Sustainability in power electronics is a recent research topic. It takes place among current actions to grasp design choices that enable eco-design and circular economy in the domain. This paper shows the results and analysis of a literature review at the intersection of power electronics and sustainability without considering the reliability study of the power electronics systems. The first part explains the scope of the study. The second part shows a bibliometric analysis of the collected publications that underlines a pioneering position at the European level. The third part details the state-of-the-art and its analysis over four investigation topics which are: tools and methods, indicators, circularity and materials. This paper and the work behind are the results of collaboration at the French national level, as part of the workgroup CEPPS (Convertisseurs Electronique de Puissance Plus Soutenables—More Sustainable Power Electronics Converters) supported by the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique—French National Centre for Scientific Research) research group SEEDS (Systèmes d’énergie électrique dans leurs dimensions sociétales—Societal dimensions of electrical energy systems).

This article presents an optimization process applied to the sizing of high power silicon carbide inverters. The case study is the design of an aeronautical converter. A gradient-based optimization method is chosen for its ability to explore a wide solution space with a large amount of constraints, what is the case during the pre-design phase. Many topologies are selected and associated models are developed. Among all these models, active and passive component design, and spectral analysis of voltages and currents, are presented. Optimization results, with the goal of minimizing the global mass of the converter, are provided. The different topologies are compared to find the best one for the selected case study. The relevance of the optimization result is evaluated with the study of the optimality of the solution. Finally, experimental results are compared to the optimization ones, which validates the good accuracy of analytical models.

In this paper, a design by optimization process is used to size a 10-kW three-phase pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter for aeronautic application. The objective function is the converter weight, which has to be minimized. Sizing constraints are the efficiency, alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) harmonics, and thermal constraints on all devices. A deterministic algorithm is chosen since it allows obtaining quick results and dealing with a large number of variables. All equations are analytical, in order to comply with this gradient-based optimization strategy, which imposes the derivability of the models. Several optimization results using different AC inductor solutions (iron powder and ferrite) are compared. The optimized converters were built and tested experimentally to verify their performances. Semiconductor and inductor losses were measured accurately using calorimetric test benches. The optimality of the solutions was carefully verified by changing parameters.

This paper introduces an optimization method for the design of the filtering inductor of a 3-phase inverter. The inductor model takes into account saturation, copper and iron losses. The optimization method is described, based on a deterministic strategy. Finally, the optimal design of the inductor is given, focusing on the weight minimization and considering a volumetric loss density limitation.