Power Converter for Photovoltaic Applications
Technology Description:
Northeastern University will develop a new class of universal power converters that can be used in a wide range of applications including renewable energy systems, automotive, and manufacturing technologies. Northeastern will focus the project on the design, simulation, prototyping, and experimental evaluation for PV systems. This project proposes a new class of converters that can both step up and step down the voltage. This converter uses a very small film capacitor for transferring the power from the input to the output. The proposed technology eliminates the need for electrolytic capacitors, and can double the lifetime and reliability of power converters. The power density of this class of power converters is also high since it can use an integrated, single-phase, high-frequency transformer instead of heavy and bulky low-frequency transformers. In this project, two 3kW prototypes will be fabricated and tested. The first will use silicon insulated-gate bipolar transistors and its switching frequency will be below 10kHz. The second prototype will employ silicon carbide (SiC) metal oxide semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) with the target switching frequency at 50kHz. Significant reduction (6X) in inverter weight and improvement in inverter efficiency (> 1.5%) is expected in the proposed solution that combines the novel circuit topology and the SiC transistors over traditional PV inverters.
Contact
ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Isik Kizilyalli
Project Contact:
Prof. Mahshid Amirabadi
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
m.amirabadi@neu.edu
Related Projects
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