Power Electronics Design and Validation Services

WIDE BAND GAP SEMICONDUCTORS

Wide Band Gap (WBG) semiconductors such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs and Gallium Nitride (GaN) Transistors are a potential enabler for power electronic converters heading towards greener energy transmission (reduced switching and/or conduction losses), ultra-high-power density capability (diminished losses and higher maximum operating temperature) and reduced system complexity (due to enhanced maximum voltage blocking capacity).

Features and Capabilities

Wide Band Gap materials normally come with a number of superior material characteristics compared to standard silicon. In theory, this facilitates WBG based semiconductors to operate at (i) higher maximum chip temperature, (ii) improved power density of devices, (iii) reduced semiconductor losses, (iv) increased system dynamic due to higher switching frequency operation and (v) a more compact chip size for the same maximum blocking voltage rating of silicon devices or a higher blocking voltage compared to similar silicon chip dimensions.

Our services

AIT offers WBG based solutions for different applications or technical fields such as AC/DC, DC/DC and DC/AC converters for PV-, wind power-, EV charging-, powertrain-, data centre-, aviation-, space- or shipboard applications.

Testing new WBG components and packages:
Implementation of testbenches
Verification of parameters (ringing, switching and conduction losses)
Hybridization of WBG and/or silicon components

Design Support for WBG converters

Analytic pre-design
2-level, multi-level and multi-cell topologies
Single- and three-phase accessibility
Low- and medium-power systems
Stacked and/or paralleled solutions for maximized system power density
Cooling design support
Input/output filter and magnetics design

Prototypical Implementation and Verification/Testing

Schematic and layout (ORCAD or equivalent PCB design software) design or support
First operation of solutions
Extensive testing of systems
Verification & lab testing report

Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (C-Hil) Services

To develop and validate new distributed energy resources (DER) by means of controller hardware-in-the-loop (c-HIL) methods, the power electronics part is modelled within a real-time system and is connected to the control panel via a customized interface. Such a setup allows advanced testing of the control system of a DER converter and its high-level grid functions. Potential applications for c-HIL methods range from AC to AC, AC to DC, DC to AC and DC to DC power electronic converters, scalable for any power rating.

Our Service

Interface Design and Model Development

Our experts support with the design of customized real time system interfaces and the development of C-HIL models:

Design of a custom interface between the real-time system emulator and target controller hardware
Hands on experience with the leading real-time-system vendors such as Opal RT, PLECS RT Box, Typhoon HIL
C-HIL target application model development (e.g. PV inverter, energy storage systems, active harmonics filter microgrid, MVAC, MVDC, HVDC, smart grid and power system applications)

Controller Design and Development Support

With a longstanding experience in the field of power electronics design and testing, AIT offers following services:

Providing AIT real-time-system environment
Controls development from Off-line to Real-Time Simulation
Rapid prototyping of controller systems within AIT controller or at user target control platform

Testing and Validation

The testing and validation is supported by:

Design pre-certification testing and validation utilizing HIL technology
Design validation testing in the lab
Extended C-HIL test with different grid models under extreme grid conditions
Development of Python script-based, fully automated and application specific test procedures

[Translate to English:] Hardware in the loop Validation Visualisierung