AT A GLANCE Project Information
Project Title: Intelligent Efficient Power Electronics (IEPE) and MV platform.
Power module packaging process. DBC preparation (cutting and cleaning)
written our first scientific papers on the matter.” The multidisciplinary nature of the
project, from the experimental lab through to the packaging lab, has played a large part in the current success of the project. “We realised that building these power modules involved some processes that were not familiar to us, processes that you would not normally have to master as someone working with wind turbines,” says Munk-Nielsen. “We hired a physicist who specialises in semiconductors to help us to create the power modules.”
copper base plates and terminals can be done, as well as the bonding of aluminium wires
Project Objective: Within five years the future generation of power electronic products are 20 per cent more cost effective, and have 20 per cent reduced volume and weight. Added to that they have reduced the power losses, contributing to a higher power efficiency. A joint development and research effort enabled by the platform will include three universities and four Danish leading high- technology companies and the network organisation CEES. To demonstrate the ability of new material for medium voltage (MV), an additional project, the MV platform, is initiated.
to the dies and the
copper on the substrate.” The next step for the researchers will
be to build a small, low-power version of a wind turbine converter using the 10kV power modules that they have manufactured. This will be followed by the construction of a megawatt demonstrator to show people in the turbine industry and other industries handling megawatts of power exactly what the benefits of using medium voltage power conversion technology
“We are currently using the packaging technology for todays low voltage designs, which are
incompatible with the silicon carbide technology” The team hope that the power
modules that they have created will enable them to build up knowledge and experience that can be used by the industry. Low voltage technology is used universally in wind turbines at present, so the impact of this research may eventually be the encouragement of more widespread adoption of medium voltage options. The first one and a half years of the
project has seen the researchers, with the help of experienced heads from industry and other specialists, establish most of the necessary power module processes. “We can cut substrates and do etching. The soldering of dies, substrate,
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are. New technology based on silicon carbide material will have significantly higher voltage rating and be much faster switching than today’s silicon based medium voltage components. The issue of packaging technology
still remains. “We are currently using the packaging technology for todays low voltage designs, which are incompatible with the silicon carbide technology,” says Munk-Nielsen. “Addressing
this gap between low
voltage packing technology and the new 10kV and 15kV dies
★ technology
must be the next task we carry out before we can make our work useful to the wind turbine industry.”
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Stig Munk-Nielsen He is currently Professor at the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University. His research interests include LV and MV inverters, power module packaging, permanent magnet biased inductors, accelerated lifetime test and power module on-state voltage and temperature monitoring. In the last ten years, he has been involved in or has managed 12 research projects.
Contact: Tel: +45 22 91 50 29 Email:
smn@et.aau.dk Web:
www.iepe.et.aau.dk
Project Duration and Timing: IEPE 5 years 2012 to 2017 MV platform 2 years 2013 to 2015
Project Funding: IEPE platform, funded by Innovation Fund Denmark and Project Partners- €14.4 million MV platform funded by The Obel Family Foundation and AAU- €1.1 million
Project Partners: Aalborg University, KK Wind Solutions A/S, Grundfos A/S, Danfoss A/S, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Technical University of Denmark, University of Southern Denmark, CEES
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