IEEE Distinguished Lecture Series

Featuring: Dr. Minjie Chen, Princeton University

Date: Thursday, April 11, 2024
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.
Location: Van Leer C457

Title:
Granular Architecture and Magnetics for Advanced Power Conversion

Abstract:
Power electronics is a core technology for future energy systems. The performance and functionality of power electronics in these systems critically impact the sustainable development of human society. To leverage the advances in semiconductor devices and the scaling laws of passive components, a promising trend is to minimize the power conversion stress and maximize the passive component utilization through high-frequency operation and granular power conversion, while modernizing the modeling and control of distributed switching cells.

In pursuit of this vision, this talk will first present the recent developments of power electronics at the chip edge, focusing on advanced DC-DC power architectures for energy-demanding high-performance computing. Various design considerations for hybrid-switched-capacitor CPU voltage regulators will be presented. We will then discuss high frequency, high control bandwidth power electronics. Methods for designing an efficient and fast multiphase interleaved power amplifier with control bandwidth higher than its switching frequency. Finally, we will introduce a large-scale open-source power magnetics research platform – the MagNet (http://mag-net.princeton.edu), and the upcoming international power magnetics modeling challenge – the MagNet Challenge – to transform the modeling and design of complex power materials with advanced data-driven methods, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Bio:
Minjie Chen received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2015 and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2009, both with honors. Since 2017, he has been an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. His research interests include high-frequency power electronics, power architecture, power magnetics, data-driven methods, and the design of high-performance power electronics for critical applications.

Prof. Chen is a recipient of the IEEE PELS Richard M. Bass Outstanding Young Power Electronics Engineer Award, the Princeton SEAS Junior Faculty Award, the NSF CAREER Award, six IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Prize Paper Awards, and the MIT EECS D. N. Chorafas Ph.D. Thesis Award. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE Power Electronics Society. He was listed on the Princeton Engineering Commendation List for Outstanding Teaching multiple times. Dr. Chen is an IEEE senior member, the Vice Chair of PELS TC10 Design Methodologies. He launched the PELS MagNet Challenge in 2023.

Hosted by:

• IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) at Georgia Tech, PE31
• IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) Atlanta Section Chapter, PEL35