Solid‑State Transformer for AIDC: Research and Industry Status, Insulation Technology and Future Development

Abstract: (This webinar is sponsored by PELS TC 12) Driven by advances in artificial intelligence, massive computing power demands have emerged, accelerating the construction of Artificial Intelligence Data Centers (AIDC) and triggering a new round of global power‑system construction. Power consumption of data centers has grown explosively. Traditional data‑center power supply architectures, which adopt power‑frequency transformers for isolation and step‑down, low‑voltage AC power distribution and multi‑stage power conversion, cannot meet the high‑energy‑efficiency and high‑density design requirements for energy‑intensive AIDCs. Power supply has become a critical bottleneck restricting computing‑power improvement. High‑density high‑capacity solid‑state transformers, which realize high‑frequency isolated power conversion from medium‑voltage AC to low‑voltage DC, represent the ultimate solution for performance leap of data‑center power supply systems, and have become one of the hottest research topics in the power‑supply industry. Based on sorting out the application requirements of AIDC, this seminar reviews academic and industrial progress of solid‑state transformer technology. It presents ongoing research work and technical prospects in two aspects. First, it introduces the insulation design philosophy of solid‑state transformers adopting double‑shielding structures, and provides design cases for key isolation components of solid‑state transformers such as high‑frequency transformers based on double‑shielding schemes. Second, targeting future large‑capacity 35 kV grid‑connection requirements, it presents feasible new insulation and topology solutions for solid‑state transformers, and analyzes critical technical bottlenecks to be overcome for reliable 35 kV grid access.