High Power Density AC-DC Converter for Distributed Energy Storage Systems

Issue: AC/DC converter/rectifier is an essential component: from numerous home and business appliances to industrial manufacturing equipment, and from airplanes to supercarriers. The AC/DC converter is especially significant for energy storage systems which are usually composed of batteries and super-capacitors. The converter rectifies AC power from the outlet to charge batteries or super-capacitors. In most cases, high efficiency and high power density are desired for an energy storage system, which accordingly sets the requirements for AC/DC converters. It is challenging to achieve high power density while maintaining a relatively high efficiency since other issues need to be considered as well, especially component placement and thermal design.

Objective: The goal of this project is to develop a high-power-density AC/DC converter for a distributed energy storage system. REU students will (i) conduct a literature review and select a converter topology; (ii) perform a thermal design for the DC-to-AC converter; and (iii) implement the hardware prototype.

Student Involvement: Sample problems that students will address are to: (i) compare different AC/DC converter topologies; (ii) simulate the AC/DC converter using PSIM or Matlab; (iii) implement the voltage controller in a DSP platform, and (v) develop a prototype of AC/DC converter.