Developing a System-on-Chip Power Electronics Driver

The electrification of road transport plays a crucial and growing role in the achievement of the UK decarbonisation targets, energy security and efficiency, and sustainable economic growth. The government aspires to accelerate the electrification of the vehicle fleet by setting out several measures, including an ambition for all new car sales to be fully zero emission from 2035. However, poor provision of charging infrastructure has been identified as one of the greatest barriers to the growth of the Electric Vehicle (EV) uptake; findings from a recent study suggest that further 250bn investments need to be made on UK EV charging network by 2050, which will impose a significant financial burden on the government, leading to a considerable uncertainty around the pace of EV adoption. To address key challenges facing the EV charging infrastructure sector, a technological breakthrough in automotive charging solutions is necessary. The aim of this project is to develop a System-on-Chip (SoC) power electronics drive, aiming to reduce inverter losses, cost, and weight while maintaining high reliability. This multidisciplinary research will involve the development of a unique multilevel inverter architecture based on SoC technology and advanced magnetics. Chip design, analogue/digital circuit design, and novel power electronic architectures will be utilised to implement a modular reconfigurable inverter topology.