Barriers for eco-designing circular Power Electronics Converters

Integrating eco-design methods for circular Power Electronics Converters (PECs) based products in industry is crucial to endorse Sustainable Development Goals within planetary limits. However, eco-designing Power Electronics (PE) remains today on optimising the energy efficiency and the power density of the usage phase of the electronic designed. PE engineers design the PECs by developing electrical equations and topologies, with a weak consideration of the physical connections and kinematic relations between components. Therefore, there is a lack of engineering research focusing on PECs architectures to eco-design for sustainable life cycles, integrating well-known mechatronics methods for repair, reuse, and remanufacturing. This paper investigates two major eco-design challenges: first, the existing circularity design criteria are not yet adapted to PECs physical subsystems. Second, the conversion topology design process needs to integrate this new “potential circular” physical structure. This paper therefore suggests requirements to allow PE designers to overcome these two issues from the early design phases.