A power converter is an electrical device capable of altering the characteristics of the voltage and current it receives.
One of the main areas of expertise of the research Group of Industrial Electronics and Automatic Control (GAEI) of Universitat Rovira i Virgili is the intersection of the field of power converters with those of applied control, renewable energies, power conditioning, power quality, and design of power conversion devices.
Dr. Carlos Olalla and his team have developed a new, smart hybrid controller for high power resonant converters, which play a key role in the electrification of critical applications, such as heating and transportation. These novel hybrid controllers employ the inherent oscillation of the resonant tank to activate the switches of the power converter in a smart, efficient way. Resonant converters enhanced with hybrid controllers will outperform nowadays devices in terms of power transfer efficiency, power density and regulation performance.
The technology currently applies to resonant dc-to-high-frequency-ac or dc-dc conversion stages with full bridge inverters and conventional rectification.
The new hybrid controller implements frequency and amplitude modulation of the resonant tank at the same time, maintaining soft-switching, with no need of external oscillators.
As a result, switching frequency can be maintained near the optimal resonant frequency for all set points. Core and winding loss of the magnetic devices is minimized. The design of the magnetic elements can be optimized. Efficiency is improved.
Current development status
Laboratory prototypes
Applications
The target market is aimed at electric vehicle-related battery charging. The power level of automotive battery chargers and the requirements of simplicity of the control approach, high efficiency and power isolation and are good matches to the characteristics of the technology. One direct field of application of this technology is on existing on-board battery chargers previously regulated with conventional set-point dependent PI controllers. The technology is readily applicable to these devices.
Desired business relationship
Patent licensing
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