Transformerless Converters for Future Isolated Power: How GaN and SiC can remove the Transformer!

From Left to Right: Fully Active-Isolated Boost-Back converter, Unipolar Active Isolated Boost-Buck, and Unipolar Active Isolated Buck-Boost Converters

Imperium Electronics is developing a line of transformer-less isolated converters that we call Active Isolation (TM). From the time that Westinghouse and Telsa beat out JP Morgan and Edison in the bid for the Niagra Fall Power station in the 1890's, transformers have been used to isolate and step up/down voltages.

Transformers are large and bulky accounting for a majority of the space and cost for an isolated converter and contributing to the bulk of the energy losses. We plan to change that!

Active Isolation is a method of converting a conventional power converter to an Actively-Isolated converter by strategically positioning power semiconductor devices such that the primary (input) and secondary (output) sides are never connected simultaneously. Any converter topology can be actively isolated. Sounds easy right? Well, there are a lot of technical challenges. For one, the switches generate common-mode currents that have to be either mitigated or reduced. The best way to reduce these currents is with GaN and SiC switching technology. Interested to learn more?

If so, check out my papers listed on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=clint+halsted&btnG=

And, more to come on this knowledgebase site...