Research into several areas of power electronics related to pulsed power is currently underway. Low cost, battery powered and compact high voltage DC power supplies designed specifically for use in compact systems under burst mode operation are being developed. These supplies are specifically designed for the charging of capacitors and will have greater than five times the burst mode power density of existing supplies. This is achieved by utilizing adiabatic operation based design techniques geared towards burst mode operation rather than continuous pulse operation. High power, solid-state, continuous operation systems for power handling are also being developed for both military and green energy applications such as wind turbine power management. This research is coupled with the investigation of advanced solid-state switching.
Dr. James Dickens, Associate Director, C. B. Thornton Professor