This paper presents a comparison of conventional single-phase water/glycol liquid and innovative two-phase cooling technology for thermal management of high power electronics automotive IGBT modules during full drive cycle. The proposed two-phase cooling system is built using conventional automotive air conditioning components (condenser, expansion valve, compressor, and vapor and liquid lines) and conventional cold plate as used for single-phase cooling, thus the design does not require the development of new technology for its implementation. 3-D numerical simulation in COMSOL and experimental results of two-phase cooling have been obtained on a prototype and compared to conventional water/glycol cooling high power electronics modules, with considerable improvement on working temperature, power transfer capacity and equalization of die temperatures during a full driving cycle. These results suggest that two-phase cooling using the same cold plates as in single-phase cooling can be used to substantially improve the performance and reliability, of EV power converters without major changes.

Currently, the electrification of transport networks is one of the initiatives being performed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the rapid advancement of power electronic systems for electrified transportation systems, their integration into the AC power grid generates a variety of quality issues in the electrical distribution system. Among the possible solutions to this challenge is the inclusion of continuous storage systems, which can be located either onboard or offboard. The rapid development of energy storage devices has enabled the creation of numerous solutions that are leading to ever-increasing energy consumption efficiency, particularly when two or more of these storage systems are linked in a cascade and a hybrid mode. The various energy storage systems that can be integrated into vehicle charging systems (cars, buses, and trains) are investigated in this study, as are their electrical models and the various hybrid storage systems that are available.

Ocean waves are a huge largely unexploited energy resource, and the potential for extracting energy from waves is great. Research in this area is driven by the need to meet renewable-energy targets, but it is relatively immature compared to other renewable-energy technologies. This review introduces some device types that represent the state of the art of oscillating water column technology, a kind of wave energy converter (WEC). Unlike other works in literature, typically limited to specific aspects of WECs, in this paper, a system-wide perspective will be pursued, from the sea waves to the grid connection.

An innovative modelling methodology for the simulation of electro-thermal interaction in power devices, based on Neural Networks (NNs), is shown. The suitability of NNs in modelling the complicated non-linear, temperature dependent characteristic that power electronics devices feature, is shown. The proposed methodology is particularly suited to be implemented in electrical simulators. The approach can be divided in two parallel steps: firstly, NNs are used to describe the complex, highly non-linear electro-thermal characteristic of the considered device; secondly, a non-linear RC-based thermal model is generated, with a method published in a previous work. These two sub-systems are coupled together in order to achieve a self-consistent electro-thermal model. The modelling results are validated against experiments with very satisfactory results. The technique is explained in detail; advantages and drawbacks of the method are then discussed.

Environmental issues and the global need to extend sustainable access to electricity have fostered a huge amount of research in distributed generation by renewables. The challenges posed by the widespread deployment of distributed generation by renewables, such as intermittent power generation, low inertia, the need for energy storage, etc., call for the development of smart grids serving specific local areas or buildings, referred to as microgrids and nanogrids, respectively. This has led in the last decades to the proposal and actual implementation of a wide variety of system architectures and solutions, and along with that the issue of the power converters needed for interfacing the AC grid with DC micro- or nanogrids, and for DC regulation within the latter. This work offers an overview of the state of the art of research and application of nanogrid architectures, control strategies, and power converter topologies.