Robust snubberless soft-switching power converter using SiC power MOSFETs and bespoke thermal design

A number of harsh-environment high-reliability applications are undergoing substantial electrification. The converters operating in such systems need to be designed to meet both stringent performance and reliability requirements. Semiconductor devices are central elements of power converters and key enablers of performance and reliability. This paper focuses on a DC–DC converter for novel avionic applications and considers both new semiconductor technologies and the application of design techniques to ensure, at the same time, that robustness is maximized and stress levels minimized. In this respect close attention is paid to the thermal management and an approach for the heatsink design aided by finite element modelling is shown

Diagnostic biomarkers for Parkinson's disease at a glance : where are we?

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder whose aetiology remains unclear: degeneration involves several neurotransmission systems, resulting in a heterogeneous disease characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms. PD causes progressive disability that responds only to symptomatic therapies. Future advances include neuroprotective strategies for use in at-risk populations before the clinical onset of disease, hence the continuing need to identify reliable biomarkers that can facilitate the clinical diagnosis of PD. In this evaluative review, we summarize information on potential diagnostic biomarkers for use in the clinical and preclinical stages of PD

Thermal design optimization of novel modular power converter assembly enabling higher performance, reliability and availability

An alternative integration scheme for a half-bridge switch using 70 μm thin Si IGBTs and diodes is presented. This flat switch, which is designed for high-frequency application with high power density, exhibits high strength, high toughness, low parasitic inductance and high thermal conductivity. Such a novel assembly approach is suitable to optimize performance, reliability and availability of the power system in which it is used. The paper focuses on the thermal performance of this assembly at normal and extreme operating conditions, studied by means of FEM thermo-fluidynamic simulations of the module integrated with connectors and liquid cooler, and thermal measurement performed on an early prototype. Improved solutions are also investigated by the FE model

Moduli Spaces of Lumps on Real Projective Space

Harmonic maps that minimize the Dirichlet energy in their homotopy classes are known as lumps. Lump solutions on real projective space are explicitly given by rational maps subject to a certain symmetry requirement. This has consequences for the behaviour of lumps and their symmetries. An interesting feature is that the moduli space of charge three lumps is a D2-symmetric 7-dimensional manifold of cohomogeneity one. In this paper, we discuss the charge three moduli spaces of lumps from two perspectives: discrete symmetries of lumps and the Riemann-Hurwitz formula. We then calculate the metric and find explicit formula for various geometric quantities. We also discuss the implications for lump decay

Performance optimization of detector electronics for millimeter laser ranging

The front-end electronic circuitry plays a fundamental role in determining the performance actually obtained from ultrafast and highly sensitive photodetectors. We deal here with electronic problems met working with microchannel plate photomultipliers (MCP-PMTs) and single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) for detecting single optical photons and measuring their arrival time with picosecond resolution. The performance of available fast circuits is critically analyzed. Criteria for selecting the most suitable electronics are derived and solutions for exploiting the detector performance are presented and discussed

Hexagonal Structure of Baby Skyrmion Lattices

We study the zero-temperature crystalline structure of baby Skyrmions by applying a full-field numerical minimization algorithm to baby Skyrmions placed inside different parallelogramic unit-cells and imposing periodic boundary conditions. We find that within this setup, the minimal energy is obtained for the hexagonal lattice, and that in the resulting configuration the Skyrmion splits into quarter-Skyrmions. In particular, we find that the energy in the hexagonal case is lower than the one obtained on the well-studied rectangular lattice, in which splitting into half-Skyrmions is observed.Comment: RevTeX, 7 pages, 6 figure