-bridge configuration. The unique card edge interface provides low inductance while greatly simplifying the process of swapping out components, enabling high-quality measurements and quick comparisons between different devices. Power Daughter Cards are optimized for making accurate high-bandwidth current and voltage measurements. An on-board current shunt can be optimized for highly accurate dynamic switching tests, or high-power thermal testing with the evaluation board. The coaxial MMCX connectors for VGS and IDS and BNC connectors for VDS provide noise-free measurements to improve accuracy and simplify gate drive optimization. The power daughter cards include a pre-assembled heatsink which aligns with a fan on the motherboard to enable high-power testing.
SpeedVal™ Kit Modular Evaluation Platform Gate Driver Cards
Wolfspeed has partnered with several industry-leading gate driver partners to provide you with a broad portfolio of gate driver cards that are compatible with the SpeedVal™ Kit platform. The cards allow users to test Wolfspeed Silicon Carbide devices with their choice of gate driver and feature set. All gate driver cards have two isolated gate drive outputs and associated gate power supplies for driving Wolfspeed Silicon Carbide MOSFETs. These cards have been tested for compatibility and are jointly supported by Wolfspeed and our partners. These cards offer a range of features and current drive levels so that you can select the one that works best for your evaluation board. Having the freedom to select the gate driver you will use in your own design during the evaluation stage means that there won’t be any surprises when you move into the development stage. The SpeedVal™ Kit gate driver cards are compatible with both the discrete SpeedVal™ Kit platform as well as the Wolfspeed WolfPACK evaluation boards.
SpeedVal™ Kit Modular Evaluation Platform Control Cards
Simplify your evaluation experience
The SpeedVal Kit Evaluation Platform offers optional Control Cards from industry-leading partners. Pre-tested firmware can be downloaded onto these boards and a computer based graphical user interface (GUI) simplifies testing. The GUI can be used to select the operating mode for the SpeedVal Kit evaluation board and configure the relevant control settings for each mode as well as monitor current and voltage feedbacks from the board. The control cards provide the PWM signals for the MOSFETs and monitor bus, phase, and external voltages along with phase current and bus current. Control cards eliminate the need to provide PWM signals from a function generator. Additionally, users can modify or write their own control code, providing a way to begin firmware development before developing your own hardware. This step improves first pass success on a new design and accelerates time to market.
Block Diagram:
