Efficient Gallium Nitride-Based AC-DC Power Conversion Circuits for Information Technology, Electric Transportation and Industrial Applications

包括计算机、电动汽车、信息技术服务器和工业电池供电设备在内的消费者和工业应用广泛使用电能。电能必须从交流（AC）公用电压（例如120 V）转换为直流（DC）电压（例如48 V和400 V）以向这些应用供电。高开关频率（例如，数十到数百千赫兹）的AC-DC整流器电路用于该电压转换。许多转换器部件的尺寸与开关频率成比例地减小，因此期望增加开关频率。问题在于，电路中的损耗倾向于与开关频率成比例地增加，使得AC-DC功率转换电路在较高开关频率下固有地效率较低。因此，需要新技术来实现更高的开关频率，同时降低损耗。**拟议研究计划的目标包括发明，分析和实验评估消费者和工业千瓦功率AC到DC整流器的新技术，使用氮化镓开关在兆赫开关频率在以下领域：*i）非隔离无桥功率因数校正电路，以减少开关和传导损耗。ii）隔离DC-DC电源转换器电路，以提高第二级隔离DC-DC转换器的效率。* iii）隔离式单级功率因数校正电路，以减少开关和传导损耗。**这项研究计划的长期目标是开发新技术，以提高千瓦级AC-DC整流器的功率转换效率。该计划开发的技术将用于广泛的下一代消费和工业产品，从信息技术服务器电源到工业和电动汽车电池充电器。预计这项研究计划中提出的技术将使电力转换效率提高至少三个百分点，从而减少为这些产品提供电力所需的能源发电量，并相应减少温室气体排放。

Consumer and industrial applications, including computers, electric vehicles, information technology servers and industrial battery powered devices make extensive use of electrical energy. The electrical energy must be converted from the alternating current (AC) utility voltage (e.g. 120 V) to a direct current (DC) voltage (e.g. 48 V and 400 V) to power these applications. High switching frequency (e.g. tens to hundreds of kilohertz) AC-DC rectifier circuits are used for this voltage conversion. The size of many of the converter components reduces proportionately to the switching frequency, so increased switching frequencies are desired. The problem is that losses in the circuits tend to increases proportionally to switching frequency, making the AC-DC power conversion circuits, inherently less efficient at higher switching frequencies. Therefore, new technologies are required to enable higher switching frequencies while reducing losses.******The objectives of the proposed research program include invention, analysis and experimental evaluation of novel technologies for consumer and industrial kilowatt power AC-to-DC rectifiers using gallium nitride switches at megahertz switching frequencies in the following areas:***i) Non-isolated bridgeless power factor correction circuits to reduce switching and conduction losses.***ii) Isolated DC-DC power converter circuits to improve the efficiency of second-stage isolated DC-DC converters.***iii) Isolated single-stage power factor correction circuits to reduce switching and conduction losses.******The long-term objective of this research program is to develop novel technologies to increase the power conversion efficiency for kilowatt power level AC-DC rectifiers. The technologies developed in the proposed program will be used in a wide range of future generation consumer and industrial products, ranging from information technology server power supplies to industrial and electric vehicle battery chargers. It is expected that the technologies to be proposed in this research program will enable power conversion efficiency improvements of at least three percentage points, resulting in a reduction in the energy generation required to provide power to these products and a corresponding reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.