Eco-Dimensioning Approach for Planar Transformer in a Dual Active Bridge (DAB) Application

Power electronics converters are traditionally designed regarding efficiency, power density, cost, and reliability figures of merit. Today, with the extreme spread of power electronic applications in our modern societies, together with the earth limits in terms of materials resources, it is important to consider the ecological impact of the converter not only during its usage, but over its whole life cycle. This article introduces an eco-dimensioning methodology for analyzing and accounting for the energy consumption over the entire converter life. The analysis is applied on a small DC-DC converter considering the main components dual active bridge (DAB) converter. The planar transform is one of the key elements modeled in this article, including material and manufacturing conditions. The traditional and eco-dimensioning approaches are carried out and compared in order to emphasize the possible consequences on total energy cost.