This paper evaluates the capability of SiC power semiconductor devices, in particular JFET and Schottky barrier diodes (SBD) for application in high-temperature power electronics. SiC JFETs and SBDs were packaged in high temperature packages to measure the dc characteristics of these SiC devices at ambient temperatures ranging from 25degC (room temperature) up to 450degC. The results show that both devices can operate at 450degC, which is impossible for conventional Si devices, at the expense of significant derating. The current capability of the SiC SBD does not change with temperature, but as expected the JFET current decreases with rising temperatures. A 100 V, 25 W dc-dc converter is used as an example of a high-temperature power-electronics circuit because of circuit simplicity. The converter is designed and built in accordance with the static characteristics of the SiC devices measured under extremely high ambient temperatures, and then tested up to an ambient temperature of 400degC. The conduction loss of the SiC JFET increases slightly with increasing temperatures, as predicted from its dc characteristics, but its switching characteristics hardly change. Thus, SiC devices are well suited for operation in harsh temperature environments like aerospace and automotive applications.

A power packet dispatching system is expected to be one of the advanced power distribution systems for controlling electric power, providing energy on demand, and reducing wasted energy consumption. In this paper, power packet routers are designed and experimentally verified for realizing a networked power packet distribution system. While the previously developed router directly forwards the power packet to a load, the new router forwards the packet to the other router with an information tag reattached to the power payload. In addition, the new router can adjust the starting time for forwarding the received power packet to the other site, thus utilizing storage capacity integrated into the router. The results successfully clarify the feasibility of the power packet distribution network.

We interpret and explain a phenomenon in short-term swing dynamics of multi-machine power grids that we term the Coherent Swing Instability (CSI). This is an undesirable and emergent phenomenon of synchronous machines in a power grid, in which most of the machines in a sub-grid coherently lose synchronism with the rest of the grid after being subjected to a finite disturbance. We develop a minimal mathematical model of CSI for synchronous machines that are strongly coupled in a loop transmission network and weakly connected to the infinite bus. This model provides a dynamical origin of CSI: it is related to the escape from a potential well, or, more precisely, to exit across a separatrix in the dynamical system for the amplitude of the weak nonlinear mode that governs the collective motion of the machines. The linear oscillations between strongly coupled machines then act as perturbations on the nonlinear mode. Thus we reveal how the three different mode oscillations—local plant, inter-machine, and inter-area modes—interact to destabilize a power grid. Furthermore, we present a phenomenon of short-term swing dynamics in the New England (NE) 39-bus test system, which is a well-known benchmark model for power grid stability studies. Using a partial linearization of the nonlinear swing equations and the proper orthonormal decomposition, we show that CSI occurs in the NE test system, because it is a dynamical system with a nonlinear mode that is weak relative to the linear oscillatory modes.

Renewable, natural, and distributed power sources have been adopted in order to reduce consumption of fossil fuels. These new energy sources have fluctuations in the amount of output power, frequency, and voltage. Similar situation arises at the regulation of power flow in-home. Thus, suppression of the fluctuation is required for avoiding disturbance in power grid. In this paper, two types of in-home power distribution systems are proposed. One is a circuit switching system, and the other is a power packet dispatching system. The experiments show the possibilities of new power management.