Drivetrain efficiency and weight represent significant barriers toward the development of future electric aircraft. The flying capacitor multilevel converter (FCML) has shown high performance in these applications. It achieves very high efficiency and very low weight. In order to achieve simultaneous goals of high density, high efficiency, and good signal integrity, the layout of the converter is of utmost performance. In this work, a stacked PCB design is presented, which shields the low-voltage gate signals from interference, while also enabling an uninterrupted power path, low commutation loop inductance, and compact volume.
