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

最近采用直流（DC）供电的设备（计算机、电信、数据中心、消费电子产品）使全球电力消耗在过去十年中增加了27%。由于电源转换器（AC/DC和DC/DC）需要为直流设备供电，因此其转换效率对于发电厂节能和减少碳排放至关重要。这在新兴的直流建筑和快速扩展的电信/IT基础设施中非常重要，因为大部分直流电源被消耗，必须以具有成本效益和效率的方式供电。UBC的Ordonez博士和Alpha Technologies之间的合作目标是开发高效的电源转换技术，以支持直流基础设施，以巩固和改进大规模模块化应用的电源转换。Alpha Technologies Ltd.是BC省顶尖的高科技雇主之一，是一家为通信、医疗和工业环境提供集成解决方案的领先公司。该研发项目将新型功率器件（氮化镓），先进的软开关拓扑结构和控制架构与复杂的分析和仿真技术相结合，以减小尺寸，提高效率，并将直流供电系统的功率损耗降低40%。随着新技术的结合，不断扩大的电信、IT基础设施和新兴的数据中心建筑将从减少的能源消耗和成本中受益匪浅。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.