Future solar home systems: Matching energy supply with energy demand

1.3 billion people in the world lack access to electricity (International Energy Agency (2013). The largest share of this group is poor and lives in the developing world, and has to deal with unmet basic needs. Having the possibility to use reliable and clean energy is seen as a driver for social development and environmental sustainability....

A modular DC/DC converter using SiC switches for railway applications

Electrical trains are fed with a high voltage to reduce transmission losses. In the train, these voltages have to be stepped down to a voltage that could be fed into the traction motors. This is done with IGBT based power converters. The use of IGBTs in power converters has some disadvantages: they generate a lot of heat and are therefore not...

Design of a Zero voltage switching Flyback synchronous rectification controller for high voltage applications

The recent launch of high voltage switching devices of new semiconductor materials such as Silicon Carbide, have shown better performance. This makes it possible to use the single stage Flyback converter for low to moderate power, high input voltage applications, which is attractive due to its inherent advantages of low cost and simplicity....

Series Operation of Switched-mode Power Supplies for LED Lighting

Solid-state LED lighting, as the fourth-generation lighting technology, has drawn great popularity due to its long lifetime, high luminous efficacy, high energy efficiency and sustainability. Technical advancement and rapid cost-down in LED technology bring entirely new possibilities in lighting applications and stimulate a significant...

Novel digital controller for boost PFC

LED lighting, as the fourth-generation lighting technology, is developing rapidly over the past years due to its high energy efficiency, longer life span and sustainability compared to incandescent light bulbs and CFLs. Today’s stand-alone LED drivers for professional lighting systems contain two cascaded power converters: an input and an output...

Design of Hybrid Safety relay system for Philips Instant fit LED Tubes(TLED)

Fluorescent lamp has been a very successful source of light. Installed base of TL(Tube Linear) is huge; more than 60 percent of artificial light is being generated today by fluorescent tube. However in the past few years LED lighting technology has been rapidly developed. LED (Light emitting diode) is a new technology that has become more energy...

Emitter Switching for Power BJT Based LED Drivers

In recent years, the LED lighting developed rapidly because of its superior efficiency, eco-friendliness, and longer lifetime compared to the fluorescent and its incandescent counterparts. As the core of LED systems, LED drivers need to be well designed in order to properly drive the LEDs with high efficiency, high reliability, long lifetime,...

Weight and Volume Optimization of a Three-phase Inverter

Three-phase inverters are widely used in industries. Due to the advancements in semiconductor technologies, researchers have witnessed a continuous increase in the power density of inverters over the decades. Meanwhile, on the basis of such advancement, designers are also pushing the power density to its limit by minimizing the weight and volume...

Investigation of the inductor’s parasitic capacitance in the high frequency switching of the high voltage cascode GaN HEMT

The concept of the More Electric Aircraft, where the majority of the aircraft’s secondary needs will be supplied by electrical power, is under continuous research over a number of years in order to conform the recent demand for more efficient and environmentally friendly aircrafts. Advancements in power electronics have contributed towards the...

GaN enabled OLED Driver for Automotive Lighting Application

The impressive features, both in a design and technical aspect, of the Organic LED (OLED) lighting technology have attracted the interest of the research and commercial world and have recently be in the spotlight of the automotive industries, like the Lighting Department of Audi. Some of the most exciting features of these lights are the...

A Solid-State Transformer for Interconnection between the Medium- and the Low-Voltage Grid

In recent years the complexity of the grid systems has grown due to the increased penetration of renewable energy and distributed generation sources. The increased complexity requires new methods to quickly manage the changing sources and loads. This research focuses on one of such technologies, called the Solid State Transformer (SST). A SST...

Converter Design for Nuna Maximum Power Point Tracker

The world is rapidly moving towards a greener future, a mainstay of which is solar energy. Hence, maximum power point trackers, or MPPTs for short, are an indispensable component, since these devices provide one with the capability to fully maximize the achievable power from solar cells in a system. A symbol of the greener world that is evolving...

Maximum power point tracking: Algorithm and software development

Currently, the Nuon Solar Team is building their new solar car, which makes use of solar panels. Solar panels have a Maximum Power Point (MPP), which, when operated at that point, ensures the maximum available power is obtained from them. In this thesis, different options were explored to solve the problem of tracking the MPP of a solar panel....

Maximum Power Point Tracking Topology, sensor and switch design

The Nuna 6 is a solar racing vehicle that solely relies on solar energy from the sun. Every year, the team seeks ways to improve the performance of their car. One way to improve the performance is to maximize the power output of the solar panels on top of the car. Maximizing the power output can be done with a 'Maximum Power Point Tracker'. The...