High Power Inverter for Swissloop Pod

About the Team:

In the autumn of 2016, Swissloop was founded as an association by students at ETH Zurich, in order to advance research into high-speed transport systems and to represent Switzerland in the Hyperloop Pod Competition. In addition, Swissloop offers students the opportunity to gain practical experience during their studies. 

Swissloop 2020 team

With the very first Swissloop pod “Escher”, the team won third place at the Hyperloop Pod Competition 2017, followed by a top ten placement with the pod “Mujinga” in 2018. Targeting the significantly higher realizability of future applications, Swissloop started focusing on the development of pods with linear drive in 2018/2019. With the pod “Claude Nicollier” this technology was used for the first time in a Hyperloop prototype, which reached second place in the Hyperloop Pod Competition 2019. 

2019 Pod Claude Nicollier in the SpaceX Tube

The Pod

For 2020, our design is focused on taking all concepts learned in the past years and improving on them, advancing the technology used to propel the pod. At the heart of this innovation is our linear induction motor (LIM). As the first student team testing a LIM above 240kmh several improvements came to light, leading us to develop an entirely new motor along with a modular, high power inverter. Designed to handle up to 800V and 150A, this design promises to handle speeds above 500kmh. 

2019 Pod Claude Nicollier

The Circuit Boards

Designed using Altium, an inverter unit consists of a high voltage board and two gate drive boards. The high voltage board is responsible for leading battery power to the power modules and exposing the AC outputs for the motor, as well as connecting MOSFET gates to the respective drivers. Due to the high currents and voltages, this board requires multiple heavy copper layers. A gate drive boards connects a main microcontroller to individual gate drivers, as well as ADCs monitoring temperatures of the transistors and the motor. 

Prototype design for inverter module: Black HV Board and blue gate drive boards

Sponsorship

Support from PCBway would prove immensely helpful to bring our designs to life. Especially the heavy copper layers required for the high currents can be challenging, and prototyping and manufacturing these PCBs with PCBway allows us to realize the challenging designs.