Power electronics are critical components of many electric energy systems. For example, power converters can be found in anything from consumer electronics to renewable energy generation. New applications demand smaller, lighter, and more efficient power converters. However, scaling down these parameters is often bottlenecked by magnetic energy storage elements: not only are they typically the largest element on the circuit, but they are also the least efficient at small volumes. Piezoelectric materials are a promising alternative energy storage device, but piezoelectric-resonator-based power converters are a relatively new development. The goal of this project is to develop, design, construct and test novel piezoelectric-based converter designs.

I’m participating in SuperUROP to deepen my understanding of power electronics. I took 6.222 (Power Electronics Laboratory) last year and I really enjoyed engineering power converters for tangible purposes. I hope to learn more about how I can effectively communicate engineering-oriented research to a wide audience.