ARCHIMEDES General Assembly Athens 2025

On the 15^th and the 16^th of April 2025, all ARCHIMEDES project partners gathered in Athens for the second General Assembly. This event was graciously hosted by Harokopio University of Athens.

Representatives from all 48 project partners were in attendance, coming together to share the latest developments across the project's Work Packages and Tasks. The assembly featured presentations on the current status of the ARCHIMEDES Demonstrators and in-depth discussions on the outcomes of recent Supply Chain Workshops.

The event provided an opportunity to review project progress and discuss coordination needs across the supply chains that integrate use cases of wide bandgap technologies such as GaN and SiC.

Overall, the project is progressing according to plan. Most supply chain demonstrators are now entering their finalization phase, with several already undergoing testing. These activities are built on the mission profiles established in WP1, which has been successfully completed. They are also closely coordinated with WP2, which focuses on characterization and qualification protocols tailored to Wide Band Gap technologies, and with WP3, which supports system design and validation through digital models integrating reliability and lifetime assessment.

In SC1, the focus is on extending the lifetime of On-Board Chargers from 10,000 to over 80,000 hours using GaN technology—without increasing qualification time. Mission profiles have guided the definition of stress conditions, and GaN devices have been fully characterized. The first Half-Bridge demonstrator is currently under test, while the High-Voltage DCDC converter is in manufacturing. The next steps include completing the test campaign, analyzing results, and validating simulations.

SC2 is developing two demonstrators—an integrated inverter and a powertrain system—both incorporating advanced sensor technologies and AI-based diagnostics. The electric machine has been redesigned for high-speed operation (>20,000 rpm) with direct oil cooling and embedded magnetic flux sensors between the stator and end windings to be at the state of the art. Testing is ongoing on inverter degradation modeling and powertrain sensor validation. AI techniques have enhanced failure classification and fault prediction, while a hybrid Bayesian model has been introduced for Remaining Useful Life (RUL) estimation.

In SC3, efforts focus on reliability and lifetime prediction for complex systems operating in harsh conditions such as heat, fire, and water. Two demonstrators—the Rescue Robot and the Glider BMS—have been completed. Current work includes algorithm integration and refinement, finalization of evaluation and testing frameworks, development of communication protocols, and integration of the latest hardware components such as quantum sensors.

Within SC5, development of a 3.7 kW bidirectional GaN offboard charger with passive cooling is reaching maturity. The system achieves an impressive 99.3% efficiency and incorporates real-time temperature-based reliability monitoring. The main challenge now lies in industrializing GaN aging models to enable predictive maintenance.

Overall, the demonstrators demonstrate strong progress toward achieving longer operational lifetimes, higher efficiency, and more intelligent health monitoring across power electronics systems.