Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
54 GaN-Based Dual DC-DC Converter for EV Auxiliary Systems
Marwan Eladl
Sanat Pandey
Tony Xu
Chaitanya Sindagi design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
Marwan Eladl (meladl2)

Sanat Pandey (sanatp2)

Tony Xu (tonyx2)

Idea Post Link: https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=66363


**Problem statement**

Electric Vehicle auxiliary systems such as air conditioning (up to 30%) and heating system (up to 35%) severely reduce the vehicles range. DC-DC converters are used to go from 200-800V battery to 48V or 12V battery to power these systems in EVs. Most converters are rated for high currents hence are inefficient for lower currents. This means that during various situations such as when the car is idle, there is power wastage.

**Solution Overview**

We believe the solution is to use 2 DC-DC converters, one designed with high efficiency at high current and the other at low current. Using control logic one converter will be turned off while the other one is on based on the current being pulled. The output will be taken differentially with one of the outputs inverted. The voltages we will be using to test our design will be 200V to simulate the car’s propulsion battery and 12 V to be supplied to auxiliary components.

**Solution Components**

Power Converters: Used to convert the high voltage input into a low power output, consists of two parallel GaN down converters.

Switching Interface: A control circuit which switches between the two converters. This module will take in input from the current sensor.

Current Sensor: A circuit that senses whether or not the auxiliary systems are experiencing high or lower current draws. This module will send control information to the switching interface.

Differential Output Circuit: This module allows one of the outputs from the down converters to be the positive terminal of our output and flips the polarity of the other converter to be the negative terminal. It then will take the differential output of these two circuits to be our 12V output.

Bonus Module: Because there needs to be at least one converter working at all times, a microcontroller could be used to allow for this safety measure. This is not a top priority because we are focused on hardware that allows for more efficient power conversion to the auxiliary systems.


**Criteria for Success**

- Have minimal reduction in the efficiency in high current mode in comparison to a standard single DC-DC converter, which is generally designed for high current
- Have a significant increase in efficiency for low current mode than the standard DC-DC converter.

Smart Frisbee

Ryan Moser, Blake Yerkes, James Younce

Smart Frisbee

Featured Project

The idea of this project would be to improve upon the 395 project ‘Smart Frisbee’ done by a group that included James Younce. The improvements would be to create a wristband with low power / short range RF capabilities that would be able to transmit a user ID to the frisbee, allowing the frisbee to know what player is holding it. Furthermore, the PCB from the 395 course would be used as a point of reference, but significantly redesigned in order to introduce the transceiver, a high accuracy GPS module, and any other parts that could be modified to decrease power consumption. The frisbee’s current sensors are a GPS module, and an MPU 6050, which houses an accelerometer and gyroscope.

The software of the system on the frisbee would be redesigned and optimized to record various statistics as well as improve gameplay tracking features for teams and individual players. These statistics could be player specific events such as the number of throws, number of catches, longest throw, fastest throw, most goals, etc.

The new hardware would improve the frisbee’s ability to properly moderate gameplay and improve “housekeeping”, such as ensuring that an interception by the other team in the end zone would not be counted as a score. Further improvements would be seen on the software side, as the frisbee in it’s current iteration will score as long as the frisbee was thrown over the endzone, and the only way to eliminate false goals is to press a button within a 10 second window after the goal.