Multi-Domain Virtual Prototyping Techniques for Wide-Bandgap Power Electronics

电力电子是低碳未来的关键组件，为各种能源和交通应用提供节能转换和控制解决方案。电力电子技术使电动汽车和混合动力汽车成为可能，它是下一代节能型“更电动”飞机的基础技术，对高铁服务的运营至关重要。它允许可再生能源连接到国家电网，并使我们能够更有效地利用我们拥有的配电网络。总而言之，它有可能使几乎所有的电子设备变得更小、更轻或更高效。直到最近，电力电子系统一直基于硅晶体管，但这些设备的固有限制限制了电力电子使能系统的体积、重量和效率。下一代电力电子将使用宽带隙(WBG)功率晶体管，这些晶体管由碳化硅(SIC)和氮化镓(GaN)等材料制成，能够克服硅的局限性。这是通过拥有晶体管来实现的，这些晶体管可以在更高的频率下工作，在更高的电压和更高的温度下工作，并将它们作为热量处理的电力消耗得更少。问题是，我们目前对电力电子系统设计的理解和经验来自于硅系统，而硅系统的设计对于实现最佳性能并不那么关键。为了充分开发基于WBG的系统的潜力，我们必须了解WBG设备更极端的工作范围带来的挑战，并相应地定制系统设计。高频运行意味着系统的电磁设计是至关重要的，以避免不可靠的电力电子系统，防止电力电子系统通过电磁发射影响其他设备。从理论上讲，高频运行还允许减小无源滤波组件(电感和电容器)的尺寸，这可以显著降低系统尺寸和重量(增加功率密度)，但较小的在较高频率运行的无源组件的行为很难预测，而且它们可能会受到热管理问题的影响。随着WBG半导体能够在更高的温度下运行，高功率密度电力电子系统对最初为处理基于硅的系统而开发的封装和互连方法施加了更大的热应力，这可能会对系统可靠性产生不利影响。基于WBG的优化系统设计必须考虑组件选择、系统几何结构和构建技术如何影响这些挑战中的每一个，但由于这些挑战相结合，试图解决一个问题的设计的任何更改都可能在另一个领域引发新的问题。众所周知，电磁干扰和可靠性等效应很难通过丰富的经验进行预测，而且宽带隙半导体本身的行为也不同于硅半导体。这项研究将开发电力电子系统设计师所需的工具，以便能够在第一时间在计算机上正确地设计出最佳的WBG系统--虚拟样机。这将缩短设计时间，因为需要建造的物理原型更少，而且它将允许具有硅系统经验的工程师快速开发高性能的WBG系统。我们将通过开发数学技术来实现这一点，这些技术可以用来预测潜在系统在电磁、热、机械、可靠性和半导体领域的表现。然后，这些技术将被结合到一个概念验证设计工具中，该工具将在伙伴机构开发的真正的宽带隙系统上进行演示，并在相关的CA、RHM和HI项目中进行并行工作。

Power electronics is a key component in a low-carbon future, enabling energy-efficient conversion and control solutions for a wide variety of energy and transportation applications. Power electronics technology enables electric and hybrid vehicles, it is the underpinning technology for the next generation of fuel-efficient "More Electric" Aircraft, and is essential for the operation of high speed rail services. It allows connection of renewable energy sources to the national grid and allows us to more efficiently use the electricity distribution networks we have. In summary, it has the potential to allow almost all electrical devices to become smaller, lighter or more efficient.Until recently, power electronic systems have been based around Silicon transistors but inherent limitations of these devices present a limit to how small, light and efficient a power electronic enabled system can be. Next generation power electronics will utilise Wide Bandgap (WBG) power transistors, made from materials such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) which are able to overcome the limitations of Silicon. This is achieved by having transistors that can operate at much higher frequencies, operate at higher voltages and higher temperatures, and dissipate less of the power they process as heat. The problem is that our current understanding and experience of power electronic system design is derived from Silicon systems, and that the design of Silicon systems is less critical to achieving optimal performance. To fully exploit the potential of WBG based systems we must understand the challenges posed by the more extreme operating range of WBG devices, and tailor system designs accordingly. High frequency operation means that the electromagnetic design of systems is critical, to avoid unreliable power electronic systems and to prevent power electronic systems affecting other devices through electromagnetic emissions. High frequency operation also theoretically allows the reduction in size of passive filter components (inductors and capacitors) which can significantly reduce system size and weight (increased power density), however the behaviour of smaller passive components operating at higher frequencies is difficult to predict and they can suffer from thermal management problems. High power density power electronic systems, with WBG semiconductors able to operate at higher temperatures place increased thermal stresses on packaging and interconnection methods that were originally developed to deal with Silicon based systems, and this can adversely affect system reliability. An optimal WBG based system design must consider how component choice, system geometry and construction techniques affects each of these challenges, but as the challenges are coupled, any changes to a design to try to solve one problem can cause new problems in another area. Effects such as electromagnetic interference and reliability are also notoriously difficult to predict with extensive experience, and the behaviour of the wide-bandgap semiconductors themselves is different to their Silicon counterparts.This research will develop the tools that power electronic system designers need to be able to design optimal WBG systems, right-first-time, on a computer - Virtual Prototyping. This will allow faster design times, as fewer physical prototypes must be built, and it will allow engineers with Silicon system experience to quickly develop high performance WBG systems. We will do this by developing mathematical techniques that can be applied to predict how a potential system will behave in the electromagnetic, thermal, mechanical, reliability and semiconductor domains. These techniques will then be combined into a proof-of-concept design tool that will be demonstrated on real wide-bandgap systems developed at the partner institutions, and through parallel work in the linked CA, RHM, and HI projects.