Research & Collaboration
What makes us unique?
SuperGrid Institute owes its success to the people who make up our various research departments. Our teams come from diverse backgrounds in industry and academia, and their wealth of experience and skills make the Institute unique. Each individual brings specific expertise to the table.
This melting pot of knowledge offers opportunities for specialists from different fields to collaborate on new and innovative solutions to technical problems.
The Institute also benefits from close collaborative relationships with industry and academic institutions. The complementary strengths of our partners provide insights and innovative approaches to technical challenges. At the same time, we retain total independence in our research. Public-private investments and collaborative projects finance our work.
SuperGrid Institute’s state-of-the-art research facilities, test platforms and laboratories at the Villeurbanne and Grenoble sites are key to the success of our five research departments.
Latest scientific publications
NPC assessment in insulated DC/DC converter topologies using SiC MOSFETs for Power Electronic Traction Transformer
Power electronic traction transformers (PETT) are multilevel AC/DC on-board converters, studied for railway applications to replace traditional solution with low frequency transformers. This paper focuses on the insulated DC/DC converter in a PETT. Three variants of resonant single active bridges (R-SAB) with 3-level NPC primaries are optimised to maximise the efficiency, under mass and dimension constraints. They are sized and compared for a 2 MW PETT on a 15 kV/16.7 Hz railway infrastructure, using 3.3 kV SiC MOSFETs and nanocrystalline C-core transformers with cast resin insulation and forced air cooling. The highest efficiency at nominal power, 99.17 %, is reached for a configuration with a 3-level full bridge NPC primary, a 2-level full bridge secondary, and a 32.1 L/49.1 kg transformer operating at 6 kHz.
Electric field computation for HVDC GIS/GIL spacer under superimposed impulse conditions
This paper evidences the influence of different parameters on the electric field on DC spacers in GIS/GIL and thus their dielectric withstand under S/IMP tests. A notable difference in term of electric field can be observed in function of impulse polarity, load condition (with/without heating current) and insulating material’s properties. For example, an overstress of 0.3pu was obtained on spacer’s surface in case of superimposed impulse test with opposite impulse polarity, high load condition and high leakage current in gas. Contrary to AC system where the simple LI tests were enough, S/IMP tests with both impulse polarity, ZL and HL conditions are mandatory to verify the insulating performance of HVDC GIS/GIL spacer. This paper gives a better understanding of the electric field distribution in HVDC GIS/GIL and helps for the design and tests
3-phase medium frequency transformer for a 100kW 1.2kV 20kHz Dual Active Bridge converter
The article presents a three-phase Medium Frequency Transformer being a part of a 100kW 1.2kV 20kHz Dual Active Bridge DC-DC converter. The transformer design is detailed focusing on winding and core power loss calculation. The high power three-phase MFT prototype is presented. The experimental results include the transformer impedance characteristics, no load test and three-phase DAB full load test waveforms.
