Design and Prototyping Medium-Frequency Transformers Featuring a Nanocrystalline Core for DC–DC Converters

Dante Ruiz-Robles, Vicente Venegas-Rebollar, Adolfo Anaya-Ruiz, Edgar L. Moreno-Goytia and Juan R. Rodríguez-Rodríguez
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Dante Ruiz-Robles: Graduate Program and Research in Electrical Engineering (PGIIE), Instituto Tecnológico de Morelia, Morelia 58120, Mexico
Vicente Venegas-Rebollar: Graduate Program and Research in Electrical Engineering (PGIIE), Instituto Tecnológico de Morelia, Morelia 58120, Mexico
Adolfo Anaya-Ruiz: Graduate Program and Research in Electrical Engineering (PGIIE), Instituto Tecnológico de Morelia, Morelia 58120, Mexico
Edgar L. Moreno-Goytia: Graduate Program and Research in Electrical Engineering (PGIIE), Instituto Tecnológico de Morelia, Morelia 58120, Mexico
Juan R. Rodríguez-Rodríguez: Energía Eléctrica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: Medium frequency transformers (MFTs) are a key component of DC–DC dual active bridge (DAB)-type converters. These technologies are becoming a quintessential part of renewable energy solutions, such as photovoltaic systems and wind energy power plants, as well as in modern power grid interfaces functioning as solid-state transformers in smart-grid environments. The weight and physical dimensions of an MFT are key data for the design of these devices. The size of an MFT is reduced by increasing its operating frequency. This reduction implicates higher power density through the transformer windings, as well as other design requirements distinct to those used for conventional 60/50 Hz transformers; therefore, new MFT design procedures are needed. This paper introduces a novel methodology for designing MFTs, using nanocrystalline cores, and tests it using an MFT–DAB lab prototype. Different to other MFT design procedures, this new design approach uses a modified version of the area-product technique, which consists of smartly modifying the core losses computation, and includes nanocrystalline cores. The core losses computation is supported by a full analysis of the dispersion inductance. For purposes of validation, a model MFT connected to a DAB converter is simulated in Matlab-Simulink (The MathWorks, v2014a, Mexico City, Mexico). In addition, a MFT–DAB lab prototype (1 kVA at 5 kHz) is implemented to experimentally probe further the validity of the methodology just proposed. These results demonstrate that the analytic calculations results match those obtained from simulations and lab experiments. In all cases, the efficiency of the MFT is greater than 99%.

Keywords: medium frequency transformer; design methodology; nanocrystalline core; DAB (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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