EAPSI: Improving the Power Electronics used in Nuclear Fusion with New Materials

EAPSI：用新材料改进核聚变中使用的电力电子设备

• 批准号: 1414994
• 负责人: Mark Scott
• 金额: $ 0.51万
• 依托单位: Scott Mark J
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2015-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1414994&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAPSI; Improving; Power; Electronics; used

Electricity generated from nuclear fusion is being pursued as a cleaner alternative to power produced by burning fossil fuels and from uranium based nuclear fission. Power electronics are used in this process to control the electrical energy during the fusion reaction. If the efficiency of this hardware could be improved and its size reduced, it would contribute towards making this form of energy generation a reality. However, this is difficult to accomplish with existing components due to the properties of the materials used. As a potential solution, this research explores an alternative medium for constructing this hardware. The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) located at the Chinese Academy of Science in Hefei, China is one of the most advance reactors in the world. The power electronics used to control EAST will be the case study for this work. This research will be conducted in in collaboration with Dr. Lei Yang, an expert in this field of energy conversion. The results of this investigation will also be applicable to systems that are used to ensure grid stability in the United States and abroad.The circuits controlling EAST use silicon (Si) thyristors to regulate the flow of electrical energy. This work studies the possibility of using silicon carbide (SiC) components as replacements. The atomic properties of SiC are superior to Si in many respects, making improvements in efficiency and power density achievable. This project will quantify the gains in terms of electrical efficiency and reduced footprints for a SiC based poloidal field (PF) power supply. Simulation results along with experimental data will be used to support the conclusions. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

人们正在寻求将核聚变产生的电力作为燃烧化石燃料和铀基核裂变产生的电力的更清洁替代品。此过程中使用电力电子设备来控制聚变反应期间的电能。如果可以提高该硬件的效率并减小其尺寸，则将有助于使这种形式的能源生产成为现实。然而，由于所用材料的特性，这很难用现有组件来实现。作为一种潜在的解决方案，本研究探索了构建该硬件的替代媒介。位于中国合肥中国科学院的实验性先进超导托卡马克（EAST）是世界上最先进的反应堆之一。用于控制 EAST 的电力电子设备将成为这项工作的案例研究。这项研究将与能源转换领域的专家雷阳博士合作进行。这项调查的结果也将适用于用于确保美国和国外电网稳定性的系统。控制 EAST 的电路使用硅 (Si) 晶闸管来调节电能的流动。这项工作研究了使用碳化硅 (SiC) 部件作为替代品的可能性。 SiC 的原子特性在许多方面都优于 Si，从而可以提高效率和功率密度。该项目将量化基于 SiC 的极向场 (PF) 电源在电效率和减少占地面积方面的收益。模拟结果和实验数据将用于支持结论。该 NSF EAPSI 奖项由与中国科学技术部合作资助。