AI helps optimise power electronic converters

A new and more efficient way of modelling and designing power electronic converters using artificial intelligence (AI) has been created by a team of experts from Cardiff University and the Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult. The method has reduced design times for technology by up to 78% compared to traditional approaches and was used to create a device with an efficiency of over 98%. The team's findings have been published in the IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics and IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. A power converter is an electrical device for converting electrical energy. It can convert alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC) and vice versa or change the voltage or frequency of a current. Power converters are used in a wide range of technologies, from mobile phones, computers and televisions to renewable energy and electric vehicles. Existing methods of designing power converters largely rely on complex mathematical models which significantly increase the computational time and complexity of the design process.