Dartmouth and industry partners collaborate on next-generation power electronics

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

Dartmouth College and four leading electronic technology companies — Ampt, Analog Devices, Empower Semiconductor, and GE Research — are forming the first Industry-University Collaborative Research Center (IUCRC)  funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that is focused on power management and delivery for electrified systems.

There are 77 IUCRCs in the U.S., with more than 200 university sites across the nation along with a handful of international sites in Europe and Asia. About 1,000 students graduate through the IUCRC sites annually, with about 30% of these students hired by industry advisory board (IAB) member companies, according to NSF.

As part of the partnership, which gives the tech companies access to Dartmouth’s R&D expertise, facilities, and intellectual property, the new Power Management Integration Center (PMIC)  will focus on challenges facing next-generation power electronics.

The Power Management Integration Center will focus on developing new ways to achieve high power density and efficiency for a variety of applications across transportation, communication, and energy generation and consumption. The research center will also address miniaturization, “a key obstacle to further reducing systems’ size and cost in virtually all applications, from mobile communications and internet-of-things (IoT) devices to electrified systems in automobiles, aircraft, and spacecraft,” according to Dartmouth.

Key research segments include:

• New circuit topologies, power management ICs, and discrete power converters
• Next-generation passive components
• Integrated passive components for high-density power management
• System design, optimization, and control
• Reliability and robustness in power electronic circuits
• New circuit architectures and design techniques that leverage high-level integration

Within these research areas, the research center plans to focus on passive component innovation and integration, magnetic materials and component design, and new high-density resonant structures for power delivery.

Member companies will share in the cost and benefits from the R&D. Membership includes up to 12 votes on the IAB, which steers the Center and provides input into expansion plans for the Power Management Integration Center.