Solid-State Transformers for Interfacing Solar Panels to the Power Grid: An Optimum Design Methodology of a High Frequency Transformer for dc-dc Converter Applications

Nowadays the use of power electronic interfaces to integrate distributed generation with the power grid is becoming relevant due to the increased penetration of renewable energy sources like solar, and the continued interest to move to a smarter and more robust electric grid. Those interfaces, which also provide a voltage step-up or step-down function, are of particular interest because renewable energy sources do not always have voltages compatible with the connecting grid. Among them, the so-called “power electronic transformer” or “solid-state transformer” (SST) is the focus of significant research. Advantages such as bidirectional power flow, improved system control, reduced size, and premium power quality at the output terminals, increase the interest of the SST for future electric grids. The SST consists mainly of two components: a high-frequency transformer (made out of advanced magnetic materials) and power converters (employing efficient power semiconductor devices like those based on silicon carbide (SiC)) to enable operation at frequencies higher than the grid frequency. This paper presents an optimum design method that can be employed to build a high-frequency transformer for a SST intended to interface a renewable energy source (e.g., a photovoltaic system) to the electric grid. Core material, geometry, and size will be analyzed in order to provide an optimum balance between cost, efficiency, thermal management, and size. Special consideration will also be given to the selection of the winding conductors given the skin effect associated with operation at high frequencies

A semiclassical theory of the Anderson transition

We study analytically the metal-insulator transition in a disordered conductor by combining the self-consistent theory of localization with the one parameter scaling theory. We provide explicit expressions of the critical exponents and the critical disorder as a function of the spatial dimensionality, $d$. The critical exponent $\nu$ controlling the divergence of the localization length at the transition is found to be $\nu = {1 \over 2}+ {1 \over {d-2}}$. This result confirms that the upper critical dimension is infinity. Level statistics are investigated in detail. We show that the two level correlation function decays exponentially and the number variance is linear with a slope which is an increasing function of the spatial dimensionality.Comment: 4 pages, journal versio

Magnetic properties of strongly disordered electronic systems

We present a unified, global perspective on the magnetic properties of strongly disordered electronic systems, with special emphasis on the case where the ground state is metallic. We review the arguments for the instability of the disordered Fermi liquid state towards the formation of local magnetic moments, and argue that their singular low temperature thermodynamics are the ``quantum Griffiths'' precursors of the quantum phase transition to a metallic spin glass; the local moment formation is therefore not directly related to the metal-insulator transition. We also review the the mean-field theory of the disordered Fermi liquid to metallic spin glass transition and describe the separate regime of ``non-Fermi liquid'' behavior at higher temperatures near the quantum critical point. The relationship to experimental results on doped semiconductors and heavy-fermion compounds is noted.Comment: 25 pages; Contribution to the Royal Society Discussion Meeting on "The Metal-Non Metal Transition in Macroscopic and Microscopic Systems", March 5-6, 199

Anomalous Negative Magnetoresistance Caused by Non-Markovian Effects

A theory of recently discovered anomalous low-field magnetoresistance is developed for the system of two-dimensional electrons scattered by hard disks of radius $a,$ randomly distributed with concentration $n.$ For small magnetic fields the magentoresistance is found to be parabolic and inversely proportional to the gas parameter, $\delta \rho_{xx}/\rho \sim - (\omega_c \tau)^2 / n a^2.$ With increasing field the magnetoresistance becomes linear $\delta \rho_{xx}/\rho \sim - \omega_c \tau$ in a good agreement with the experiment and numerical simulations.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 5 figure

On the Theory of Magnetotransport in a Periodically Modulated Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

A semiclassical theory based on the Boltzmann transport equation for a two-dimensional electron gas modulated along one direction with weak electrostatic or magnetic modulations is proposed. It is shown that oscillations of the magnetoresistivity $\rho_{||}$ corresponding to the current driven along the modulation lines observed at moderately low magnetic fields, can be explained as classical geometric resonances reflecting the commensurability of the period of spatial modulations and the cyclotron radius of electrons.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, text and 1 figure adde

Kondo Resonance Decoherence by an External Potential

The Kondo problem, for a quantum dot (QD), subjected to an external bias, is analyzed in the limit of infinite Coulomb repulsion by using a consistent equations of motion method based on a slave-boson Hamiltonian. Utilizing a strict perturbative solution in the leads-dot coupling, T, to T^4 and T^6 orders, we calculate the QD spectral density and conductance, as well as the decoherent rate that drive the systemm from the strong to the weak coupling regime. Our results indicate thet the weak coupling regime is reached for voltages larger than a few units of the Kondo temperature.Comment: 5 figure