Recherche & collaboration
Qu’est-ce qui nous rend unique ?
SuperGrid Institute doit son succès aux personnes qui composent nos différents départements de recherche. Nos équipes viennent d’horizons divers, tant industriels qu’universitaires, et la richesse de leur expérience et de leurs compétences rend l’Institut unique.
Chaque personne apporte une expertise spécifique et ce vivier de connaissances offre aux spécialistes de différents domaines la possibilité de collaborer sur des solutions innovantes pour résoudre des problèmes techniques.
L’Institut bénéficie d’étroites relations de collaboration avec des acteurs de l’industrie et des institutions académiques. Alors que les forces complémentaires de nos partenaires apportent des éclairages et des approches innovantes aux défis techniques, nous développons nos départements de recherche en toute indépendance. Des investissements conjoints publics-privés et des projets de collaboration financent le travail.
Les installations de recherche, les plateformes de test et les laboratoires de pointe de SuperGrid Institute sur les sites de Villeurbanne et de Grenoble sont la clé du succès de nos départements de recherche.
Nos dernières publications scientifiques
Arc appearance and cathode spot distribution in a long gap high-current vacuum arc controlled by an external axial magnetic field
An experimental study of a high-current vacuum arc (VA) generated between two static CuCr25 contacts spaced 20 or 30 mm apart was conducted to characterize the arc appearance and the cathode spot (CS) distribution.
Packaging of 10 kV SiC MOSFETs: Trade-Off Between Electrical and Thermal Performances
SiC transistors can achieve blocking voltages of 10kV and more. This makes them especially attractive for energy transmission and distribution. Although SiC devices can in theory operate at high temperature (more than 200°C), the on-state resistance of SiC MOSFETs exhibits a strong dependency on the junction temperature. As a consequence, it is shown that these transistors must actually operate at a relatively low junction temperature (less than 100°C) to increase conversion efficiency and prevent thermal runaway. This requirement for high-performance cooling systems has consequences on the packaging technology: the corresponding power modules must both offer a high voltage insulation and a low thermal resistance. In particular, there is a trade-off in the thickness of the ceramic substrate located between the SiC devices and the cooling system. We propose a new substrate structure, with raised features, which improves the voltage strength of a substrate without increasing its thickness. This structure is demonstrated experimentally.
Energy Control of Modular Multilevel Converters in MTDC Grids for Wind Power Integration
The role of Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs) in HVDC grid greatly differs depending on whether it is an offshore or an onshore station. From the common point in their control schemes, an unexploited ability of the MMC—the controllability of the internally stored energy—is identified in both offshore and onshore applications. The virtual capacitor control, previously proposed by the authors, makes use of this degree of freedom to provide energy contribution to the DC grid. The impact of this control is demonstrated by time-domain simulations of a five-terminal HVDC grid.
