Design and characterisation of advanced magnetic material‐based core for isolated power converters used in wave energy generation systems

The oceanic wave energy generation has been drawn significant attention in the field of power engineering recently. These generation systems are basically direct drive electrical power generators connected to the wave energy devices with the variable frequency drives (VFDs). This study proposes an application of high‐frequency transformers at the output stages of VFDs for the galvanic isolation purpose among multiple output ports of VFDs in a wave farm. The design process of a high‐frequency magnetic link involves multiphysics problems that entail complex tradeoffs between electrical and magnetic properties including efficiency. Moreover, the performance of the magnetic link depends on the switching characteristics of the power switching devices and various excitation signals. Therefore, extensive multiphysics research in the field of design and optimisation of magnetic links is needed to develop next‐generation technologies. In this study, a finite‐element method‐based systematic process is presented for the design of amorphous alloy‐based core of the high‐frequency magnetic link. Two cores are developed and characterised in the laboratory. The characterised data obtained from the experiment can be used in the future design optimisation of other high‐frequency magnetic links.