Design for High Reliability Power Electronics

Overview

This web seminar examines the challenges facing power electronic design and identifies the requirements for an integrated framework.

Power electronics is the key technology to control the flow of electrical energy from source to load in a precise and energy-efficient manner. Although rarely seen as an end product by the general public, it is responsible for ensuring the reliability and stability of the whole power supply infrastructure ranging from electricity generation, transmission and distribution, through a huge variety of applications in industry and transportation systems to home and office appliances. The share of electrical energy which will be controlled by power electronics is expected to increase from 40% in 2000 to 80% in 2015. Many growth areas for power electronics are in the energy and transport sectors where requirements for high weight- and volume-power density combine with the need for high reliability (or availability) and high energy efficiency.

Recent road mapping exercises have shown that many applications have similar technological challenges and that many of these challenges span a number of cross-disciplinary technology areas. For example challenges dealing principally with packaging and integration are typically associated with technology areas such as thermal management, materials, reliability and qualification. There is thus an ongoing need to provide integrated design support that can accommodate a wide range of physical interactions including electromagnetic, thermal, mechanical and reliability effects within a manufacturing or through-life design context. Examples taken from recent research will be used to illustrate some of the approaches being adopted and remaining issues.

What You Will Learn

• The challenges involved in developing high-reliability power electronics
• Reasons that an integrated design environment is needed
• Recent research results illustrating approaches being developed to tackle this challenge

Who Should View

• Thermal Engineers
• Electrical Engineers
• Power Electronics Engineers
• Researchers concerned with the reliability of power electronics

Related Industries

• Automotive and Transportation