Member of the Faculty of Engineering

 Research

• Analogue and digital control methods for DC-DC converters
• Measurement of high-frequency currents in power electronic circuits
• Design of resonantly coupled systems for wireless power transfer

As the energy transition progresses, green and sustainable electricity supplies are facing considerable pressure to innovate. This pressure stems, on the one hand, from demands for greater energy efficiency, the miniaturisation of circuits and significant cost reductions. On the other hand, due to the tight supply situation on the global market, strategic aspects relating to the availability of (sub-)technologies are also coming into focus. Overcoming these challenges is crucial to fully realising the benefits of resonant coupling technology and to making future power supply systems more efficient and sustainable.

Funding: SMWK
Project duration: 08/2024 – 06/2026

ENABLE project page

To ensure that electricity reaches where it is needed, it must be distributed, converted and regulated. This is the role of power electronics. After all, it is power electronics-based power supplies that enable technologies such as photovoltaics, electric mobility and heat pumps to be connected to the electricity grid in the first place. Advances made in this area therefore contribute across the board to reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The power semiconductors used in these systems are under particular strain. They bear a major load in every power supply, not only electrically but also thermally. An efficient design of power supplies with high efficiency, high power density and low resource consumption therefore requires the most accurate possible knowledge of their electrical and thermal properties. However, these properties are difficult to determine for modern power semiconductors. This is because when currents of up to one hundred amperes are switched at voltages of several hundred volts in the lower nanosecond range, even modern measurement technology reaches its limits. PULSAR is intended to enable such measurements at the HTWK.

Funding: SMWK
Project duration: 11/2023 – 12/2024

PULSAR project page

The increasing electrification of the transport sector is posing new challenges for the stable operation of the grid. For example, according to the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences, charging behaviour in the low-voltage grid is one of three typical causes of future grid bottlenecks. However, electric vehicles can also be part of the solution: the electric vehicles planned up to 2030 offer very high storage potential, which can only be harnessed through bidirectional charging. To this end, the FTZ is developing novel power electronics for bidirectional high-power charging points as part of the “noLIMIT” project. As a key element of sector coupling, the charging points are intended to contribute to efficient grid operation and, through innovative concepts, enable highly automated manufacturing in Germany.

Funding: BMWK, BMUV
Cooperation partners: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Project duration: 10/2023 – 09/2025

noLIMIT project page

The SMITH project aims to develop a new measurement system for current-based power loss measurement in power electronic circuits and components. Existing solutions will be compared and new ones investigated, specifically for the high-frequency operation of wide-bandgap semiconductors based on silicon carbide and/or gallium nitride. To enable both high du/dt withstand capability and high bandwidth, the system will be implemented on a printed circuit board.

Funding: SMWK, SAB
Project duration: 02/2022 – 12/2022

SMITH project page