Condensed Buck-Boost Switched Capacitor Converter for Efficient Voltage Distribution in Electrified Aircraft

Switched capacitor converters are a category of power electronic converters that harness the significantly improved energy density of capacitors as opposed to that of their conventional, inductor-based counterparts to reap benefits in terms of efficiency, size, and utilization. This work presents th...

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Main Author: Aron, Aklilu
Other Authors: Coday, Samantha
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2024
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/157247
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author Aron, Aklilu
author2 Coday, Samantha
author_facet Coday, Samantha
Aron, Aklilu
author_sort Aron, Aklilu
collection MIT
description Switched capacitor converters are a category of power electronic converters that harness the significantly improved energy density of capacitors as opposed to that of their conventional, inductor-based counterparts to reap benefits in terms of efficiency, size, and utilization. This work presents the analysis, design, construction, and evaluation of one such converter, inspired by the flying capacitor multilevel topology and referred to as a condensed buck-boost converter. This converter is designed and built for an application as the interface between the battery voltage and DC bus on partially electrified aircraft, where the advantages of its ability to step up/down voltage in an efficient and lightweight fashion can be fully realized. In order to be implemented in hardware for the first time, this work utilize new monolithic, bidirectional GaN FETs, whose reverse voltage blocking capabilities open new possibilities for a converter design that wastes less power and occupies less board area. This converter is compared with others that perform similar functions to showcase the benefits that this topology has to offer.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1572472024-10-10T03:30:56Z Condensed Buck-Boost Switched Capacitor Converter for Efficient Voltage Distribution in Electrified Aircraft Aron, Aklilu Coday, Samantha Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Switched capacitor converters are a category of power electronic converters that harness the significantly improved energy density of capacitors as opposed to that of their conventional, inductor-based counterparts to reap benefits in terms of efficiency, size, and utilization. This work presents the analysis, design, construction, and evaluation of one such converter, inspired by the flying capacitor multilevel topology and referred to as a condensed buck-boost converter. This converter is designed and built for an application as the interface between the battery voltage and DC bus on partially electrified aircraft, where the advantages of its ability to step up/down voltage in an efficient and lightweight fashion can be fully realized. In order to be implemented in hardware for the first time, this work utilize new monolithic, bidirectional GaN FETs, whose reverse voltage blocking capabilities open new possibilities for a converter design that wastes less power and occupies less board area. This converter is compared with others that perform similar functions to showcase the benefits that this topology has to offer. M.Eng. 2024-10-09T18:31:02Z 2024-10-09T18:31:02Z 2024-09 2024-10-07T14:34:29.574Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/157247 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Copyright retained by author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Aron, Aklilu
Condensed Buck-Boost Switched Capacitor Converter for Efficient Voltage Distribution in Electrified Aircraft
title Condensed Buck-Boost Switched Capacitor Converter for Efficient Voltage Distribution in Electrified Aircraft
title_full Condensed Buck-Boost Switched Capacitor Converter for Efficient Voltage Distribution in Electrified Aircraft
title_fullStr Condensed Buck-Boost Switched Capacitor Converter for Efficient Voltage Distribution in Electrified Aircraft
title_full_unstemmed Condensed Buck-Boost Switched Capacitor Converter for Efficient Voltage Distribution in Electrified Aircraft
title_short Condensed Buck-Boost Switched Capacitor Converter for Efficient Voltage Distribution in Electrified Aircraft
title_sort condensed buck boost switched capacitor converter for efficient voltage distribution in electrified aircraft
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/157247
work_keys_str_mv AT aronaklilu condensedbuckboostswitchedcapacitorconverterforefficientvoltagedistributioninelectrifiedaircraft