Transfer: CAREER: Semiconductor-Based EMI Mitigation Architecture for Future Power Electronics Systems

Title: CAREER: Semiconductor-Based Electromagnetic Interference Mitigation Architecture for Future Power Electronics Systems Power electronic converters use switching semiconductor devices to realize various forms of electric energy conversion. High-speed switching operation generates electromagnetic noise interference (EMI) problems in power electronic systems, which can cause system failure and malfunction. Furthermore, no product can be sold unless passing standard EMI qualifications. EMI issues are considered to have high complexity and nonlinearity, with passive EMI filters being the dominating solution to mitigate this problem. These passive filters tend to be bulky, lossy, costly, sensitive to circuit parasitics, and requiring ?error-and-try? design iterations to achieve satisfactory filter performance. Moreover, EMI problem becomes even more serious with the emergence of wide bandgap (WBG) devices as these new devices have much higher di/dt and dv/dt than silicon devices, so traditional passive filters turn out to affect adversely the power density for modern power electronic converters. This proposed project provides a disruptive semiconductor-based active filtering method which could essentially replace passive filtering solutions that have been used for decades. The success of this project will not only significantly improve the power density and efficiency of future power electronic systems, but also changes the design philosophy for EMI mitigation in such systems. The proposed program integrates cutting-edge research with education, and thus, providing a platform to integrate STEM interdisciplinary knowledge together with hands-on activities with the focus on establishing a pipeline of STEM students in electrical engineering from pre-college to graduate level. With the support of the College of Engineering Career Awareness Program (ECAP) at the University of Arkansas, this project will also foster women and underrepresented students participation in this STEM field. Therefore, this program will enhance the infrastructure for next-generation multidisciplinary diversified STEM education aimed at supporting power engineering workforce development. Targeting the fundamental EMI problem in modern WBG electronics conversion, the research objectives of this project are to: (1) establish a new semiconductor-based electromagnetic noise mitigation architecture replacing existing passive-dominated filtering systems and achieving very-high power densities, (2) create and demonstrate a family of semiconductor-based filtering solutions suitable for different applications, (3) investigate the so-called high-frequency-EMI-model-based, real-time, noise compensation framework as a more general plug-&-play EMI solution, and (4) develop a guideline for high-density EMI filter integration. This proposed semiconductor-based EMI mitigation architecture uses active components to ?eliminate? EMI noises at real time, and thus, it can be self-commissioned in various applications. This proposed research is transformative in the sense that it opens a new area of traditional research. The research activity will advance the knowledge of this nonlinear problem not only in the existing power conversion framework, but also across other electrical engineering subfields as well as physics domains. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.