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Although the development of electric vehicle (EV) technology offers opportunities for reducing CO2 emissions through the electrification of transportation, the integration of EVs into distribution systems poses a significant challenge to the reliable operation of existing protection systems. As the penetration level of EVs continues to rise, the fault current characteristic of the distribution system changes, resulting in load de‐energization, equipment damage, and reduced reliability. This paper develops a protection scheme for preserving coordination between main and backup overcurrent relays considering various penetration levels and locations of integrated EVs. By modifying the EV charger control system, the proposed scheme limits the fault current contribution of adopted EV charge stations into the fault point. The developed scheme does not alter the structure of the available protection system of the distribution network and is compatible with both old and nonprogrammable relays. Furthermore, it does not require communication links. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is validated through several case studies on the Isfahan distribution network. The findings indicate that the operating time of the backup relay in the conventional protection system exceeds the thermal limit at 100% penetration level of EVs installed upstream of this relay as it reaches 1810 ms, while by using the proposed strategy, this time reduces to 776 ms, preserving protection coordination between the main and backup relays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar energy‐based heating systems, which are capable of providing space heating as well as domestic hot water heating, are a promising alternative to conventional systems to achieve the status of reducing fossil energy consumption in residential buildings. Determining how suitable such systems are performing in Canada and which station is the most suitable in terms of energy‐economic‐environmental parameters are issues that have not been investigated so far. Considering that such results are very important for energy decision‐makers and investors, therefore, in the present work, the provision of space heating and hot water heating on a residential scale in 10 Canadian provinces was done by Valentin TSOL v2021 R3 software. Then nine software output parameters along with three parameters of land price, the population of each station, and the natural disaster index were weighted using the AHP method. Finally, the results of the stations were ranked using five MCDM methods including AHP, TOPSIS, WASPAS, CRITIC, and GRA. The results of numerical simulations showed that the CO2 emissions avoided parameter has the most weight, and the parameters solar contribution to DHW and boiler energy to DHW has the least weight. Also, the final ranking of each station showed that the most suitable station is Regina and the most unsuitable station is Victoria. By examining and analyzing the results, it was found that only based on the outputs of the Valentin TSOL v2021 R3 software, it is not possible to comment on finding appropriate and inappropriate stations, and the necessity of using ranking methods was observed more than before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike the inverters in the traditional alternating‐current (AC) microgrid, those in a microgrid with series microsource inverters (SMSI‐MG) are connected to the power grid after being cascaded. The authors of this study first divide the control sections according to the degree of grid voltage dips and formulate a coordinated scheme to suppress fluctuations in the output powers of the SMSI‐MG. For the section in which the degree of unbalanced grid voltage dips is relatively low, a current‐limiting strategy that reduces the output power of the SMSI‐MG through the coordinated control of the generator subunits (CCGU) is proposed. More active power can be provided by the SMSI‐MG when the proposed strategy is used, than in the strategy that is based on changing the reference power, and the output reactive power of the SMSI‐MG can be automatically changed with the degrees of dip and unbalance of the grid voltage. The Light Gradient‐Boosting Machine (LightGBM) is used to establish a mapping relationship between the parameters characterizing overcurrent and the reduction quantity in output active power of the SMSI‐MG to implement the CCGU‐based current‐limiting strategy. The complex collaborative control is simplified to improve the low‐voltage ride through (LVRT) capability of the SMSI‐MG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically compares the turn-off performance of two package solutions, 3-lead (3L) vs. 4-lead (4L), in SuperJunction MOSFETs. It is commonly assumed that the better performance (lower switching losses) of the 4L MOSFET is obtained thanks to the decoupling of the power and driving loops. On the contrary, in this work, the experimental results, circuit models and Kirchhoff laws show that the turn-off improvement (lower turn-off losses) obtained by adopting the Kelvin source is due to the lower inductance of the driver loop of the 4L MOSFET, instead of the decoupling between the driver and power loops. In detail, an inductor is added to the gate path of the 4L MOSFET to obtain a total inductance in the driver loop equal to the 3L counterpart. The experimental results show that the 4L MOSFET presents the same drain current slew rate under this condition, although the driver and power loops are still decoupled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to estimate the Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor's (MOSFET) junction temperature, guessing in real time the dynamic drain-source resistance during MOSFET operation in LLC (Inductor-Inductor-Capacitor) converters usually adopted in Switched-Mode Power Supplies. The task is accomplished using an on-state voltage measurement circuit that allows clamping of the high-voltage drain-source voltage during the off-state. The results of this method have been compared with the temperature accurately measured using a co-packed die as a thermal sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the performance of a 5-level cascaded H-bridge inverter in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications is analized to identify, at the converter design stage, the better device choice depending on different UAV operation scenarios. Considering that regardless of the specific application there are some typical operations, such as take-off, climb, land, cruise, and potential recurring climbs and descents, the results can support the choice by considering the typical working conditions of the specific application where the UAV would be used. The results have been obtained by simulating the H-bridge inverter considering the circuit models of insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs), and Si and SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) provided by manufacturers. The study has highlighted that the choice of the device depends on the UAV usage, switching frequency, and load conditions. More specifically, considering the typical devices and systems costs in the case of a selective harmonic elimination procedure operating at the fundamental switching frequency, the Si devices should be used. Moreover, the preference for using IGBTs or Si MOSFETs depends on the typical working conditions of the UAV application. In the case of phase-shift carrier modulation technique, at 4 kHz the MOSFET is the best device and the choice between Si and SiC devices depends on the UAV application's main operation scenarios. At 20 kHz the SiC MOSFET is the best device, while at higher frequencies the GaN HEMT cost should be faced to take advantage of its best performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the behavior of SiC MOSFETs body diode reverse recovery as a function of different operating conditions. The knowledge of their effects is crucial to properly designing and driving power converters based on SiC devices, in order to optimize the MOSFETs commutations aiming at improving efficiency. Indeed, reverse recovery is a part of the switching transient, but it has a significant role due to its impact on recovery energy and charge. The set of different operating conditions has been properly chosen to prevent or force the snappy recovery of the device under testing. The experimental results and specific software simulations have revealed phenomena unknown in the literature. More specifically, the analysis of the reverse recovery charge, Qrr, revealed two unexpected phenomena at high temperatures: it decreased with increasing gate voltage; the higher the device threshold, the higher the Qrr. TCAD-Silvaco (ATLAS v. 5.29.0.C) simulations have shown that this is due to a displacement current flowing in the drift region due to the output capacitance voltage variation during commutation. From the analysis of the snappy recovery, it has emerged that there is a minimum forward current slope, below which the reverse recovery cannot be snappy, even for a high current level. Once this current slope is reached, Qrr varies with the forward current only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a high-efficiency GaN-based 65 W Quasi-Resonant (QR) Flyback converter. The converter is characterized by a wide input voltage range and a variable output voltage, and it is designed as a Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) for high power density USP-Power Delivery (USB-PD) applications. To increase the efficiency and power density, a regenerative snubber clamp solution has been used to limit the excursion of the drain voltage during the power switch turn-off. The activity involved the modeling of the converter, the sizing of the regenerative snubber, and the design of the flyback transformer. Furthermore, a dedicated test application board was used to verify the effectiveness of the solution. The results were compared with those obtained using a flyback converter with an RCD snubber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work analyzes the impact of working conditions on the current collapse (CC) phenomenon for an automotive GaN device. For this purpose, some sensing circuits have been compared to find the most suitable for the considered GaN family. Simulations of the testing schematic have been performed, a prototype board has been created, and some measurements have been taken. Finally, the work has investigated the effect on the CC of the input voltage, current level, switching frequency, and duty cycle. The key outcome is that the temperature increment mitigates the CC phenomenon, which implies that the on-state resistance worsening (dynamic/static ratio), which is due to the CC, reduces with increasing temperature. Therefore, the typical increment of the dynamic on-resistance (RDSON) with increasing temperature is ascribable to the increment of the static one with temperature, while it is not at all an exacerbation of the current collapse phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electromagnetic compatibility issues must be considered from the early steps in the design of electronic devices. A specific topic is the near-field emission generated by the device due to the traces on a printed circuit board and the specific routing. The analysis of near-field emission is essential to detect potential electromagnetic interference with nearby devices. This problem is crucial in high power density applications. Therefore, especially in these applications, it is necessary to optimize the circuit and the layout to minimize the generated noise. The design and construction of systems able to scan volumes to determine the spatial distribution of electrical E and/or magnetic B fields in the near-field region of a device under test is a very complex process. The realization of equipment that explores a given surface at a given distance from the device is easier. The main purpose of this paper is to show how it is possible to build a cheap two-dimensional scanner, starting from simple hardware not explicitly designed for near-field scan operations. The presented firmware and software solution can map, with good accuracy, the spatial distribution of fields B and E on a fixed plan close to the board. Finally, the developed system has been used in a GaN-based bi-directional DC/DC Converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]