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Project

Active and passive components for resonant converters in wide voltage power electronics applications

The use of passive components (transformers, idcutors, capacitors) can be employed to increase the number of degrees of freedom available for optimization procedures, extending the options to meet the demands of wide voltage range, high efficiency and high-level power. Additionally, due to the availability of high frequency magnetic materials and 3D printing techniques, the implementation of this approach might become easier and cost effective in the future. Therefore, research efforts on this topic must be conducted to exploit the technology potential. The working principle of controllable magnetics is based on the change of the magnetic flux at the core throughout a DC current, reaching in this way the nonlinear region, close to its saturation point, and as consequence a change in the self-inductance or magnetic inductance. This might be useful mainly at high power levels involving isolated converters, where having moderate increase in core losses due to the variation of controllable magnetic device could imply a big reduction in effective current at the circuit, and consequently in the resulting conduction losses. The aim of this project is to address the implications of downsizing transformers in power electronic converters for wide-voltage range-high frequency operation applications. It is stated that the accurate power loss modelling and simulation tools must be developed to determine for which extended range this technique is applicable, and research is challenging in many respects due to the nonlinear nature of the problem. The research will design a transformer for resonant converters with wide voltage gain range application, thereby gaining improvements in the performance of power electronics. Additionally, power converter modeling and power loss modeling for circuit design will be useful to the optimization. Finally, a compact transformer with wide voltage gain range, high-efficiency and high-power-density for high-frequency power electronics is expected.

Date:25 Oct 2022 →  Today
Keywords:power electronics, electrical engineering
Disciplines:Renewable power and energy systems engineering
Project type:PhD project