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CAREER: Power Magnetics for MHz Frequencies

This NSF CAREER project aims to improve the size and efficiency of electric energy conversion systems which are critical in many applications which progress science, advance national prosperity, and secure national defense. The project will bring transformative change by allowing power converters to operate ten times faster and therefore store ten times less energy, reducing size and improving efficiency. This will be achieved by advancing the science of magnetic components (inductors and transformers) which are the most significant bottleneck to this improved speed and size. The intellectual merits of the project include new rapid models for optimization, new component structures and designs, new applications for materials, and enabling further advancement through engineered platforms capable of studying high-power components at high speed. The broader impacts of the project include both scientific and educational components. Improved size and efficiency of power converters will enable greater proliferation of renewable energy, lighter and more affordable electric vehicles, the electrification of naval and air travel, and more affordable semiconductors. This project will also bring these scientific advances into the classroom through authentic, project-oriented courses and extracurricular activities which benefit all students and especially first-generation college students.

Texas ECE PI
Award
$500,000
Link to Story
Grant Award Date
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