National Energy Technology Lab working toward improved power grid component designs

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) are developing the computer modeling methods and data sheets required to optimize soft magnetic components and improve the power grid.

This modernization of components is critical, researchers said. They need to rapidly predict and design improved performance of things like transformers, inductors and rotating electrical machinery to secure and guarantee the operational quality of the electrical grid. That means a lot of data crunching, but the results have been posted on the NETL website for use among the power electronics and transformer industry, academia, fellow government employees.

So far, these data sheets have tackled five representative core materials. These sheets address magnetic characteristics linked to the performance of such soft magnetic components in a variety of power electronics applications and can be used as input data for designs, optimizations and simulation techniques being developed by others. More data sheets are planned for the future, and even the current releases cannot be called final — they will add additional data over time.