Power Electronics for Emerging Applications

- Opportunities and Challenges

Mar. 14, 2014
Don Tan
Fellow / APOL Program Manager, NGAS President, IEEE Power Electronics Society

PELS Magazine Inaugural Issue

Inaugural Issue March, 2014

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25th Anniversary Reception Photos

Two giant sheet cakes to help celebrate PELS 25th anniversary

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PELS tie was the most popular item in all souvenirs

25th Anniversary Reception Photo

The PELS 25th Anniversary Reception attracted all the PELS past presidents for the first time, together with the current IEEE President
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Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy Grid connected systems Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting DC grids Wide-Band-Gap (WBG) applications

Some of the figures, photos, and specs are open source information from INTENET.

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Power Electronics: Early Days

Classical definition of power electronics through a Venn diagram by Newell in 1972

Magnetics & Power Semi Devices (PSD)

Helped establish the identity for power electronics as our core competences

Electric Circuits & Machines

Power Electronics Systems

Controls

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Power Electronics: A System of Technologies

Analog / Digital Circuits Converter Circuits Circuits

Power Electronics is now a system of technologies, propelling it to be a top-tier technology discriminator, cutting through many traditional boundaries

Power Power Semi Semi Devices Devices

ICs & ICs Monolithic Passives

Power Electronic Systems

Electric Electric Machines Machines

Antenna Antennas

Linear && Linear Nonlinear Nonlinear Controls Controls

Sustainable energy for distributed generation is propelling it to be a top-tier technology discriminator

RF Circuits

Eng. & Rel. & FMEA Integration Firm-/Software

System Eng. & System Int.

Generation / / Generation Storage Storage Devices

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Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy DC grids Grid connected systems Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting WBG applications

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Integration of Green Energy

Solar Farm The solarpower plant is also a tourist attraction

Solar Farm

Energy Storage Energy storage is an integral part of any distributed generation for energy balance Tidal Energy Tidal turbines capture the kinetic motion of the tides ebb and flow to produce clean energy
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Energy Storage

Power Electronics System Integration

Wind Farm

Offshore Wind Farm

Tidal Energy

Wave Energy

Power electronics engineers are best equipped to be the system integrators for green power
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Wave Energy

Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy DC grids Grid connected things Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting WBG applications

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DC Grids (Edisons Revenge)

HVDC distribution
Lower loss Longer distance No frequency related degradation

DC grids (Edisons revenge)

Higher efficiency More robust system operation No impedance matching for efficient power transfer Simple waveforms Large body of knowledge in power electronics

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A DC Grid for Space

SADA

PDM (1 of x) SSR
(1 of m)
I

A/B

V 2 Vdc S/C Avionics PSU

PCU
Load Array

DIO REA

I&V

1553B Data Bus

DIO BIE
A/B/C

BCDU
SSR
(1 of n)
I I

PFM
I

PSE #1 of 4 x12 x12

Payloads

BDRs
(1 of m)

A/B

x12 x12

A/B/C I&V

REA
Charge Array + EGSE (T-0) + EGSE (T-0) -

I&V

REA AEPS Key Features - Regulated or diode clamped - Peak power tracking - Dead bus recovery - Fuse blowing in regulation - Scalability - Modularity - Re-configurability - Accepting Li-Ion or N2H batteries - Triple majority redundancy

BATTERY

Off-line Charge Power + EGSE (T-0) -

+ EGSE (T-0) -

+ EGSE -

SPG
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< Power Returns

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Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy DC grids Grid connected things Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting WBG applications

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All Things Grid Connected

Grid Connected Power Converters

Digitally Controlled Solid-State Transformers

Smart SolidState Circuit Breakers (Fuses)

All Things Grid Connected Power Electronics

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Sustainable Energy / Distributed Generation

PE applications in sustainable energy and distributed systems
Smart generation, smart distribution (grid), smart consumption

Power Electronic is transforming the energy industry in a revolutionary manner similar to what semiconductor industry did to the information industry
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Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy DC grids Grid connected things Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting WBG applications

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Transportation Electrification

IEEE TTE, 2015 17

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Transportation Electrification (TE)

Electric Automobiles / Hybrids
100% Electric Vehicle & Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles Sales have hit record numbers Electric Charging Stations are being deployed Can Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles keep the electric grid stable? Connected Cars: Better Driving Experience but Systems Security Risks Brazil Set to grow its Electric Vehicle Market Electric Cars create spark at Frankfurt

Electric Planes
The Solar Impulse completed around the world photovoltaic flight 10 Solar planes to watch (1:Solar Impulse; 2:Antares 23E; 3:Taurus Electro G2; 4:Sunseeker Duo; 5: Front Electric Sustainer Propulsion; 6: Archaeopteryx; 7: Cri-Cri E-Cristaline/E-Fan; 8: Yuneec E430 and Espyder; 9: Long-ESA/Flight of the Century; 10: Eurosport Aircrafts Crossover UAV Battery Packs could allow Electric Planes to fly forever

Electric Ship
The Electric Warship (USS Zumwalt) under development The first Solar Electric Ship to sail around the world (Planet Solar) Fighting Fire with Electricity; DARPA wants system for submarines and jet fighter

Electric Trains
LA Commuter Rail Line to Roll Out first Positive train control. New Trains share power capture by regenerative breaking

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TE: A Collaborating Community

Cisco

IEEE Future Directions

ITAA

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Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy DC grids Grid connected things Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting WBG applications

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Smart Home, Smart Building & Smart City

PE applications in sustainable energy and distributed systems
Smart generation, smart distribution (grid), smart consumption

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Smart (Flexible) Building

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Smart City

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Smart City

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Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy DC grids Grid connected things Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting WBG applications

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Power Goes Adiabatic

Improvement of efficiency can increase power throughput capability without increasing capacity
Throughput power can be doubled with a small efficiency improvement of 1.9% (from 95.6% to 97.5%), for instance

Relative Loss vs. Efficiency

70.00% 100.0% 75.00% 80.00% 85.00% 90.00% 95.00% 100.00%

10.0%

1.0%

Efficiency 74.79 80.40 84.66 89.38 92.83 95.60 97.54 98.84 99.45 99.88

Efficiency delta to cut loss by 50% 11.4 9.0 7.3 5.3 3.7 1.9 1.3 0.6 0.3 0.1

Relative Loss (%)

0.1% Efficiency

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APOL Prototype with Si MOSFETs & CMOS

Adiabatic Point-of-Load (APOL) converter prototype was constructed using commercially available open-source PWB software and commercial parts
Open space on PWB was reserved for future size growth for radiation hardened designs

Front View

Back View

Figure 6 Photos of the prototype point-of-load converter (POLC)

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APOL Prototype Measured Efficiency

Efficiency was recorded over wide load, line, and temperature conditions
A record power efficiency of 98.99% was obtained and the efficiency > 97.5% for all lines, loads and temperatures
A record efficiency of 99% achieved with less than10W load

99.00

98.50

98.00

Efficiency (%)

97.50
Temp = -30C Temp = -20.0C Temp = -9.5C Temp = 0.1C Temp = 25.6C Temp = 45.6C Temp = 65.4C

97.00

96.50

96.00 0 2 4 Iout (A) 6 8 10

Figure 8 Measured POLC efficiency, demonstrating a record power efficiency of 99% at 4Vin, 3.3Vout at about 3A
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Power Conversion Goes Adiabatic

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Power Goes Adiabatic

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Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy DC grids Grid connected things Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting WBG applications

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Low Power Goes Monolithic

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Low Power Goes Monolithic

Technology Barriers: Efficient monolithic inductors Eff hi-speed power devices Eff hi-speed controllers Eff hi-freq gate drives

A 660-MHz <40% efficient PwrSoC, UBC, CA, 2009

Towards Monolithic (PwrSoC)

Technology Performance Metrics for PwrSoC

Lower rds,on for the high-side switching device: < 2 m/1.9 nC Lower rds,on for the low-side switching MOSFET: < 5 m/1.2 nC Lower forward drop for the body diode: < 0.3V Lower inductor dc resistance: < 1 m for 300 nH at > 10 A Lower resistance value for the PWB traces: < 1m
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A 233-MHz 80%-87% efficient PwrSoC, Intel, 2005

A 100-MHz ~78% efficient PwrSoC, RPI, 2013

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Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy DC grids Grid connected things Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting WBG applications

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A keynote at APEC2014, Tan

High Power Goes Multi Level

Advantages: Sinusoidal waveform with lower harmonics and power scalability with lower part stress level, enabling series or parallel voltage or current scaling

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A keynote at APEC2014, Tan

Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy DC grids Grid connected things Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting WBG applications

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Energy Harvesting (Teslas Revenge)

Energy harvesting and applications to remote sensor network

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Outline
Power electronics: a system of technologies
Integration of green energy Grid connected things Transportation electrification Smart home and beyond Power conversation goes adiabatic Low power goes monolithic High power goes multi level Energy harvesting DC grids WBG applications

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Satellite Communication Systems

Antenna to receive signal

Amplifier / Transmitter to send signal back

CMD / Control (lo power)

TLM / Data (hi power)

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Typical TWTA Performance

TWT efficiency is relative high High voltage design is heavy and costly

TWTA vendor basis is limited

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GaN HEMT and SSPA

GaN high electronic mobility transistor (HEMT) based solid-state power amplifier (SSPA) is emerging as a viable replacement for traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA)

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GaN SSPA Performance Challenge

GaN SSPA Advantages High end-to-end DC-to-RF efficiency Compact size and low weight Highest reliability RF Amplifier Exceptional RF Performance (Enable advanced data links out of the box and supports multiple data links

Overall efficiency is a challenge

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GaN Challenges
GaN power switching devices needs
E-mode operation similar to a MOSFET Stable dynamic on-resistance Efficient gate drive circuitry Efficient controller

GaN will be really competitive in

High voltage and high power applications Low power, high frequency applications

GaN will have to deliver performance

For low to medium power applications Lateral DMOS can be a viable competitor

Si (CMOS) controller is here for long time to come

When it comes to speed, GaN wins When it comes to efficiency, Si (CMOS) still has an edge
Si devices & CMOS controllers will be here for the long time to come GaN will occupy a large share of the power electronics applications and market

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SiC Potential: High Energy Laser

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SiC Potential: In-Space Electric Propulsion

Firing in Vacuum Chamber 1/8 Cathode

Hall-Effect Thruster

Ion Engine

Firing in Vacuum Chamber

Power Processing Unit, including Digital I/F Control Unit

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Power Processing Unit

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