Imagine a power strip that never fails, even if one of its internal parts breaks. It uses a special kind of high-tech battery called a supercapacitor to bridge the gap when power dips or components fail. This ensures that critical machines keep running without needing expensive, bulky backup systems.
Mission-critical power electronics are prone to failure, and current solutions rely on expensive, bulky redundancy to ensure availability. Additionally, renewable sources like hydrogen fuel cells have slow dynamics that can destabilize power delivery.
A multiport modular power converter with fault ride-through capability and high-density MXene-based supercapacitor electrodes.
If you are a cloud provider dealing with costly and bulky redundant power systems for your servers — this project developed a multiport power converter with embedded supercapacitors that improves availability, power density, and cost by 20% over current standards.
If you are a ship operator dealing with unstable power in on-board MVDC grids — this project developed a modular and scalable power converter that ensures operational continuity and fault ride-through capability.
If you are a charging network operator dealing with the slow response of hydrogen-based storage or grid disturbances — this project developed a high-efficiency energy hub that uses MXene-based supercapacitors to compensate for low dynamics.
The system replaces expensive and bulky redundancy with a fault-tolerant design and low-cost mechanical switches, aiming for a 20% improvement in cost and losses.
The power converter is designed to be modular and scalable at high power, making it suitable for MW-scale charging stations and industrial DC applications.
The project specifically included the monetization of IP, including market analysis and the development of a business model and tech-to-market transition plan.
It acts as a multiport converter capable of interfacing multiple sources, such as solar power and hydrogen fuel cells, with loads in an integrated manner.
Based on available project data, the project period ends on 2025-03-31, at which point the system should be ready for qualification and field tests.
The consortium is purely academic and research-driven, consisting of 3 partners from 2 countries (Germany and Ireland). It is led by Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel with support from Fraunhofer ISIT and Trinity College Dublin. The 0% industry ratio indicates that the technology is currently in the transition phase from lab to market, relying on university expertise in power electronics and nanomaterials.
Contact the Chair of Power Electronics at Kiel University (Prof. Liserre)
Contact us to bridge the gap between this academic breakthrough and your industrial application.
