Ultrawide Bandgap AlGaN Power Electronics - Transforming Solid-State Circuit Breakers (ULTRAlGaN)

超宽带隙 AlGaN 电力电子 - 改造固态断路器 (ULTRAlGaN)

• 批准号: EP/X035360/1
• 负责人: Martin Kuball
• 金额: $ 678.7万
• 依托单位: University of Bristol
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FX035360%2F1
• 关键词: Ultrawide; Bandgap; AlGaN; Power; Electronics

There is an urgent need for new power electronic technologies to underpin the transition to net zero. The imminent risks for our planet have been highlighted by UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calling our current status 'code red' for human driven global heating in its scientific report published in 2021. Deploying power electronics in renewable generation systems enables smart control of grid networks and efficient energy utilization. This is also true of transportation, which in turn will support a dramatic reduction of the 72% of global primary energy consumption currently wasted world-wide.In this programme grant (PG), we develop a transformative next generation of Aluminium Gallium Nitride (AlGaN) Solid-State Circuit Breakers (SSCBs), with greatly improved efficiency and greater voltage range, to many kVs, enabling anticipated global energy savings >20% compared to continuing with current technologies. Circuit breakers are critical components for safe, reliable electrical power systems, including for power-electronics-dense grids, but a step-change in performance is needed. According to the major power electronics company ABB / Hitachi Energy, SSCBs are 'the weakest link in next-generation electricity infrastructure'. The slow response time of existing mechanical circuit breakers available on the market risks damaging sensitive equipment. The alternative use of Silicon (Si) - based SSCBs, although providing superior switching speed (<1 microseconds) versus mechanical circuit breakers (>100 microseconds), and offering the fast circuit protection critically needed for high-performance power distribution, presently suffer from high conduction losses and are often limited at best to 4-5 kV safe operation for a single chip. Higher voltage ranges are required in increasingly more complex and varied application areas including electric planes and ships. For example, Si-based SSCB inefficiencies would contribute up to an additional 600 Mtons of CO2 emissions per year if implemented in the global cruise liner industry alone.The vision and ambition is to address current roadblocks in power electronics by developing new SSCBs. The limitations in existing technologies can be largely eliminated using ultrawide bandgap AlGaN SSCBs, which conservatively have a 100x improvement in efficiency compared to existing commercial high-voltage devices such as Si insulated-gate bipolar transistors and Silicon Carbide (SiC) metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors, to enable efficient, compact SSCBs with minimal cooling requirements. In 20 years, it is expected that these highly efficient ultrawide bandgap AlGaN power electronic components will have displaced all other technologies such as Si and SiC for high-current high-voltage uses, e.g. in power distribution and transportation such as in trains, maritime and planes, helping enable a carbon neutral society. The underlying physical reason for the great benefit of using AlGaN is its much greater bandgap (up to 6.2 eV) compared to Si (1.1 eV) and SiC (3.2 eV). The commonly used power electronics Baliga Figure of Merit, i.e. the suitability of a material for power electronics, of AlGaN is nearly 1,800 compared to 1 for Si and 340 for SiC, enabling a revolution in what power electronics will be able to deliver.Many interlinked technological challenges need to be addressed, including AlGaN materials growth, and methods to enable large enough layer thicknesses, alongside the development and fabrication of new device concepts to achieve high performance and reliable AlGaN SSCBs. The PG will be driven by the realization of transformative device prototypes, with ever increasing complexity, challenge and innovation during the course of the PG, ultimately driving UK research in this area towards end-application prototypes. The high-power application space is huge, and developments will be steered by involving end-users in a co-creation role for the SSCB prototypes.

迫切需要新的电力电子技术来支持向净零的过渡。联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会在其2021年发布的科学报告中强调了我们星球面临的迫在眉睫的风险，称我们目前的状态是人类驱动的全球变暖的“红色代码”。在可再生能源发电系统中部署电力电子设备可以实现电网的智能控制和有效的能源利用。交通运输也是如此，这反过来又将大大减少目前全球72%的一次能源消耗。在该计划资助（PG）中，我们开发了变革性的下一代氮化铝镓（AlGaN）固态断路器（sscb），大大提高了效率和更大的电压范围，达到许多kv，与继续使用当前技术相比，预计全球节能20%。断路器是安全可靠的电力系统的关键部件，包括电力电子密集的电网，但性能需要逐步改变。根据主要电力电子公司ABB /日立能源的说法，sscb是“下一代电力基础设施中最薄弱的环节”。市场上现有的机械断路器响应时间较慢，有损坏敏感设备的风险。基于硅（Si）的sscb的替代使用，虽然提供了比机械断路器（bbb100微秒）更高的开关速度（<1微秒），并提供高性能配电所需的快速电路保护，但目前存在高传导损耗，并且通常仅限于单个芯片的4-5千伏安全操作。包括电动飞机和船舶在内的越来越复杂和多样化的应用领域需要更高的电压范围。例如，如果仅在全球邮轮行业实施，基于si的SSCB效率低下将导致每年额外排放6亿吨二氧化碳。愿景和目标是通过开发新的sscb来解决当前电力电子领域的障碍。使用超宽带隙AlGaN SSCBs可以在很大程度上消除现有技术的局限性，与现有的商用高压器件（如Si绝缘栅双极晶体管和碳化硅（SiC）金属氧化物半导体场效应晶体管）相比，其效率提高了100倍，可以实现高效，紧凑的SSCBs，并具有最小的冷却要求。预计在20年内，这些高效的超宽带隙AlGaN电力电子元件将取代所有其他技术，如Si和SiC，用于大电流高压用途，例如在火车，海上和飞机等配电和运输中，有助于实现碳中和社会。使用AlGaN的潜在物理原因是它比Si （1.1 eV）和SiC （3.2 eV）具有更大的带隙（高达6.2 eV）。常用的电力电子Baliga性能指数，即电力电子材料的适用性，AlGaN的性能指数接近1800，而Si为1，SiC为340，从而实现了电力电子产品的革命。许多相互关联的技术挑战需要解决，包括AlGaN材料的生长，以及实现足够大的层厚度的方法，以及新设备概念的开发和制造，以实现高性能和可靠的AlGaN sscb。PG将由变革性设备原型的实现驱动，在PG过程中不断增加复杂性，挑战和创新，最终推动英国在这一领域的研究走向最终应用原型。高功率应用空间是巨大的，通过让终端用户参与到SSCB原型的共同创造角色中来引导开发。