dc.description.abstract | Information technology allows solving numerous problems regarding all the
aspects of everyday life, including technical activities related to the design
of devices and systems. In the electronic eld, di erent types of softwares
are widely used to support designers in solving the problems of electronic cir-
cuit design, at device level and system level. Power electronics is one of the
most important modern technologies, since power supply systems are used to
feed any electric and electronic device and system in manifold applications
(e.g. computers, automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, etc). Switch-
ing power supply design is mostly driven by high e ciency and high reliability
requirements. The strong non linearity of switching power supplies and the
di culty of application of advanced design methodologies often push design-
ers to adopt a conservative approach, based on simpli ed robust and reliable
methods. This mostly result in sub-optimal design solutions characterized by
components oversizing. This dissertation discusses innovative applications of
enhanced numerical techniques and intelligent algorithms to power supplies
optimization and design. The impact of innovative modeling and computing
techniques in the discovery of novel advanced solutions outperforming the
traditional conservative designs is emphasized.
Power electronics is ever moving towards higher e ciency and higher
power density. Magnetic components | inductors and transformers | oc-
cupy a signi cant amount of space in today's Switch-Mode Power Supplies
(SMPSs), and furthermore, considerable losses occur in these components. In
order to achieve a higher level of miniaturization, reduction in the size of these
components is crucial. Ferrite Power Inductors (FPIs) are usually the rst
choice for high-e ciency designs of SMPS, thanks to their resulting low losses.
However, FPIs su er of a pretty sharp inductance drop when their current
exceeds a certain threshold, occurring due to the saturation of their magnetic
2
core. In SMPS design, it is commonly considered a good practice to select
FPIs operating in the region of weak saturation (within about 20% inductance
drop). This limitation is due to the lack of methods for quick prediction of
real impact of FPIs saturation in SPMS applications. The consequence of
the adoption of such conventional design approach is that inductors are often
oversized. … [edited by author] | it_IT |