The unique selling point of the working group is the combination of competence about semiconductors, topologies, control, thermal design and system development.
Our research topics include:
- Test of extraordinary devices under tests at 200 m² medium voltage test bench up to 30 kV an 1.6 MW
- Self-developed and self-constructed 10 MW modular multilevel inverter with flexible control for special test setups with up to 20 kV
- Topology studies and realization of 2-level, 3-level and multilevel inverters for renewable energy, railway and ship applications
- “Honest” Digital Twins: Simulation and verification by measurements
- FPGA control and SoC development: Auto code generation for automated control
- Thermo-electrical semiconductor characterization and modeling: Si, SiC and GaN up to 10 kV with four customized double pulse setups
- Direct cooling of power electronic systems: Simulation and measurement of novel mechatronic concepts
With the rapid increase of power electronic systems in electrical energy grid applications multi-level topologies gain in importance. These converters allow overcoming the specific weak points of high-blocking voltage semiconductors with respect to their static and dynamic properties.
Multi-level systems are therefore the key technology for efficient and cost-effective power electronic systems in high- and medium-voltage applications.
Multi-level systems also provide better EMC performance, which allows the reduction of system size and costs. The low line perturbations of these systems, and a general “grid-compatible” behavior become more important with increasing dominance of power electronic systems in the electrical energy grid.
Based on these specific characteristics, multi-level converters are used in many areas of electrical energy conversion. The term “multi-level” comprises various converter topologies. Depending on the specific application, different power electronic topologies represent the optimal solution. Today, in the electrical energy grid, the well-known three-level NPC inverters are widely used for small and medium power solar inverters and a new family based on the modular multi-level (MMC/M2C) principle has found its way into high-power and high-voltage transmission systems (HVDC, SVC).