In this master thesis, the design and implementation of a high-voltage switch using series-connected Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) is discussed. A high-voltage switch is needed for applications such as high-voltage DC converters. Multilevel modular converters (MMCs) can also aid in the voltage-blocking capabilities of converters. MMCs use multiple submodules to block the full voltage. Every submodule thus only blocks a part of the full voltage. Each submodule needs multiple components that can be expensive, like voltage sensors and gate drive circuitry. By having the submodules block a higher voltage, fewer components are needed. By implementing a higher voltage blocking switch into such a submodule, cost and components can be spared by having a lower total amount of submodules. Current technologies of high-voltage switches are MOSFETs, insulated gate bipolar transistors, thyristors or electro-mechanical switches. MOSFETs have the advantage of being faster and have lower losses than the other technologies. The downside of using MOSFETs is that the voltage-blocking capability is lower than the other technologies. This could be solved by connecting multiple MOSFETs in series for a higher blocking voltage. To do this, care has to be taken that the MOSFETs turn on- and off at the same time. They also need to share the voltage equally to take full advantage of the blocking voltage of each MOSFET. A cost-effective way to implement a high-voltage switch using series-connected MOSFETs is to use capacitive coupling. In this method, the gate charge needed to turn the MOSFETs on is stored in capacitors. When the first MOSFET is turned on, the other series-connected MOSFETs will also turn on. This method has the downside that the switch can only be turned on for a limited amount of time (a few microseconds) and that the voltage balancing is dependent on the load, the switching frequency and the parasitics of the circuit. For this reason, a single high-voltage MOSFET was used in this project, even though it can be slower and more lossy than the series-connected switch. An MMC submodule was made using a full-bridge configuration. Additionally required components such as a gate signal generator, power supply, voltage- and current sensors, and fault protection were also designed, built and tested. In this way, a functioning MMC submodule was created that can be used with a capacitor or an isolated transformer as its source. ... Read more

Wireless power transfer has been around for a long time. In 1899 Nikola Tesla demonstrated that it was possible to transfer power using a pair of coils. This technology has advanced to now charge a wide range of portable devices, such as phones. In this thesis, a wireless charging system is designed to be integrated into a power bank with UV-C sterilization to charge phones.

The design focuses on creating a small and highly efficient module to transfer energy from the power bank battery to the phone with as little losses as possible. The design adheres to the Qi standard from the Wireless Power Consortium by following the MP-A2 reference design. The design consists of a voltage regulator to provide a constant voltage, a controlled inverter that manages output power, and a series compensated transmitter coil. LTspice simulations predict the power efficiency to be 74% from the battery to the receiver. A prototype PCB was designed and assembled to demonstrate the performance of the design in practice and transferred 5W at an efficiency of 67%. This shows potential for future integration of the design into the power bank. ... Read more