In a press release dated February 1, the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE provided information about the GaN-HighPower research project, which already started in May 2021. The project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics with 3.8 million euros, also involves Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, TH Köln and industrial partners SMA Solar Technology AG, Infineon Technologies AG and Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co. KG.
In the project, new technologies for use in next-generation inverters are being developed and tested in practice. The focus is on high-power string inverters. The aim is to reduce costs and weight while maintaining high performance. This can be achieved by transistors based on gallium nitride (GaN), which enable significantly faster switching processes. To this end, functioning control electronics for the switching GaN semiconductors are to be developed. The new components will then be used to build a technology demonstrator.
The project will continue until April 2024, and the results could be exciting when it comes to optimizing the magnetic components. With the results on the control of the transistors, signal conditioning or current measurement, it will become clear to what extent these go beyond the evaluation boards already available from the transistor manufacturers. These are now offered, for example, by the U.S. manufacturer Transphorm for solar inverters for numerous frequency ranges and powers (photo) and cost only a few hundred euros.