Advancing Energy Conversion Technologies: High-Frequency Magnetics in Modern Power Electronics

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Power electronics constitutes a core enabling technology in the energy transition decarbonizing our society. It is omnipresent in energy conversion applications linked to electrification and decentralization, such as renewable energy, storage integration, AC and DC microgrids, and electromobility. Wideband gap semiconductor technologies have been key for its rapid progress, and equally crucial are the high-frequency magnetic components, i.e. inductors and transformers. However, there is a lack of engineers with a comprehensive understanding of the whole chain and their intrinsic multiphysical and multiscale interactions: magnetic materials, magnetic component models, power electronic circuits and converters. MAGNIFY addresses this urgent need by focusing on three research objectives: 1) tailoring and characterising magnetic materials; 2) developping new efficient multiphysical and multiscale models of magnetic materials and components, integrating these models in the power electronic circuits; 3) aiming at a holistic system-level design of energy converters in several applications. MAGNIFY will exploit the expertise of the consortium to achieve these objectives and equipe 15 research fellows with the relevant skills and innovative tools to contribute to the development of energy- and cost-efficient power electronics to enable sustainable electrification. While becoming experts in the individual carefully chosen research topics, the participating companies will benefit from the generated magnetic material database, the more efficient and accurate models, the software tools, and the new design methodology. In addition, the research fellows will be exposed to different working environments owing to the involvement of five companies in the research and training program. This synergy between research output and the unique engineering profiles of the trained research fellows will increase the competitive advantage of the EU in the field of energy conversion technologies.