Congratulations Dr. Jhih-Da (Daniel) Hsu! 🎓
A strong dedication and unwavering determination are what it takes to become a PhD graduate.
Congratulations Dr. Jhih-Da (Daniel) Hsu!
PhD Defense Summary
Last week, Daniel successfully defended his PhD thesis titled:
“High-Performance Resonant Converters for Battery Chargers: Efficiency and Dynamics Improvement”
at The University of British Columbia.
Daniel's Achievements
- 3 journal papers published in:
- IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
- IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
- 5 years of industrial collaboration with Delta-Q Technologies developing power converters for EV chargers.
- 4 years leading lab recruitment efforts as a member of the HR team.
- 4 years managing undergraduate co-op/capstone projects.
- Contributed to NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grant proposal writing.
Awards and Fellowships
- Four-Year Doctoral Fellowship
(awarded to UBC’s best PhD students) - President's Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award
(awarded to PhD students with significant contributions to research)
Appreciation for His Contributions
Daniel’s immeasurable contributions to #martinordonezlab over the years are greatly appreciated.
We wish him the very best in all his future endeavors! 🎉
Special thanks to:
- PhD Examination Chair: Michael Fryzuk
- Supervisory Committee: Martin Ordonez, Wilson Eberle
- Examining Committee: Shahriar Mirabbasi, Ryozo Nagamune
- External Examiner: Peter Lehn
PhD Thesis Abstract
Title:
“High-Performance Resonant Converters for Battery Chargers: Efficiency and Dynamics Improvement”
Abstract:
As the demand for clean energy grows, the need for high-performance power conversion in energy storage and battery charging applications is increasing. Resonant converters, especially LLC or CLLC types, have become widely used for high-power battery chargers.
This thesis focuses on improving the performance of resonant converters in two key areas: efficiency and dynamics.
-
Efficiency Improvement:
The work addresses the reduction of conduction losses in output rectifiers through Synchronous Rectification (SR).
Traditional SR controllers rely on the drain-source voltage (vds.on) as a control input, but this approach is susceptible to noise, leading to mis-triggering and reduced efficiency.
The proposed SR strategies introduce:- Resonant Capacitor Voltage (RCV)-based SR driving.
- A simplified SR method based on the Volt-Second Product (VSP) of the SR drain-source blocking voltage and rectifier current conduction time.
These approaches improve efficiency by reducing sensitivity to parasitic noise.
-
Dynamic Performance Enhancement:
This research also introduces a new small-signal modeling methodology based on Extended Describing Functions (EDF) and phasor analysis. This model accurately predicts the frequency response across both low- and high-frequency regions, enabling high-bandwidth designs.
The enhanced small-signal model, combined with the proposed SR strategies, achieves improved efficiency and dynamic performance.
This work provides practical insights for designing high-performance resonant battery chargers, contributing both to efficiency improvements and dynamic stability.
We are excited for Daniel's future and the innovations he will bring to the field. 🚀