Study and Assessment of Technical and Commercial Feasibility of a New Gate Drive Technology, SmartDrive, for Power Electronics Converters used in Offshore Wind Turbines

该项目旨在研究和评估用于海上风力涡轮机的电力电子转换器（PEC）的新型栅极驱动技术SmartDrive的技术和商业可行性。SmartDrive可以将佩奇的开关损耗和故障率分别降低25%和40%，从而将海上风电的能源成本降低4.3%（数据基于我们的初步研究以及能源和气候变化部推荐的模型）。这对英国来说尤其重要，因为海上风电将在实现2020年可再生能源和二氧化碳减排目标方面发挥重要作用。在该项目期间，将在20千瓦风力涡轮机中建造和测试SmartDrive原型。此外，还将评估和量化SmartDrive用于大型（例如5兆瓦以上）海上风力涡轮机的技术可行性和经济性。

The project aims to study and assess the technical and commercial feasibility of a new Gate Drive technology, SmartDrive, for Power Electronics Converters (PEC) used in offshore wind turbines. SmartDrive can offer a substantial 25 and 40 percent reduction in PECs' switching losses and failure rate, respectively, hence reducing the Cost of Energy from offshore wind by 4.3% (figures are based on our preliminary studies and the model recommended by the Department of Energy & Climate Change). This is particularly important for the UK since the offshore wind is set to play an important role in achieving the renewable energy and CO2 emission reduction targets for 2020. During the project, a prototype SmartDrive will be built and tested in a 20 kW wind turbine. In addition, the technical feasibility and economics of SmartDrive for use in large-scale (e.g. 5 MW+) offshore wind turbines will be assessed and quantified.