The design of power electronic systems requires wide ranging expertise in complex and often tedious tasks, such as the design of the power circuit, selection of power semiconductor devices, design of the feedback loop, design of wound components, and design for Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC). Many of the tasks rely heavily on the experience of the designer, and cannot be solved analytically. This makes the design iterative, time consuming, and heavily dependent on the designer's experience. At present, circuit simulation packages such as SPICE or SABER are used to test a design in software. Even with these tools, it is still necessary to build a prototype to verify the design, usually followed by several test-modify-retest cycles before a final design is reached. This process involves considerable decision making, which requires substantial expertise in all aspects of power electronics. This thesis investigates the use of expert system technology, one of many artificial intelligence techniques, to assist in the design of power electronic systems. Faster design times and a more efficient design are among the advantages that can be achieved using an expert system based design. In this study, Switched Mode Power Supplies have been chosen as a typical power electronic system. An expert system (developed using wxCLIPS) has been linked with a circuit simulator (SPICE), extensive databases and a graphical display system to provide a comprehensive design environment. The techniques used in the system cover all facets of the design: preliminary circuit design, component selection, circuit simulation, control loop design, and design for EMC. Extensive knowledge bases covering the various design rules are built into the expert system. The design methodology aims to give a near complete system design with an optimum configuration produced at minimum time and cost. The investigated techniques could readily be adapted to other power electronic applications, such as Uninterruptible Power Supplies and motor drives.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:660983 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Reddy, Amarnath |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/12842 |
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