Professor Layi Alatise, Royal Society Industry Fellowship
A New Generation of Automotive IGBTs and Gate Drivers for Future Electric Vehicles
Professor Layi Alatise from the School of Engineering has been awarded a Royal Society Industry Fellowship to undertake research into the feasibility of a new generation of silicon insulated gate bipolar transistors and silicon PiN diodes for automotive traction applications.
The main research objective of this four-year Fellowship is to improve silicon insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and diodes for ultra-fast and reliable performance.
Internal combustion engine (ICE) driven vehicles, for the most part, are on the road to extinction. Set to replace them are battery electric vehicles and possibly hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for heavy goods transportation.
Both vehicles require power electronic converters for interfacing the energy source with the electric motor as well as for interfacing the energy source with the power system in the case of battery electric vehicles.
Power converters will also be needed for powering different sub-systems. These power electronic converters are implemented using silicon power devices with wide bandgap technologies like silicon carbide primed to improve energy conversion efficiency in the future. This fellowship aims to investigate ways of extending the performance capability of silicon bipolar device which remain the most reliable and cost-effective technology in power electronics.