Constantinos has been working in the automotive industry since 2009. Most recently as a Systems Team Leader at Delphi Technologies, he headed the design of a diesel exhaust aftertreatment controller and software, destined for use in the Asia Pacific region. In 2006, he was awarded a BEng in Electronic Engineering by the University of Sheffield and in 2016, an MSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering with distinction by the University of Greenwich. Outside work he mainly enjoys movies, and games but also dabbles in music with his guitar, he also enjoys a good coffee with friends. He joins the AAPS CDT with an interest in Propulsion Electrification and hopes to further his own and his industry's knowledge in the area of Power Electronics and Wide Bandgap semiconductor devices as we progress to cleaner transport systems.
For his project "Integrated Drive System with Modularised Energy Storage for Automotive Applications" Constantinos will attempt to determine and quantify potential merits to the use of modular multilevel converter (MMC) topologies in automotive applications as compared with existing 2-Level Converters or state of the art 3-Level converters. Future automotive electrified powertrains face severe restrictions on energy consumption and need to meet extremely high real-world benchmarks of efficiency and cost to remain commercially viable but also to offer any real societal benefits in terms of environmental impact. Three main topologies will be investigated and compared with each other, in order to determine how they might impact the powertrain in terms of efficiency, cost and energy utilisation during various drive cycles. Preliminary research has shown that it is possible to reduce costs or increase peak efficiency of the main traction inverter’s output stage, but MMCs may offer further benefits in low or partial loads as might be seen in certain drive cycles. It is anticipated that the modular nature of this topology may offer, cost benefits by allowing for further system level integration of Power Electronics within the battery pack and functional aggregation as it is able to take on the responsibilities of the On-Board Charger or partially, that of the 12V DC/DC converter while simultaneously outputting a much cleaner AC voltage waveform potentially reducing losses in the Motor. While these topologies show promise, their increased complexity or the way the battery is utilised may result in MMCs presenting a technologically or financially low value in certain applications and as such research is being undertaken to evaluate the potential benefits and drawbacks of these topologies in automotive applications.
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