85733 - Power Electronics for Automotive M

Academic Year 2022/2023

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Electronic Engineering for Intelligent Vehicles (cod. 5917)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to provide principles of operation, analysis techniques and basic design criteria of power electronics converters and systems.

Course contents

-Operating principle of DC/DC converters (2CFU - 20h)
Buck, Boost and Buck-Boost converters operating in continuous (CCM) and discontinuous (DCM) conduction mode.
Realization of a SPDT switch with semiconductor devices, modeling of conduction losses, and time invariant model extraction.
Transformer equivalent model, Flyback converter operating in CCM and DCM.


-Power devices characteristics (2CFU - 20h)
MOSFET turn-on and turn-off switching characteristics.
Evaluation of switching, gate charge, and output capacitance losses.
Operating principle of low-side, high-side, and isolated gate drivers.
MOSFET vertical structure, Ron vs VBR, and RON*QG figures of merit.
Diode switching characteristics, comparison between Schottky and PN diodes.
Insulated-gate-bipolar-transistors (IGBTs) operating principle.
Comparison amongst Si, SiC, and GaN devices for power switching applications.


-AC/DC, resonant and soft-switching converters (2CFU - 20h)
AC/DC conversion: Power Factor definitions, Power Factor Correction (PFC) circuits, and Totempole bridgeless PFC converter.
Resonant converters operating principles, FHA approximation, LLC resonant converter.
Soft-switching converters: simplified and detailed analysis of a PSFB DC/DC converter, the role of the leading and lagging legs.

Readings/Bibliography

Lessons notes.


N. Mohan, T.M. Undeland, W.P. Robbins, Power electronics: converters, applications, and design, 2nd edition


Erickson and Maksimovic, Fundamentals of Power Electronics, second edition

Teaching methods

Classroom teaching by means of slides and blackboard.

Assessment methods

The learning assessment method consists of a written test lasting an hour and a half including an exercise plus two questions about class topics, followed by a brief oral exam.

The written test will take place during the exam sessions that will be made available at the end of the course.

During the written test, only the use of calculators and pen is allowed. You cannot consult textbooks, lecture notes and / or other material.

Teaching tools

Classroom lessons and exercises.

Some SPICE simulations will also be carried out during lessons for supporting the understanding of converters operation.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Chini

SDGs

Industry, innovation and infrastructure Sustainable cities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.