High efficiency power conversion for DC buildings, telecom and IT infrastructure

最近采用的直流(DC)供电设备(计算机、电信、数据中心、消费电子产品)在过去十年中使全球用电量增加了27%。由于电力变流器(AC/DC和DC/DC)需要为直流设备提供电源，其转换效率对电厂节能降碳起着至关重要的作用。这在新兴的DC建筑和快速扩展的电信/IT基础设施中非常重要，因为大多数DC电力都是消耗的，必须以经济高效的方式提供。UBC的奥多尼兹博士与阿尔法技术公司合作的目标是开发高效电力转换技术，以支持DC基础设施，以便巩固和改进大规模模块化应用中的电力转换。阿尔法科技有限公司是不列颠哥伦比亚省最顶尖的高科技雇主之一，在通信、医疗和工业环境的电源解决方案集成方面处于领先地位。该研发项目将新型功率器件(氮化镓)、先进的软开关拓扑和控制架构与复杂的分析和仿真技术相结合，以缩小体积、提高效率，并将直流电源系统的功耗降低40%。随着新技术的加入，不断扩大的电信、IT基础设施和新兴的DC建筑将从能源消耗和成本的降低中大幅受益。该项目与加拿大政府促进能源效率和清洁能源技术的倡议相一致。

The recent adoption of direct current (DC) powered equipment (computers, telecoms, data centers, consumer electronics) has increased global electricity consumption by 27% over the past decade. Since power converters (AC/DC and DC/DC) are required to supply DC equipment, their conversion efficiency plays a critical role in saving energy and reducing carbon emission from generation plants. This is extremely important in emerging DC buildings and the rapidly expanding telecom/IT infrastructure, where the majority of the DC power is consumed and must be supplied in a cost effective and efficient manner.The objective of the collaboration between Dr. Ordonez at UBC and Alpha Technologies is to develop high efficiency power conversion technology to support DC infrastructure in order to consolidate and improve power conversion on large-scale, modular applications. Alpha Technologies Ltd., one of the top high-tech employers in BC, is a leading company in powering solutions integration for communication, medical and industrial environments.This R&D project combines novel power devices (Gallium nitride), advanced soft-switching topologies, and control architectures with complex analysis and simulation techniques in order to reduce the size, improve efficiency, and cut power losses of DC powering systems by 40%. With the incorporation of novel technology, the expanding Telecom, IT infrastructure, and emerging DC buildings will substantially benefit from reduced energy consumption and costs. The project aligns with the government of Canada's initiatives to promote energy efficiency and clean energy technology.