Cette thèse, effectuée en collaboration entre le CEMES-CNRS, le laboratoire Satie (ENS Cachan) et NXP Semiconductors est motivée par la compréhension des mécanismes de défaillance des dispositifs MOSFET pour les applications dans l'industrie automobile. Un facteur limitant de la fiabilité à long terme des modules de puissance basse tension est le vieillissement électrothermique et/ou thermo-mécanique des parties métalliques de la source: métallisation en aluminium (ou alliage) et fils de connexion. A cause de la différence de coefficient de dilatation thermique entre la métallisation les oxydes et le substrat semi-conducteur, la température atteinte pendant les cycles de fonctionnement (quelques centaines de degrés), induit une déformation plastique inévitable dans le métal, qui est le matériau le plus mou dans l'architecture complexe du MOSFET. Nous avons caractérisé la microstructure métallique avant et après les tests de vieillissement électrothermique accélérés, en utilisant des techniques spécifiques du domaine de la métallurgie physique: microscopie électronique et ionique, cartographie d'orientation de grains et de la composition chimique. Pour la première fois, la métallisation de la source a été caractérisée sous les fils de connexion, qui sont cent fois plus épais que la métallisation. Cet emplacement est critique pour la fiabilité du composant, car le processus de soudure par ultrasons induit une déformation plastique importante qui peut affaiblir la métallisation initiale avant le vieillissement. Ceci est peu étudié dans la littérature en raison de la difficulté à accéder à la métallisation sous les fils sans altérer leur interface, souvent endommagée et fragilisée dans les modules vieillis. Nous avons mis en place des méthodes de préparation d'échantillon, basées sur le polissage ionique, pour étudier cette interface, sans introduire d'artefacts de préparation. Le processus de soudure à froid induit une déformation plastique sévère et non uniforme dans la métallisation sous les fils sans parvenir à recréer un bon contact électrique: de petites cavités et des résidus d'oxyde natif, ont été systématiquement observés à l'interface Al / Al, dans tous les modules analysés, avant et après vieillissement. Le mécanisme principal de défaillance des modules est la génération et la propagation de fissures de fatigue dans l'aluminium, associée à une oxydation locale qui empêche la fermeture de ces fissures. Sous et en dehors des fils de connexion, ces fissures traversent la métallisation perpendiculairement à la surface jusqu'au substrat en silicium en suivant les joints de grains. Cette fissuration est due à la diffusion intergranulaire accélérée des atomes d'aluminium. Dans la zone de soudure, le phénomène de fissuration parallèle à l'interface est favorisé par les imperfections initiales (cavités, oxyde). Les expériences de tomographie ionique ont montré que ces fissures sont confinées à l'interface fil-métal et ne se propagent pas dans le fil malgré sa plus faible résistance mécanique (Al pur, structure à grains plus grands). La propagation de la fissure le long de l'interface Al/Al peut provoquer une diminution du contact entre le fil et la métallisation de la source et éventuellement son décollement. Les fissures dans le métal source peuvent expliquer l'augmentation locale de la résistance et de la température du module qui accélère le processus de vieillissement jusqu'à l'échec. Cette étude a établi de nouvelles techniques dédiées et des méthodes de quantification pour évaluer le vieillissement des parties métalliques des modules MOSFET. La caractérisation complète de l'interface soudée, intrinsèquement défectueuse et la dégradation de la métallisation pendant le vieillissement électrothermique ouvrent la voie à l'amélioration possible les technologies actuelles et au développement potentiel de nouveaux procédés. / This thesis, a collaboration between CEMES-CNRS, Satie laboratory (ENS Cachan) and NXP Semiconductors is motivated by the comprehension of the failure mechanisms of low voltage power MOSFET devices produced for ap- plications in the automotive industry. A limiting factor for the long-term reliability of power modules is the electro- thermal and/or thermo-mechanical aging of the metallic parts of the source: Al metallization and bonding wires. At the temperature reached during the on-off operating cycles (few hundred degrees), the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the metallization and the oxide and semicon- ductor parts induces an inevitable plastic deformation in the metal, which is the softest material in the complex MOSFET architecture. We have characterized the metal microstructure before and after accelerated electro-thermal aging tests, by using specific techniques from the field of the physical metallurgy: electron and ion microscopy, grain orientation and chem- ical composition mapping. For the first time the source metallization has been characterized both away and under the bonding connections, which are one hundred times thicker than the metallization layer. The latter is a critical loca- tion for the reliability assessment because the ultrasonic bonding process may weaken the initial metallization microstructure by adding an important plas- tic deformation prior to aging. This is, however, poorly stated in the literature because of the difficulty to access the metallization under the wires without damaging their bonding, which is known to be particularly weak in case of aged modules. In order to investigate the wire-metallization interface, we have set up origi- nal sample preparations, based on ion polishing, that allowed us to disclose the metallization under the bonding wires without introducing preparation artifacts in the microstructure. The bonding process induces a severe and non- uniform plastic deformation in the metallization under the wires without re- creating a good electrical contact: small cavities and native oxide residues, have been systematically observed at the Al/Al interface, in all the analyzed mod- ules, before and after aging. The main mechanism behind the device failure is the generation and propa- gation of fatigue cracks in the aluminum metallization, associated to a local Al oxidation that prevents these crack from closing. Away and under the wire bonds, they run perpendicularly from the surface down to the silicon substrate following the grain boundaries, due to an enhanced intergranular diffusion of aluminum atoms. In the bonding area, the phenomenon of parallel cracking is favored by the initial imperfections in the wire-metallization bonding. Ion to- mography experiments have shown that these cracks are confined to the wire- metal interface and do not propagate in the wire despite its lower strength (pure Al, larger grain structure). Crack propagation along the Al/Al interface can cause a contact reduction between the wire and the source metallization and eventually its failure. Such discontinuities in the metal can explain the lo- cal increase in the device resistance and temperature that accelerates the aging process until failure. This study settled new, dedicated techniques and quantification methods to as- sess the aging of the metal parts of MOSFET devices. The full characterization of the intrinsically defective interface generated by the bonding process and the metallization degradation during electro-thermal aging indicated paths to possible improvements of current technologies and potential developments of new processes.

Power losses are always a cause of worry for any power grid. In India, the situation is even worse. Though recent reports by Ministry of Power shows that Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses (AT &C losses) have come down from 36.64% in 2002-03 to 27% in 2011-12, yet they are much higher than the losses seen in many of the developed nations. The reduction shown in power loss is because of the Electricity Act, 2003 and the amendments made to it in 2007 which controlled the commercial losses rather than the technical losses. According to Ministry of Power, technical losses (Transmission & Distribution losses or T&D losses) in India are reported to be 23.65% in 2011-12. However, according to the study done by EPRI, for systems deployed in developed countries, these losses are estimated to be in the range of 7-15.5%. T & D losses occur in four system components namely step-up transformers and high voltage transmission (0.5-1%), step down to in intermediate voltage, transmission and step down to sub transmission voltage level (1.5-3%), sub-transmission system and step down to low voltage for distribution (2-4.5%), and distribution lines (3-7%). 1% of power loss is approximately equivalent to annual loss of Rs 600 million for a single state. Hence, in a year, loss in distribution line alone causes approximate loss of Rs 1.8-4.2 billion per state. Understanding and reducing power losses in distribution lines which contribute nearly 50% of the total T&D losses assume significance and has formed the motivation for the work reported in the thesis. In recent years, the trend has been to encourage users to generate solar power predominantly at residential complexes and captive power plants at industrial complexes. It has been suggested in the literature that Distributed Generation (DG) can not only reduce the load demanded from the power grid but also the power loss. In this thesis, it has been shown that by the choice of proper size and location of DG, the power loss can be reduced substantially as compared to unplanned deployment of DGs. The objective of the thesis is to design strategy for location of distributed user generated power to maximize the reduction in power loss. The thesis begins with a study of distributed generation in primary distribution networks and proceeds to problem formulation, with the aim being to develop an algorithm that can find out the optimal locations for DG allocation in a network. A greedy approximation algorithm, named OPLODER (i.e. Optimal Locations for Distributed Energy Resources), is proposed for the same and its performance on a benchmark data set is observed, which is found to be satisfactory. The thesis then moves on to describe the actual data of 101,881 commercial, residential and industrial consumers of Bangalore metropolitan area. A loss model is discussed and is used to calculate the line losses in LV part of the grid and loss is estimated for the said actual data. The detailed analysis of the losses in the distribution network shows that in most cases the losses are correlated with the sanctioned load. However there are also some outliers indicating otherwise. The analysis concludes that the distributed generated sources need to be optimally located in order to benefit fully. Also presented thereafter is a study about the impact of electrical properties and the structure of the network on power loss. In the second part of the thesis, OPLODER was again used to process the BESCOM data of 101,881 consumers by modeling them to be connected in three topologies namely Bus (i.e. linear structure), Star (i.e. directly connected) and Hybrid (i.e. tree structure). In case of Bus topology, when DG capacity available is 5% of the demand in substation, OPLODER reduced the loss from 14.65% to 10.75%, from 11.63% to 7.71% and from 13.33% to 9.24% for IISc, Brindavan, and Gokula substations respectively. Similarly, for the same amount of DG in case of star topology, OPLODER reduced loss from 1.75% to 1.26%, from 3.39% to 2.59% and from 2.96% to 1.99% for IISc, Brindavan, and Gokula substations respectively. Thereafter, the available real world data is re-modeled as a tree-type structure which is closer to the real world distribution network and OPLODER is run on it. The results obtained are similar to those presented above and are highly encouraging. When applied to the three substations viz. IISc, Brindavan and Gokula, the power loss dips from 9.95% to 7.42%, from 6.01% to 4.44% and from 8.07% to 5.95%, in case of DG used is 5% of the demand in substation. For the optimal strategies worked out in the thesis, additional overheads will be present. These overheads are studied and it has been found that the present infrastructure and technologies will be sufficient to handle the smart distribution network and the optimal strategy for distributed sources.

Le Disjoncteur Basse-Tension (DBT) est un appareil classique de la distribution électrique depuis plus de cinquante ans. Mais aujourd'hui, avec l'arrivée de produits bas-coût fabriqués dans les pays émergents, les industriels sont soumis à une forte pression pour développer de nouveaux systèmes moins encombrants, utilisant d'autres matériaux, ou incorporant davantage de fonctionnalités. Cette recherche est très compliquée dans la mesure où le DBT est un système hautement multi-physique (mécanique, thermique, physique des matériaux, physique des plasmas, ...). De fait, le développement de nouveaux produits passe par un processus empirique long et coûteux. Cet effort pourrait être réduit par l'utilisation de modèles prédictifs permettant d'arriver plus vite à un système fonctionnel. De nos jours, avec l'augmentation des moyens de résolution numérique, de plus en plus de travaux portent sur la description multi-physique en 3D du DBT et notamment sur la chambre de coupure ou l'arc électrique est amorcé, se déplace et doit être éteint, l'objet de nôtre étude. Le travail de cette thèse se divise en deux axes complémentaires : le développement d'un modèle fluide 3D en méthode des volumes finis simulant l'arc électrique et son déplacement dans la chambre de coupure; ainsi que la mise en place d'un dispositif expérimental permettant d'analyser le phénomène physique en œuvre. Pour ces deux points la problématique est abordée dans une configuration simplifiée de DBT où l'arc se déplace entre deux rails parallèles dans une chambre parallélépipédique. Basé sur le savoir-faire du groupe AEPPT, un modèle numérique est établi pour simuler le plasma thermique. Les particularités de ce modèle, du fait de l'application, sont la nécessité d'une résolution précise du champ magnétique en utilisant le calcul de Biot & Savart pour les conditions limites ainsi que l'utilisation de méthodes permettant le déplacement et la commutation de l'arc. La validation de ce modèle se fera à géométrie similaire par confrontation avec l'expérience. En s'inspirant de précédents travaux nous avons réalisé une maquette expérimentale composée d'un réacteur faisant office de chambre de coupure et d'un mécanisme permettant l'amorçage de l'arc dans le réacteur par ouverture rotative du contact à vitesse contrôlée. D'autres paramètres modifiables sont la taille du réacteur ainsi que les matériaux qui le constituent. Les diagnostiques disponibles en plus de la mesure de courant et de tension sont l'imagerie rapide et la mesure de pression en différents points de la chambre de coupure. Notre expérience est utile pour la réalisation d'études paramétriques en découplant facilement les paramètres. En outre, par la mise en évidence des phénomènes prépondérants, notre maquette aide à la mise en place du modèle en plus de permettre sa validation expérimentale. Cette thèse est donc une étape cruciale vers la mise en place d'un modèle prédictif. / Low-Voltage Circuit Breakers (LVCB) are classical apparatuses of electrical distribution since more than fifty years. But nowadays, with the outbreak of low-cost products from the developing countries, industry is under a strong stress in order to improve their devices by making them more compact, using different materials or to implement new functionalities. This research is harsh since LVCB are highly multiphysics systems (mechanics, thermal properties, materials, plasma physics, ...). Therefore, developing new products goes through a long and expensive empirical process. Those efforts could be reduced by using predictive models allowing to get faster to a functional device. With the improvements of the numerical solution capacity, there are more and more works toward the 3D multiphysical description of the LVCB, especially on the extinction chamber where the electrical arc is ignited, moved and must be quenched. This is the subject of our work. The study described here is divided in two complementary parts: development of a 3D fluid model with finite volume method simulating the electrical arc and its movement inside the arc extinction chamber; and the set-up of experimental means to analyse this physical phenomenon. For those two points, we use a simplified LVCB configuration with an arc moving between two parallel rails inside a rectangular box chamber. Based on AEPPT's know-how, a numerical model is established to simulate thermal plasma. Particularities on this model, due to the application, are the resolution of Biot&Savart law to calculate precisely the magnetic field for the boundary condition and the development of methods to model the arc roots movement and commutation of the arc from the moving contact to the rail. Validation of this model will be done with the same geometry by confrontation with the experiment. Inspired by precedent works we designed a test apparatus with a reactor representing the extinction chamber of the LVCB and an opening mechanism allowing arc ignition by contact opening at a specified speed. Other parameters such as size of the chamber and materials can be modified. Measurements will include high speed imaging and pressure acquisition in several points of the reactor in addition to the classical current and voltage measurements. This experiment is useful for parametric studies with its easy uncoupling of the parameters. Moreover, by highlighting the dominating phenomena for arc movement, this set-up helps in the build-up of the model over and above the experimental validation.

A importância das novas tecnologias de informação, automação, monitoramento e sistemas eletrônicos inteligentes têm aumentado significativamente nos últimos anos. Essas tecnologias desempenham um papel fundamental na sociedade moderna e contribuem de forma decisiva para a resolução de importantes desafios para uma sociedade que quer ser mais próspera, internacionalmente competitiva, saudável, segura e sustentável. Como eixo de \"inovação\", essas tecnologias são fatores importantes para todos os setores produtivos da economia. O motor destas tecnologias, entretanto, é a energia, particularmente a eletricidade. Assim, em uma sociedade cujo estilo de vida é fortemente dependente dela, desenvolver tecnologias que permitam não somente a geração, mas também a distribuição de energia de forma barata e limpa e que garantam seu fornecimento ao longo do tempo com a máxima eficiência é uma questão prioritária. Os sistemas baseados em redes inteligentes (do inglês: Smart Grid) vêm, justamente, atender a esses requisitos, representando o que há de mais moderno no setor elétrico, com aumento e diversificação de fontes de geração distribuída na forma de pequenos geradores, maior interação consumidor-distribuidor de energia, integração de diferentes fontes de geração renováveis (ex.: solar, eólica etc.). O cenário energético nacional está avançando de forma muito rápida. Nas distribuidoras, o foco claramente está na redução de perdas comerciais e de custos operacionais, principalmente por meio da modernização dos ativos e da crescente instalação de dispositivos eletrônicos inteligentes nos clientes de baixa tensão (ex.: medidores eletrônicos, dispositivos eletrônicos inteligentes para monitoramento e diagnóstico, relés digitais etc.). Esta tese de doutorado apresenta uma solução com tecnologia nacional que disponibiliza todos os benefícios do Smart Grid através dos equipamentos mais importantes e estratégicos presentes na topologia das Redes de Distribuição Subterrânea Secundária Trifásica: os Protetores de Redes. A partir do centro nevrálgico das Redes de Distribuição Subterrâneas (RDS), cuja topologia está presente nos centros de alta concentração de carga das principais metrópoles do Brasil, a solução desenvolvida pode viabilizar técnica e economicamente a modernização da automação da RDS, com tecnologia nacional de baixo custo, proporcionando igualmente a incorporação dos avanços do Smart Grid e da Geração Distribuída. Este salto tecnológico significaria para as distribuidoras de energia elétrica entre outros benefícios: Melhor controle do processo para uma melhor otimização da rede, desde integração das intermitentes fontes renováveis até uma interação mais dinâmica com os consumidores; Maior flexibilidade às concessionárias em relação ao uso da energia para atingir o grande objetivo social de redução do efeito estufa e otimização do consumo de energia reduzindo perdas e desperdícios; No curto prazo, os benefícios diretos da melhoria do gerenciamento da indisponibilidade, gerenciamento otimizado dos ativos e do capital, melhoria no planejamento, processos e serviços de fornecimento e usos finais de energia, aumento de eficiência de manutenção, redução de perdas técnicas e comerciais, otimização do investimento na compra de novos protetores com menores custos podendo superar a demanda reprimida pelos altos custos de alternativas importadas. / The importance of new technologies in the field of, automation, monitoring, information technology and electronic systems have increased significantly in recent years. These technologies play a basic role in the modern society and contribute of decisive way for the resolution of important challenges for a society that is in search of a more prosperous life, internationally competitive, healthful, safe and sustainable. As a key of \"innovation\", these technologies are key factors for all the productive sectors of the economy in the society. The fuel for the engine of these technologies, however, is the energy, particularly the electricity. Thus, in a society whose life style is strongly dependent of electricity, to develop technologies that not only allow the generation, but also the distribution of energy in a cheap and clean way and which could guarantee its supply throughout the time with the maximum efficiency is a priority issue. The systems based on intelligent networks fully meet these requirements, representing what there is of most modern in the electric sector. The Brazilian energy scenario is quickly changing over the recent years toward modernization, with more distributed generation, in the form of smaller generators, more customer interaction, the integration of more variable resources such as wind and solar, and more renewables overall. For the Power Utilities, especially in the Distribution Sector, the focus is clearly in the reduction of commercial losses and operational costs, mainly by means of the modernization of the assets and an increase in the installation of intelligent electronic devices at consumers side (e.g.: electronic energy meters, intelligent electronic devices for condition monitoring, digital relays etc.). This work presents a solution developed based on Brazilian technology that incorporates all the benefits of smart grid to the most important equipment that is present in the topology of the Low-Voltage Secondary Network Distribution System: the Network Protector. From the neuralgic center of these Low-Voltage Secondary Network Systems, which topology is used in the most important cities in Brazil, which has a high load concentration, the solution presented here make it feasible technically and economically the use of smart grid topology profiting from its great benefits such as: Allow utilities to better optimize the grid to support a number of public policies, from intermittent renewable integration to more dynamic interfaces with customers; Offer utilities more flexibility relative to how they use energy toward the greater societal objectives of reducing greenhouse gases and energy consumption. In the short and mid term, a smarter grid offers utilities operational benefits (outage management, improved processes, maintenance and workforce efficiency, reduced losses, etc.) as well as benefits associated with improved asset management (system planning, better capital asset utilization, etc.), lower investment to acquire new Network Protectors.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T13:42:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Renata_Schmidt_Filgueras.pdf: 703631 bytes, checksum: f31913527b1612d15991ff454beea7e8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-06-16 / Samples of contra-filet (muscle Longissimus Dorsi) of 12 carcasses of Red Angus bovines and zebuines mixed breeds, knocked down with approximately 350 kg and 3 years of age, treated with or without electric stimulation of low voltage in the period post-mortem were vacuum-packed and stored under refrigeration ( 1,0±0,5ºC) for until 56 days. After 0, 7, 14, 35 and 56 days of maturation were made the determination of bioactive amines (putrescine, cadaverine, histamine, tiramine, serotonin, agmatine, tryptamine, feniletilamine, espermine and espermidine), standard count in plaque of aerobes microorganisms and total count of lactic bacteria. The count of microorganisms of the samples has correlated positively during the storage time (r>0,91 e p<0,001), achieving maximum scores of 6,67 and 7,6 LogUFC.g-1 for viable microorganisms aerobes and lactic bacteria, respectively, after 56 days. The breed variation of the animals and the electric stimulation of the carcass have not demonstrated to cause significant effects in the microbiotics and tenor of bioactive amines during the period observed, except as for the tenors of espermine, after 14 days, when a bigger concentration of such polyamine was detected in the mixed breed meat. Significant positive correlations (p<0,001), were also observed between the lactic bacteria count and the total of bioactive amines in the meat of carcass electrically stimulated, in both Red Angus and zebuines mixed breeds, which it did not occur in the meat of carcass without post-mortem electric stimulation. . / Aminas bioativas são bases orgânicas de baixo peso molecular encontradas em uma gama de alimentos de origem animal e vegetal e estão frequentemente envolvidas no desenvolvimento e potencialização de patologias humanas importantes, como desordens neurológicas, doenças gastrointestinais, hipo e hipertensão, respostas imunes anormais e câncer. O processo de maturação da carne bovina favorece o crescimento de bactérias anaeróbias facultativas, sobretudo bactérias láticas, as quais contribuem para a produção e aumento da concentração de aminas em alimentos. Amostras de contra-filé (músculo Longissimus Dorsi) de 12 carcaças de bovinos Red Angus e mestiços zebuínos, abatidos com aproximadamente 350kg e 3 anos de idade, com e sem estimulação elétrica da carcaça (estimulação de baixa voltagem), foram acondicionadas a vácuo e maturadas sob refrigeração por até 56 dias ( 1,0±0,5ºC). Aos 0, 7, 14, 35 e 56 dias de maturação foram efetuadas as determinações de aminas bioativas (putrescina, cadaverina, histamina, tiramina, serotonina, agmatina, triptamina, feniletilamina, espermina e espermidina), contagem total de bactérias láticas e contagem padrão em placa de microrganismos aeróbios. As contagens de bactérias láticas e microrganismos aeróbios correlacionaram-se positivamente com o tempo de maturação, atingindo ao final do período 6,67 e 7,6 LogUFC.g-1 para microrganismos aeróbios viáveis e bactérias láticas, respectivamente. Entre os diferentes tratamentos estudados, não foram observadas diferenças estatisticamente significativas nos teores de aminas bioativas e contagens de microrganismos (aeróbios e bactérias láticas), exceto aos 14 dias, quando os teores de espermina em amostras de carne de animais mestiços foram significativamente maiores (p<0,05) do que em carnes de Red Angus, com e sem estimulação elétrica. Em tratamentos iguais e ao longo do período de armazenamento houve aumento significativo tanto nas contagens de microrganismos aeróbios e bactérias lácticas quanto nos teores totais de aminas bioativas. Esse aumento é particularmente significativo a partir do 35º dia de maturação. Correlações positivas significativas (p<0,001) foram observadas entre contagem de bactérias láticas, total de aminas bioativas e tempo de maturação em amostras de carne de carcaças estimuladas eletricamente, tanto de animais Red Angus quanto mestiços zebuínos, o que não ocorreu nas carnes de carcaças que não sofreram estimulação elétrica post-mortem. .

Les progrès réalisés durant ces dernières années dans le domaine de la microélectronique et notamment vis-à-vis de l’augmentation exponentielle de la densité d’intégration des composants et des systèmes a participé activement à l’apparition et au développement de systèmes portables communicants de plus en plus performants et polyvalents. La R&D dans les technologies de stockage d’énergie n’a pas suivi cette tendance d’évolution très rapide ; ce qui constitue un handicap majeur dans les évolutions futures des systèmes portables. La transmission d’énergie sans fils sur des distances considérables (plusieurs dizaines de mètres) grâce aux microondes constitue une solution très prometteuse pour pallier aux problèmes d’autonomie dans le cas des systèmes sans fils communicants. De plus, du fait de l’omniprésence des ondes électromagnétiques dans notre environnement avec des niveaux plus ou moins importants, la récupération et l’exploitation de cette énergie libre est également possible. La rectenna (Rectifying Antenna) est le dispositif permettant de capter et de convertir une onde électromagnétique en une tension continue. Plusieurs travaux de thèse axés sur l’étude et l’optimisation de la rectenna ont été réalisés au sein du laboratoire. Ces travaux avaient montré que pour des faibles niveaux de champs les tensions délivrées par la rectenna sont généralement très faibles et inexploitables. Aussi, comme la majorité des micro-sources d’énergie et à cause de son impédance interne, les performances de la rectenna dépendent fortement de sa charge de sortie. Ainsi, le développement d’un système d’interfaçage de la rectenna est nécessaire afin de pallier ces manquements inhérents du convertisseur RF/DC. Ce genre de système d’interfaçage est généralement absent dans la littérature à cause des faibles niveaux de puissance exploités. Par conséquent, la rectenna est très souvent utilisée tel quelle ; ce qui limite fortement le champ applicatif. Dans ce projet de recherche, un système de gestion énergétique de la rectenna complètement autonome a été conçu, développé et optimisé afin de garantir les performances optimales de la rectenna quelques soient les fluctuations de la puissance d’entrée et celles de la charge de sortie. Le circuit d’interfaçage permet également de fournir à la charge des niveaux de tension utilisables. Le système réalisé est basé tout d’abord sur l’utilisation d’un convertisseur DC/DC résonant pouvant fonctionner d’une manière complètement autonome à partir de niveaux très bas de la tension et de la puissance de la source. Ce convertisseur permet donc de garantir l’autonomie du système en éliminant la nécessité d’une source d’énergie auxiliaire. A cause de ses faibles performances énergétiques, ce convertisseur ne sera utilisé que durant la phase de démarrage. L’efficacité du système en termes de rendement énergétique et d’adaptation d’impédance est garantie grâce à l’utilisation d’un convertisseur Flyback fonctionnant dans son régime de conduction discontinu. Ainsi, une adaptation d’impédance très efficace est réalisée entre la rectenna et la charge de sortie. Ce convertisseur principal fonctionnera durant le régime permanent. Les deux convertisseurs ont été optimisés pour des niveaux de tension et de puissance aussi bas que quelques centaines de mV et quelques μW respectivement. Des mesures expérimentales réalisées sur plusieurs prototypes ont démontré le bon fonctionnement et les excellentes performances prédites par la procédure de conception ; ce qui nous permet de valider notre approche. De plus, les performances obtenues se distinguent parfaitement vis-à-vis de l’état de l’art. Enfin, en fonction de l’application désirée, plusieurs synoptiques d’association des deux structures sont proposés. Ceci inclut également la gestion énergétique de la charge de sortie. / Latest advancements in microelectronic technologies and especially with the exponential increase of components and devices integration density have yield novel high technology and polyvalent portable systems. Such polyvalent communication devices need more and more available energy. Nonetheless, research in energy storage technology did not evolve with a similar speed. This constitutes a substantial handicap for the future evolution of portable devices. Wireless energy transfer through large distances such as tens of meters using microwaves is a very promising solution in order to deal with the autonomy problem in portable devices. In addition, since electromagnetic waves are ubiquitous in our environment, harvesting and using this free and available energy is also possible. Rectenna (Rectifying Antenna) is the device that allows to collect and to convert an electromagnetic wave into DC power. Several thesis research projects focusing on studying and optimizing the rectenna was carried-out into the Ampere laboratory. It has been shown that for a low level of the electromagnetic field the voltage provided by the rectenna is ultra-low and thus impractical. Further, as it is the case for the majority of energy harvesting micro-sources, the performances of the rectenna depend highly with the loading conditions. So, the development of an interfacing circuit for the rectenna is a necessary task in order to relieve the RF/DC converter inherent flaws. As it is pointed out into the literature, such power management circuit is in most cases absent due to the ultra-low power levels. In most cases, the rectenna is used as it; which reduces strongly the applications area. Within this research project, an ultra-low power and fully-autonomous power management system dedicated to rectennas was developed and optimized. It allows to guarantee highest performances of the rectenna whatever are the fluctuation of the input power level and the output load conditions. In addition, this power management system allows to provide a conventional voltage level to the load. The first part of the developed system is composed by a resonant DC/DC converter which plays the role of start-up circuit. In this case, no external energy source is required even with low voltage and ultra-low power source conditions. Because of its general poor energetic performances, this resonant converter will be used only during the start-up phase. The second part of the developed system is composed by a Flyback converter operating in its discontinuous conduction mode. Using this mode, the converter realizes static and very effective impedance matching with the rectenna in order to extract the maximum available power whatever are the input and the output conditions. Furthermore, thanks to the optimization procedure, the converter shows excellent efficiency performances even for μW power levels based on a discrete demonstrator. Finally, the converter provides conventional voltage levels allowing to power standard electronics. Experimental tests based on discrete prototypes for the both converters show distinguish results for the start-up voltage, the impedance matching effectiveness and the efficiency as regard to the state of the art.

Attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are promising with the recent dramatic increase of installed renewable energy sources (RES) capacity. Integration of large intermittent renewable resources affects smart grid systems in several significant ways, such as transient and voltage stability, existing protection scheme, and power leveling and energy balancing. To protect the grid from threats related to these issues, utilities impose rigorous technical requirements, more importantly, focusing on fault ride through requirements and active/reactive power responses following disturbances. This dissertation is aimed at developing and verifying the advanced and algorithmic methods for specification of protection schemes, reactive power capability and power control requirements for interconnection of the RESs to the smart grid systems. The first findings of this dissertation verified that the integration of large RESs become more promising from the energy-saving, and downsizing perspective by introducing a resistive superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) as a self-healing equipment. The proposed SFCL decreased the activation of the conventional control scheme for the wind power plant (WPP), such as dc braking chopper and fast pitch angle control systems, thereby increased the reliability of the system. A static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) has been proposed to assist with the uninterrupted operation of the doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs)-based WTs during grid disturbances. The key motivation of this study was to design a new computational intelligence technique based on a multi-objective optimization problem (MOP), for the online coordinated reactive power control between the DFIG and the STATCOM in order to improve the low voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability of the WT during the fault, and to smooth low-frequency oscillations of the active power during the recovery. Furthermore, the application of a three-phase single-stage module-integrated converter (MIC) incorporated into a grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) system was investigated in this dissertation. A new current control scheme based on multivariable PI controller, with a faster dynamic and superior axis decoupling capability compared with the conventional PI control method, was developed and experimentally evaluated for three-phase PV MIC system. Finally, a study was conducted based on the framework of stochastic game theory to enable a power system to dynamically survive concurrent severe multi-failure events, before such failures turn into a full blown cascading failure. This effort provides reliable strategies in the form of insightful guidelines on how to deploy limited budgets for protecting critical components of the smart grid systems.

L’intégration massive de la production d’énergie éolienne intermittente au niveau des réseaux électriques pose un problème de stabilité du système électrique. En effet les caractéristiques sont très différentes de celles de sources conventionnelles maîtrisées par les gestionnaires de réseau. Par conséquent, l’injection de cette énergie induit de nouveaux challenges pour les gestionnaires de réseaux électriques. De plus, les conditions de raccordement évoluent et tendent à ce que toutes les sources participent aux services rendus aux systèmes électriques. Les travaux de cette thèse sont focalisés sur la proposition d’une nouvelle stratégie de commande non-linéaire basée sur la commande par « platitude à une boucle » d’un système de conversion d’énergie éolienne. Cette stratégie de contrôle vise la gestion des interactions au point de connexion par la génération et le suivi de trajectoires de références. De par le fait que toutes les variables du système sont liées à la « sortie plate » de ce système, cette commande procure une rapidité de réponse et une bonne maitrise des régimes transitoires. La mise en œuvre de cette nouvelle stratégie de contrôle pour la constitution d’un parc éolien offshore, capable de satisfaire différentes conditions de raccordement a été simulée avec succès. Plus particulièrement, l’évaluation de l’impact de différents défauts du réseau sur les services proposés (Régulation de fréquence et de tension, la tenue aux creux de tension.) a été réalisée. / The massive integration of intermittent production of wind energy in electrical networks creates an electrical system stability problem. Indeed, its characteristics are very different from those of conventional sources controlled by Grid managers. Therefore, the injection of this energy makes new challenges for power Grid operators. Moreover, the connection conditions are evolving and go towards the situations that all different sources participate into services of electrical systems. This thesis proposes a new nonlinear control strategy based on a « one loop flatness control » of a wind energy conversion system. This control strategy has aim of energy interactions management at the connection point through generation and tracking of reference trajectories. As all system variables are functions of the « flat output » of the system, this control provides fast response and good control in transient state. The application of this new control strategy into an offshore wind farm which is able to satisfy different connection conditions was simulated successfully. Specifically, effects of various grid faults on the proposed ancillary services (frequency and voltage regulation, and low-voltage ride through capabilities) were performed.

The ever expanding range of applications for embedded systems continues to offer new challenges (and opportunities) to chip manufacturers. Applications ranging from exciting high resolution gaming to routine tasks like temperature control need to be supported on increasingly small devices with shrinking dimensions and tighter energy budgets. These systems benefit greatly by having the capability to operate over a wide range of supply voltages, known as ultra dynamic voltage scaling (U-DVS). This refers to systems capable of operating from nominal voltages down to sub-threshold voltages. Memories play an important role in these systems with future chips estimated to have over 80% of chip area occupied by memories. This thesis presents the design and characterization of an ultra dynamic voltage scalable memory (SRAM) that functions from nominal voltages down to sub-threshold voltages without the need for external support. The key contributions of the thesis are as follows: 1) A variation tolerant reference generation for single ended sensing: We present a reference generator, for U-DVS memories, that tracks the memory over a wide range of voltages and is tunable to allow functioning down to sub-threshold voltages. Replica columns are used to generate the reference voltage which allows the technique to track slow changes such as temperature and aging. A few configurable cells in the replica column are found to be sufficient to cover the whole range of voltages of interest. The use of tunable delay line to generate timing is shown to help in overcoming the effects of process variations. 2) Random-sampling based tuning algorithm: Tuning is necessary to overcome the in-creased effects of variation at lower voltages. We present an random-sampling based BIST tuning algorithm that significantly speed-up the tuning ensuring that the time required to tune is comparable to a single MBIST algorithm. Further, the use of redundancy after delay tuning enables maximum utilization of redundancy infrastructure to reduce power consumption and enhance performance. 3) Testing and Characterization for U-DVS systems: Testing and characterization is an important challenge in U-DVS systems that have remained largely unexplored. We propose an iterative technique that allows realization of an on-chip oscilloscope with minimal area overhead. The all digital nature of the technique makes it simple to design and implement across technology nodes. Combining the proposed techniques allows the designed 4 Kb SRAM array to function from 1.2 V down to 310 mV with reads functioning down to 190 mV. This would contribute towards moving ultra wide voltage operation a step closer towards implementation in commercial designs.

Současný vývoj v oblasti nízkovoltové elektronové mikrokospie vede ke zlepšování prostorového rozlišení cestou korekce elektronově-optických vad. V posledních letech se implementace korektorů u konvenčních elektronových mikroskopů (50-200 kV) stává standardem. Nicméně zabudování korektoru do malého stolního prozařovacího mikroskopu pracujícího s nízkým urychlovacím napětím je stále výzva. Velmi vhodným řešením korekce otvorové vady u takovýchto přístrojů se zdá být koncept hexapólového korektoru založeného na bázi permantních magnetů umožňující zachovat minimální rozměry stolního transmisního mikroskopu. Přednosti a potenciál Roseho hexapólového korektoru vzhledem k použití v nízkovoltových systémech jsou předmětem kritické analýzy obsažené v této práci, včetně zásadního příspěvku tohoto korektoru k celkové chromatické vadě přístroje. Chromatická vada zůstává, navzdory veškeré snaze o její minimalizaci, zcela zásadním aspektem při návrhu korektoru. Koncept představený v rámci této dizertační práce je určen především pro skenovací prozařovací transmisní mód z důvodu omezení nárůstu chromatické vady způsobeného průchodem elektronového svazku preparátem. V práci lze také nalézt podrobný popis navržených kompenzačních systémů korektoru určených k precisnímu seřízení optické soustavy.