Using Wide Bandgap Semiconductors to Develop High Performance Inverters in Electric Vehicles

使用宽带隙半导体开发电动汽车中的高性能逆变器

• 批准号: 2743588
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2743588
• 关键词: Using; Wide; Bandgap; Semiconductors; Develop

This project falls within the EPSRC Electrical motors and drives and electromagnetics research area.This project is funded through the Industrial CASE award, with the industrial partner being YASA Limited.Research ContextWith the global market shares of electrified and electric vehicles predicted to almost triple between the years 2020 and 2025, the role of electric powered vehicles in the automotive industry is increasing at an astonishing rate. Although the global demand for electric vehicles is increasing, solutions to the various problems that are present with their design need to be addressed. Among these problems, one of the key bottlenecks is the range of an electric vehicle. To increase the distance per kWh, there are multiple systems that can be looked at, with one of them being the inverter. Improvements in the performance of the inverter can considerably increase the range of an electric vehicle.One of the key future developments in the improvement of electric vehicle inverters is the use of wide bandgap semiconductors. The higher thermal conductivities and operating frequency of wide bandgap semiconductors also play a role in their preference in electric vehicle inverters. This project will aim to develop ways of utilising the beneficial properties of wide bandgap semiconductors, to improve performance of electric vehicle inverters.Primary Research Aims and ObjectivesThe objective of the research will be to design and test new circuit designs, which utilise the properties of wide bandgap semiconductors to their advantage. This concept will be proved over a number of tests, designed to simulate the load of an electric motor in a vehicle.Proposed MethodologyAn extensive literature review will be carried out, studying current modern inverters and how their structures and function depend on the properties of IGBTs, specifically the constraints created by them and how these influenced the design of the inverters. Further study of wide bandgapsemiconductors and their properties will be done, also emphasising their limitations, as these will be different from IGBTs and so will pose different design problems. Research into other possible wide bandgap semiconductors, other that the conventional ones of GaN and SiC, could yield semiconductors with more useful properties in the context of this problem.Next, the most common inverter structures will be examined to find the core concepts they use in their functionality and how these are influenced by practical limitations of the components in the circuit, so as to help gauge how the benefit of using wide bandgap semiconductors can be maximised, when standing in for IGBTs in the current inverter circuits.Once wide bandgap semiconductors have been incorporated into current inverter structures, the circuits can be reassessed for limitations is their performance, due to other components in the circuit and the general circuit structure. From there, new circuit structures can be devised to properly utilise wide bandgap semiconductors and their beneficial characteristics.After new inverter circuits have been proposed, these can be tested against current inverters, when under a load which properly simulates a vehicle motor under use. This will not only help to test the efficiency of the new inverter circuits against existing one, but aid in checking the circuits' functionality under non-standard test loads, i.e. the durability of the circuits when not just driving a motor at a constant speed and torque.

该项目福尔斯属于EPSRC电机和驱动器以及电磁学研究领域。该项目通过工业案例奖获得资助，工业合作伙伴为YASA Limited。研究背景随着全球电动汽车和电动汽车的市场份额预计在2020年至2025年期间几乎增加两倍，电动车辆在汽车工业中的作用正以惊人的速度增长。虽然全球对电动汽车的需求正在增加，但需要解决其设计中存在的各种问题。在这些问题中，关键的瓶颈之一是电动汽车的范围。为了增加每千瓦时的距离，可以考虑多个系统，其中之一是逆变器。逆变器性能的改善可以显著增加电动汽车的行驶里程。未来改进电动汽车逆变器的关键发展之一是使用宽带隙半导体。宽带隙半导体的更高导热率和工作频率也在它们在电动汽车逆变器中的偏好中发挥作用。该项目旨在开发利用宽带隙半导体的有益特性的方法，以提高电动汽车inverter.Primary研究目的和ObjectivesThe研究的目的将是设计和测试新的电路设计，利用宽带隙半导体的特性，以他们的优势。这一概念将证明了一些测试，旨在模拟负载的电动机在vehicle.Proposed MethodologyAn广泛的文献综述将进行，研究目前的现代逆变器，以及它们的结构和功能如何取决于IGBT的属性，特别是由他们创建的约束，以及这些如何影响逆变器的设计。将对宽带隙半导体及其特性进行进一步研究，同时强调其局限性，因为这些半导体与IGBT不同，因此会带来不同的设计问题。对其他可能的宽带隙半导体的研究，除了传统的GaN和SiC之外，可以产生在这个问题的背景下更有用的特性的半导体。接下来，最常见的逆变器结构将被检查，以找到它们在功能中使用的核心概念，以及这些概念如何受到电路中元件的实际限制的影响，以便帮助测量当在当前逆变器电路中代替IGBT时，如何最大化使用宽带隙半导体的益处。一旦宽带隙半导体已经被并入到当前逆变器结构中，就可以重新评估电路的性能限制，由于电路中的其它元件和一般电路结构。在此基础上，可以设计新的电路结构，以适当利用宽带隙半导体及其有益特性。在提出新的逆变器电路后，可以在适当模拟使用中的车辆电机的负载下，对电流逆变器进行测试。这不仅有助于测试新逆变器电路与现有逆变器电路的效率，还有助于检查电路在非标准测试负载下的功能，即在不只是以恒定速度和扭矩驱动电机时电路的耐用性。