PORT-BICPD · Power Converters with Best In-Class Power Density
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-04-23 → 2023-04-22
- EU contribution
- €157,356
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Power Converters with Best In-Class Power Density
The research project undertaken seeks to address a critical challenge in the development of light electric vehicle (EV) chargers, specifically in the creation of highly efficient, high power density power factor correction (PFC) pre-regulators. This issue is of paramount importance in light of the increasing adoption of electric vehicles, a significant shift that is integral to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combatting climate change. An effective and efficient charging infrastructure is a cornerstone in supporting this move towards electric mobility. The project's focal point is the design of a 3.7 kW single-phase PFC converter prototype, which aims to achieve a power density of 85 W/in3 and a peak efficiency of 98.5%. Additionally, the project extends its scope to include a DC/DC converter stage for a 48V system in light EV chargers, with an ambitious target of 75 W/in3 power density and 97% efficiency. The task at hand is to engineer and optimize these converter designs using advanced Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices, modern ferrite materials, and a cross-disciplinary approach that blends various fields of engineering and material sciences. From a societal perspective, this research bears significant importance in two primary aspects. Firstly, it plays a crucial role in environmental conservation. As the global community strives to lower its carbon footprint, transitioning to electric vehicles is a critical step in the right direction. However, the success of this transition hinges heavily on the availability of efficient charging infrastructure. By enhancing the efficiency and power density of EV chargers, this project contributes meaningfully to the broader objective of sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation. Secondly, the project pushes the boundaries of technological advancement in the realm of power electronics, particularly concerning PFC pre-regulators. This pioneering work not only propels the field forward but also opens up potential applications in diverse areas that require high-efficiency power conversion.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The demand for electrical energy increases at a steady pace worldwide due to the growing and emerging applications such as server/telecom farms, 5G base station, more-electric aircrafts, consumer electronics, robotics, and electric vehicles. The volume and efficiency of the power converters utilized in these systems play a critical role for the fulfillment of this growth. Higher efficiency translates into more capacity utilization and less cooling efforts, whereas low volume and weight usually reduces the cost of the electronic components. Both of these aspects heavily depend on the innovations on the power topologies, control algorithms, magnetics, thermal substrates, and particularly power semiconductor switches. The power converter topologies in the literature have been invented to overcome or mitigate the large reverse recovery and output charge of Si power devices, while magnetics are optimized for switching frequencies that are achievable with Si power devices. However, the maximum efficiency and power density of Si based converters have already reached to its theoretical limit through innovations on the control and converter topologies. Recently, the adoption of the wide band-gap semiconductors has escalated the expectations from power electronics significantly, and initiated the transformation of the power architecture through new topologies and control innovations, while bringing new challenges in the high frequency domain.This research proposal is intended to innovate, design, and implement a new front-end PFC converter switched at >400 kHz to achieve best in-class efficiency and power density with targets of more than 98.5% peak efficiency and 85W/in3 enclosed power density at 3.7kW output power. The know-how and framework will then be engineered to meet certain industrial specs of various applications including the pre-regulator stage of server/telecom supplies, on-board chargers, industrial drives.
Original text from CORDIS.
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Data: CORDIS, © European Union