Digital design

This article provides an overview of how artificial intelligence (AI) is applied in designing high-frequency magnetic components, primarily high-frequency inductors and transformers, for power electronics systems. Four categories of AI, including expert systems, fuzzy logic, metaheuristic methods, and machine learning techniques, are addressed. First, AI models for estimating losses in high-frequency magnetic components are discussed. Subsequently, AI-based design methods in high-frequency inductors and transformers are observed. Then, AI tools applied to the automatic design of high-frequency magnetic components are introduced and compared. Drawing insights from an analysis of over 200 publications, this article highlights significant advancements: the development of AI-driven models for precise loss estimation in high-frequency magnetic components, the application of AI in optimizing design configurations for the components, and the automation of design processes. These achievements demonstrate AI's capability to enhance the efficiency, performance, and innovation in high-frequency magnetic component design, offering a roadmap for future research in power electronics systems.

This article tackles the complex challenge of predicting magnetic iron losses in high-frequency magnetic components by introducing a novel conditional generative adversarial network model. Diverging from traditional loss prediction methodologies that often overlook intricate interactions of factors, our conditional generative adversarial network framework is designed to comprehensively incorporate diverse aspects such as material properties, geometrical variations, and environmental conditions. To facilitate this advanced approach, a specialized four-wire measurement kit was employed, which significantly enriched the training dataset with a wide range of measurements. When benchmarked against conventional deep neural network models, the conditional generative adversarial network not only achieves faster convergence but also demonstrates markedly superior accuracy in predicting iron losses. This superiority is particularly notable in scenarios that extend beyond the training data's range, underscoring the model's robustness and adaptability. Such advancements in predictive accuracy and efficiency represent a significant leap forward in the design and optimization of high-frequency magnetic components.

This report presents a comprehensive overview of the activities carried out in Work Package 4 (WP4), specifically Task 4.3, of the RHODAS project, which focuses on the design and development of a digital twin framework for key components of electric powertrains.  The developed framework comprises three individual digital twins: the inverter digital twin, the e-motor digital twin, and the gearbox digital twin. The inverter digital twin models the electrothermal behavior of power electronics modules (SiC and GaN) to support performance monitoring and failure prediction. The e-motor digital twin captures the thermal behavior of the rotor and stator of the RHODAS e-motor, enabling accurate simulation under various driving conditions. The gearbox digital twin is based on a data-driven thermal equivalent circuit model that estimates the gearbox oil temperature using a range of input data.  All digital twin models are implemented in both MATLAB/Simulink and C++ to enable seamless integration into the RHODAS cloud platform, supporting both online and offline thermal monitoring and efficient computation.  The deliverable also includes extensive sensitivity analyses to investigate the behavior of the e-motor, power inverter, and gearbox under different operating modes. This outcome delivers a robust and scalable digital twin architecture that enhances monitoring, diagnostics, and predictive maintenance capabilities within the RHODAS electric vehicle platform. 

Modern Smart Grids are complex systems incorporating physical components like distributed energy resources and storage, along with cyber components for advanced control, networking, and monitoring. This study proposes an integrated methodology for risk prioritization and failure mode classification into low, moderate and high-risk faults using Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) together with Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Deep Learning algorithms. The results demonstrate that, especially in complex systems like Smart Microgrids, the proposed method more accurately captures the coupling relationships between failure modes compared to the conventional FMEA method.