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Reliability analysis of power MOSFET’s with the help of compact models and circuit simulation
(2002)
High temperature reliability on automotive power modules verified by power cycling tests up to 150°C
(2003)
This paper proposes an ultra-low inductance half-bridge switching cell with substrate integrated 650V GaN bare dies. A vertical parallel-plate waveguide structure with 100 μm layer thickness results in a commutation loop inductance of 0.5 nH resulting in a negligible drain-source voltage overshoot in the inductive load standard pulse test. On the other hand reliable circuit operation requires an assessment of the isolation strength of the thin dielectric layer in the main commutation loop, because critical high local electric fields might occur between the pads. Measurements of the dielectric breakdown voltage followed by a statistical failure analysis provide a characteristic life of 14.7 kV and a 10% quantile of 13.5kV in the Weibull fitted data. This characteristic life depends strongly on the ambient temperature and drops to 4.1kV at 125°C. Additionally, ageing tests show an increasing in dielectric breakdown voltage after 500h, 1000h and 2000h at 125°C high-temperature storage due to resin densification processes.
Power cycling and temperature endurance test of a GaN switching cell with substrate integrated chips
(2019)
We present a reliability study of a half-bridge switching cell with substrate integrated 650 V GaN HEMTs. Power Cycling Testing with a ΔTj of 100 K has revealed thermo-mechanically induced failures of contact vias after more than 220 kcycles. The via failure mode of contact opening is confirmed by reverse-bias pulsed IV-measurements to be primarily triggered by a ΔTj imposed thermal gradient and not by a high Tj. The chip electrical characteristics, however, remained unaffected during Power Cycling. Furthermore, a High Temperature Storage test at 125 °C for 5000 h has shown no changes in the electrical performance of substrate integrated GaN HEMTs.
Wide-bandgap semiconductors such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) or Gallium Nitride (GaN) enable fast switching and high switching frequencies of power electronics. However, this potential can not be exploited due to limitations caused by parasitic elements of packaging and interconnections. This paper shows a possibility to minimize parasitic elements of a half-bridge switching cell with 650 V GaN dies integrated into a printed circuit substrate. A sub-nH commutation loop of 0.5 nH inductance gives superior switching characteristics compared to circuits with packaged dies. Simulation and experimental results of an inverse double pulse test confirm our expectations. This study further reveals additional benefits of the proposed technology in terms of mechanical stability and thermal interfacing to heat sinks compared to circuits with packaged dies.
Design of a Low Multi-Loop Inductance Three Level Neutral Point Clamped Converter with GaN HEMTs
(2020)
This work shows a numerical and experimental analysis of a Neutral-Point-Clamp (NPC) three level inverter featuring an ultra low inductance printed circuit board (PCB) design in consideration of the mutual inductive and capacitive couplings. The commutation loops in this design are found to be strongly dependent on the vertical thickness of the used prepregs and the core. For vertical thicknesses ≤ 100 μm capacitive coupling must be taken into account in the switching cell design. Experimental measurements of a test set-up with a total PCB thickness of 400 μm results in commutation loop inductances from 1.4 nH up to 3.1 nH. In this set-up, switching tests without external gate resistor showed only a maximum voltage overshoot of 7% at 800 V. Based on a numerical analysis of the NPC cell we propose a further switching performance improvement with significant smaller parasitic inductance due to the application of novel printed circuit technologies such as the integration of bare dies into the printed circuit board or polyimide as an interlayer dielectric material.
The automotive industry is pushing power electronic packaging to higher operating and heatsink temperatures while still requiring very high power densities due to limited space. Currently, the power electronics that is implemented within the engine compartment of the vehicle must operate with heatsink temperatures of approximately 85/spl deg/C and this temperature can be expected to increase to 125/spl deg/C in the near future. The high temperature operation of the power electronic structure is fundamentally limited by the employed materials maximum temperatures. A packaging concept is introduced that describes a structure realisation that enables the materials to operate at high ambient temperatures without exceeding their individual maximum temperatures. This in turn allows the complete power electronic structure to operate at a higher system temperature. In this paper, the packaging concept that can be used to meet these difficult requirements of high temperature and high power-density is introduced, discussed and implemented. Two case studies are considered and implemented to illustrate the packaging concept.
A reinforcement of concrete structures is needed because of the low tensile strength of concrete. Corrosion of the usually used steel reinforcments cause issues during time. Therfore, alternative reinforcements produced from non-corosive materials - like polymer fibers - become more interesting. A polymer fiber has to reach high mechanical properties and a good bonding ability to concrete. Both properties can be influenced by the selection of polymer and the used production process. Two polymers, polypropylene and aliphatic polyketone are tested within this study. First mono-material fibers of each material are produced and tested, later the materials are combined in a core-shell fiber. All fibers are produced by standard extrusion or coextrusion and a later drawing process. The mechanical properties are determined by tensile tests. The calculation of interfacial shear strength from single fiber pull-out tests allows an evaluation of the bonding ability. Additionally, fiber surface before and after pull-out is examined using reflected light microscopy. Contact angle measurements are done to evaluate possible influences of the surface energy and polarity. Density measurements are used to compare weight potential of the different mono-material and core-shell fibers. The results show good mechanical properties for all fiber materials. The interfacial shear strength is ≈ 2-3 times higher for fibers with polyketone compared to the ones with polypropylene at the fibers surface, which can be explained by higher surface energy and polarity of the polyketone compared to polypropylene and different surface deformation during pull-out. Lower densities are reached by fibers containing polypropylene.
Corrosion of steel reinforcements in concrete constructions is a big topic for the building industry. Polymeric materials are a possible alternative due to their ability to withstand corrosion. To replace steel reinforcements, fibers with high mechanical properties and a good bonding ability between fiber and concrete are needed. Today different approaches for concrete reinforcement by polymer fibers have been investigated. The bonding ability of the fibers can be increased by mechanical anchoring, e.g. crimped or embossed fibers, as well as by a chemical bonding between concrete and fiber surface. To realize the requirements of high mechanical properties and a good bonding behavior, a fiber that is drawn from a co-extruded filament shall be produced and tested. The filament owns an innovative core-shell-structure. The core maintains the fiber-stiffness and the tensile strength while the shell allows using another material to affect the bonding behavior of the fiber. This study shows the usage of fibers with differing shell materials to examine their influence on the mechanical properties of the fiber in total and the adhesion abilities to concrete. As core material, an unfilled polypropylene (PP) is used. The shell materials are varied using different polymers e.g. polypropylene or ethylene acrylic acid copolymer, as well as two PP based compounds filled with wood particles and calcium carbonate blended with a maleic anhydride based coupling agent. The mechanical properties of the fibers are tested by fiber tensile tests to compare the younǵs modulus and the tensile strength. The influence of the shell phase on the bonding ability to concrete is evaluated by the interfacial shear strength calculated from single fiber pull-out tests. Microscopy is used to interpret changes before and after pull-out. The results depict incredible positive effects and allow new insights in possible materials for fiber reinforced concrete constructions.
Increasing demand for energy-efficient means of transport has steadily intensified the trend towards lightweight components. Thermoplastic glass fiber composites (organo sheets) play a major role in the production of functional automotive components. Organo sheets are cut, shaped and functionalized by injection molding to produce hybrid components, such as those used in car door modules. The cutting process produces a considerable amount of production waste, which has thus far been thermally recycled. This study develops a closed mechanical recycling process and analyzes the different steps of the process. The offcuts were shredded using two shredding methods and implemented directly in the injection-molding process. Using tensile tests and impact bending tests, the material properties of the recycled materials were compared with the virgin material. In addition, fiber length degradation via the injection-molding process and the influence of the waterjet-cutting process on the mechanical properties are investigated. Recycled offcuts are both comparable to new material in terms of mechanical properties and usability, and are also economically and ecologically advantageous. Recycling polypropylene waste with glass fiber reinforcement in a closed loop is an effective way to reduce industrial waste in a sustainable and economical production process.
A calculation method for a robust servo controller design depending on the sampling time and the processing dead time was developed for mechanically stiff drives. With a test stand for high dynamic and high positioning accuracy, the theoretical calculations for the high bandwidth improvements are verified. The test stand includes a voice coil motor and a power electronic with Gallium Nitride (GaN) power semiconductors for switching frequencies of more than 100kHz.
A discrete-time design method for a robust current controller of a servo drive has been developed. It takes the sampling time, the processing dead time and the dynamic behavior of the A/D converter into account. The theoretical calculations are verified using a test stand for high dynamics. The test stand includes a voice coil motor and power electronics with Gallium Nitride (GaN) power semiconductors for switching frequencies of more than 100 kHz. The bandwidth of the current control loop can be improved from typically 1 kHz to 1.5 kHz with insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power semiconductors in state-of-the-art motion control systems to 10 kHz and more.
The dynamic behavior and position stability of servo drives are influenced by many parameters. One major influencing parameter is the pulse width modulation (PWM) frequency. With inverters based on wide bandgap semiconductors, the PWM frequency can be increased. This enables a substantial increase in the current control bandwidth. The paper focuses on the influence of the PWM frequency on the dynamics of control loops and position stability, which are derived from theoretical correlations. The theory is verified using a test bench for high dynamic and position stability. The test bench is equipped with a voice coil motor and power electronic with gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors for switching frequencies of 100kHz and over. The achieved position stability, measured with a laser-based comparator at the tool center point, is lower than "+-1nm" with a standard deviation of "0.16nm" at a PWM frequency of "f_PWM=100kHz".
A parallel design concept of Delta-Sigma modulators that optimizes the resolution and the bandwidth for a highly dynamic position control in industrial applications. The idea is realized on a printed circuit board and tested by using a comprehensive measurement setup. The effective number of bits is increased by 2.5 bits at a fixed frequency. For a constant resolution, the design approach allows smaller filter lengths and a decrease of the delay by 25%.
Applications in engineering frequently require the adjustment of certain parameters. While the mathematical laws that determine these parameters often are well understood, due to time limitations in every day industrial life, it is typically not feasible to derive an explicit computational procedure for adjusting the parameters based on some given measurement data. This paper aims at showing that in such situations, direct optimization offers a very simple approach that can be of great help. More precisely, we present a numerical implementation for the local minimization of a smooth function f:Rn→R subject to upper and lower bounds without relying on the knowledge of the derivative of f. In contrast to other direct optimization approaches the algorithm assumes that the function evaluations are fairly cheap and that the rounding errors associated with the function evaluations are small. As an illustration, this algorithm is applied to approximate the solution of a calibration problem arising from an engineering application. The algorithm uses a Quasi-Newton trust region approach adjusting the trust region radius with a line search. The line search is based on a spline function which minimizes a weighted least squares sum of the jumps in its third derivative. The approximate gradients used in the Quasi-Newton approach are computed by central finite differences. A new randomized basis approach is considered to generate finite difference approximations of the gradient which also allow for a curvature correction of the Hessian in addition to the Quasi-Newton update. These concepts are combined with an active set strategy. The implementation is public domain; numerical experiments indicate that the algorithm is well suitable for the calibration problem of measuring instruments that prompted this research. Further preliminary numerical results suggest that an approximate local minimizer of a smooth non-convex function f depending on n≤300 variables can be computed with a number of iterations that grows moderately with n.
A Novel Approach to Identify Wood Species Optically using Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy
(2021)
This contribution presents the results obtained with fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM)within the optical identification and differentiation of the four wood species walnut, beech, spruce, and maple. The experimental setup as well as the evaluation algorithm, with which the experiments were carried out, is explained briefly.
For sustainable handling of wood and high material utilization, post-consumer wood has to be sorted by post-consumer wood categories in Germany. The non-destructive FD-FLIM method could improve the wood recycling process by automatic classification of waste wood into post-consumer wood classes. Thus, the phase-dependent fluorescence decay time of treated wood is analysed in this study to obtain the impact of the treatment on the fluorescence decay time. It is shown that treated and untreated wood can be differentiated using the fluorescence decay time, although the state-of-the-art theoretical fluorescence decay time differs from the experimentally determined fluorescence decay time.
In this contribution the frequency domain fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FD-FLIM) technique is evaluated for post-consumer wood sorting. The fluorescence characteristics of several wood samples were determined, whereby two excitation wavelengths (405 and 488 nm) were used. The measured data were processed using algorithmic methods to identify the wood species and post-consumer wood category. With the excitation wavelength of 405 nm, 16 out of 19 samples could be correctly assigned to the corresponding post-consumer wood category by means of the fluorescence lifetimes. Thus, the experimental results revealed the high potential of the FD-FLIM technique for automated post-consumer wood sorting.
Fault and anomaly detection in district heating substations: A survey on methodology and data sets
(2023)
District heating systems are essential building blocks for affordable, low-carbon heat supply. Early detection and elimination of faults is crucial for the efficiency of these systems and necessary to achieve the low temperatures targeted for 4th generation district heating systems. Especially methods for fault and anomaly detection in district heating substations are currently of high interest, as faults in substations can be repaired quickly and inexpensively, and smart meter data are becoming widely available. In this paper, we review recent scientific publications presenting data-driven approaches for fault and anomaly detection in district heating substations with a focus on methods and data sets. Our review indicates that researchers use a wide variety of methods, mostly focusing on unsupervised anomaly detection rather than fault detection. This is due to a lack of labeled data sets, preventing the use of supervised learning methods and quantitative analysis. Together with the lack of publicly available data sets, this impedes the accurate comparison of individual methods. To overcome this impediment, increase the comparability of different methods and foster competition, future research should focus on establishing publicly available data sets, and industry-relevant metrics as benchmarks.
Due to their lightweight potential and good eco-balance, thermoplastic hybrid composites with natural fiber reinforcement have long been used in the automotive industry. A good alternative to natural fibers is wood fibers, which have similar properties but are also a single-material solution using domestic raw materials. However, there has been hardly any research into wood fibers in thermoplastic back-injected hybrid composites. This article compares the bond strength of an injection molded rib from polypropylene (PP) and wood fibers to different non-wovens. The non-wovens consisted of wood fibers (spruce) or alternatively natural fibers (kenaf, hemp), both with a polypropylene matrix. Pull-off and instrumented puncture impact tests show that, given similar parameters, the natural and wood-fiber-hybrid composites exhibit very similar trends in bond strength. Further tests using viscosity measurements, microscopy, and computed tomography confirm the results. Wood-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic hybrid composites can thus compete with the natural fiber composites in terms of their mechanical behavior and therefore present a good alternative in technical semi-structural applications.
Electric-current-assisted sintering (ECAS) is a novel process that can potentially replace the conventional sintering method. It is hypothesized that the process can reduce the sintering time and can be used in situ; thus, can be more cost effective. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of direct current on the sintered properties of iron-copper powder metal. Experiments were conducted at various conditions to determine the optimal process parameters for this particular powder metal. The parameters investigated were electric current levels and energizing time. Experiments also included sintering the powder using a conventional furnace. Samples from both types of experiments were compared to determine the metallurgical differences due to the sintering process. Mechanical and microstructure examination were conducted to aid in determining the feasibility of ECAS.
A new approach for the friction and wear characterisation of polymer fibres under dry, mixed, and hydrodynamic sliding conditions is developed. The production process of the tested polymer fibres is described and an introduction in fibre-reinforced concrete is given. Tribotesting is done on an optimised tribometer capable of measuring the friction and wear behaviour of polymer fibres with diameters of a few 100 µm under lubricated conditions. Three extruded polypropylene macro fibres with varying diameters are characterised under tribological conditions found in an industrial concrete mixing process. It is shown that detailed friction and wear data of polymer fibres can be gathered.
We present inductive power transfer (IPT) with a half-bridge converter based on differential relaxation self-oscillation. The oscillation dynamics of the converter automatically adapts to variation in the inductive coupling link and changes in the load, respectively. Design equations based on theoretical circuit analysis reveals a high power transfer efficiency (>90%) for alteration of coupling distance in the strong coupling regime. A prototype system employing GaN-HEMTs confirms the theoretically predicted characteristics of the proposed circuit.
In this research we present a short distance capacitively coupled wireless power transfer (WPT) system with a self-oscillating half-bridge converter, which uses a positive feedback signal from the WPT system. By this novel implementation we find additional features of the system compared to linear amplifier based systems. With the DC bias voltage supplying the power converter, we achieve a controllable output power, tunable self-oscillation frequency and extension of the self-oscillation range. We present the analytical expressions for the converter waveforms. The theoretical analysis is confirmed by circuit simulation results and measurements on a prototype featuring a half-bridge converter with Gallium-Nitide (GaN) HEMTs. We achieve a system efficiency of 93% at a load power of 83W and 150kHz switching frequency.
We present the design of a half-bridge converter
for a capacitively coupled wireless power transfer
system. The load signal acts as a positive feedback
signal for a self-oscillation circuit which generates the
driving gate signals for the converter. Our research
reveals a robust wireless operation for a large range
of load resistors and coupling capacitors. Based on an
electric network analysis we obtain design criteria for
self-oscillation and for the power transfer. The theoretical
predictions are confirmed by circuit simulation
and measurement results on a converter prototype with
GaN-HEMTs. We report on a transfer efficiency of 92%
for a power greater than 50W at a switching frequency
of 300kHz and 200V DC link voltage.
Wear-out failures of electrolytic capacitors in single phase power factor correction circuits are investigated in this study. A probabilistic model based approach for temperature driven capacitor degradation is chosen to analyse the probability of failure of the output capacitor bank. Different design strategies are proposed and evaluated in terms of reliability. Parametric variation of capacitor bank designs provides influential effects on system volume, cost and reliability which is modeled for a sample size of 1000 power supply units.
We present a novel differential relaxation oscillator for inductive power transfer. The proposed oscillator offers an automatic adaption of the oscillation period to a change in the power link impedance, which ensures a high efficient operation for variable loads and coupling factors. A detailed circuit model of the self-oscillation system is provided with analytical design equations. We find a large self-oscillation range for variable coupling factors and loads. The theoretical results are confirmed by circuit simulation and measurements carried out on a low-power demonstrator system. We demonstrate non-resonant and robust self-adaption of the relaxation oscillator to coupling factors ranging from k=0.6-0.9.
A mechanically tunable planar single-turn inductor in air is proposed. The bistable flexible deflection of axially compressed wire segments is used for variation of the loop area of regular polygonal loop inductors. We present analytical expressions for the loop inductance and confirm the theoretical findings by magneto-quasi-static field simulation on exemplary polygonal circuits.
We present a numerical and experimental design study for reducing conducted common mode noise for frequencies below 10MHz generated in switching cells comprising sub-nH commutation loops. Compared to conventional methods of adding external gate resistors our approach does not degrade efficiency. A parallel plate loop design (characterized by a minimum loop inductance and small board area usage) is found suboptimal in terms of conducted EMI compared to a micro-strip line loop geometry. The net ground impedance rather than the net ground inductance is found to mainly contribute to the observed EMI noise.
We present a fast and accurate measurement technique for quasi-static magnetic fields by employing a progressive sampling method in an unconfined input space. The proposed machine learning algorithm is tested against uniform sampling on printed circuit board test structures and a buck converter. We prove allocation of multiple, separated regions with predefined lateral field limits at MHz frequencies. The feasibility of equivalent magnetic dipole source modeling based on a small number of samples is demonstrated. Compared to uniform testing, progressive expansion sampling identifies contours of given field limits in less than 3% of the reference measurement time.
We introduce a quick and accurate quasi-static magnetic field scanning technique by employing a progressive sampling method in an unconfined input space. The proposed
machine learning algorithm is tested against uniform sampling on a printed circuit board test structure. We prove allocation of multiple, separated regions with predefined tangential field strengths at MHz frequencies. The feasibility of equivalent magnetic dipole source modeling based on a small number of samples is demonstrated. Compared to uniform testing, progressive expansion sampling detects contours of given field limits in less than 3% of the reference measurement time.
The variation of the contact impedance of adhesive conductive EMI shielding tapes under high temperature storage (HTS) of 110degC is investigated. The adhesive tapes under test are implemented as signal return paths in microstrip lines. Changes in the ground plane impedance by adhesive deterioration are analyzed by S-parameter measurements from 1MHz to 3GHz. A circuit model for contact impedance degradation is proposed and applied in simulation of board level shielding. Contact resistance and contact capacitance are found to increase significantly after 2400h, causing a declined magnetic field shielding effectiveness by 30 dB below 500 MHz.
A Planar Magneto-Inductive Device with Modulated Mutual Inductance for Wireless Power Transmission
(2023)
A Magneto-Inductive Wave (MIW) structure for wireless power transfer (WPT) is proposed with switchable mutual inductance between neighbored coupling coils. Orthogonally placed switchable short circuit loops are added in order to modulate the wave propagation properties of the MIW structure without changing the resonance frequency. We derive an analytical model based on lumped circuit analysis for the MIW waveguide and successfully evaluate the theoretical findings by circuit modeling and field simulation. We demonstrate switchable, i.e. addressable, guided wireless power transfer along an experimental MIW structure at a resonance frequency of 20.5 MHz.
Enhanced inductive power transmission (IPT) between coaxially arranged circular coils is introduced by time-modulation of the mutual inductance. This modulation is accomplished by coherent switching of the short circuit current induced in a third loop. An analytical circuit model supporting the design for future time-modulated IPT systems is derived. We demonstrate an increase in load rms-voltage by 13% (28% gain in power) compared to an unmodulated transfer on an experimental system operating at fundamental frequencies ranging from 40kHz to 500kHz.
Increasing the switching frequency has been one of the most beneficial advancements in modern power electronics. This trend has been enabled by progress in power semiconductors resulting in increased power densities, efficiencies and control dynamics. The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of three different circuit carrier technologies on switching power loss of 650 V hardswitching GaN devices. Limitations and solutions for half-bridge circuits operating at MHz-switching are investigated by modeling and experiments on a prototype.
A Parametric Layout Study of Radiated Emission from High-Frequency Half-Bridge Switching Cells
(2016)
We present a numerical modeling study of radiated emission from half-bridge switching cells based on the method of moments (MoM). A low loop inductance cell design enables high-speed switching of power semiconductors which is demonstrated on a prototype circuit. The layout is further optimized for low radiated emission by variation of the heat sink placement. This is achieved by the heat sink attached to the phase terminal. The performance of the structure in terms of loop impedance, electric field radiation and sensitivity to cable attachments are numerically studied. Emission peaks arising from loop resonances can be reduced by over 20 dB with damping elements in the switching cell. The improved EMI performance of the proposed structure is attributed to decoupling of the loop current from the heat sink structure.