Hello there! I am
Dilip Rana
I am currently a
PhD Student
focusing on
Power Electronics
specificically working on the
Reliability Characterization of
GaN Power Devices at
Cryogenic Temperatures
Dilip Rana
Who is Dilip Rana?
I am Dilip Rana. I am currently a PhD Researcher focusing on Power Electronics, specificically working on the reliability characterization of GaN power devices at cryogenic temperatures.
Personal website of Dilip Rana
Please find my personal website here: diliprana.github.io
What are focus areas of Dilip?
It includes, Power Electronics, Reliability Assessment of Power Devices, specifically GaN (Gallium Nitride) HEMTs (High Electron Mobility Transistors). I have been focusing on the operation of these at cryogenic temperatures (extremly cold environment, currently as low as 50 K).
Where is Dilip Rana from?
I am from Kathmandu, Bagmati Nepal. I am currently living in Troy, New York and pursuing my PhD at RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).
What is the educational qualification of Dilip Rana?
With bachelor's degree in electrical engineering I got in 2022, I am a direct PhD student now at RPI in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Quick Links:
or email me directly to
ranad@rpi.edu
Experience
Graduate Research Assistant
Jan 2024 - Present (Expected Graduation: 2028)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
ExPERT Team
Troy, New York, Unites States
I am currently a graduate research assistant working with Prof. Zheyu Zhang. Currently, I am honored to be involved in a NASA-funded project focused on evaluating the suitability of GaN HEMTs for future lunar missions. My work involves conducting stress tests that replicate lunar environmental conditions and assessing device performance to support the design of next-generation power converters. My research centers on the reliability assessment of GaN HEMTs, with a strong focus on understanding their behavior under extreme operating conditions.
Embedded Hardware Engineer
Jan 2022 - Dec 2023
Yatri Motorcycles
Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, Nepal
Following a three-month internship, I joined Yatri Motorcycles—Nepal’s first and only electric two-wheeler startup—as a full-time Embedded Hardware Engineer. I was involved in the design, testing, and implementation of critical hardware components for vehicle embedded systems, including the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU), power relay boards, and more. This role required close collaboration with multidisciplinary teams for system-level testing and design validation. Seeing these developments successfully integrated into the final product was a highly rewarding experience.
Conferences and Publications
October 2025, ECCE Conference
A Universal Reliability Platform for GaN HEMTs with Realistic Stress Emulation, Online Monitoring, and In-Circuit Characterization
Abstract: Realistic emulation of application operating conditions and effective degradation tracking are essential for accurate reliability assessment of power semiconductors. For gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), even minor modifications to the gate and power loops-introduced for online monitoring or offline characterization-can significantly alter stress dynamics due to the high sensitivity of circuit par-asitics at fast switching speeds. This paper presents a universal reliability test platform for GaN HEMTs, applicable across a wide range of power electronic applications, that accurately emulates application-level stressors while supporting both online degradation monitoring and a novel offline in-circuit characterization approach. An overview of the test platform is first presented, covering its implementation and control strategy. The normal operation mode is then described alongside the real-time degradation tracking methodology. A circuit-based offline characterization method is subsequently presented, enabling extraction of I-V characteristics directly from the device within its operating circuit without hardware modifications. Finally, the platform is experimentally validated using commercial GaN HEMTs stressed in a synchronous buck converter configuration, confirming its accuracy and practicality for both online monitoring and offline characterization.
June 2025, IAS Conference
Reliability Database for Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductors and Module Packaging via Comprehensive Survey and Standardization
Abstract: The reliability of power electronic (PE) systems is becoming increasingly critical as these technologies are integrated into mission-critical applications. Accurate lifetime prediction for high-failure-rate components, such as power semiconductors and packaging, is essential for ensuring long-term efficient system performance. However, developing high-fidelity lifetime models requires a thorough understanding of underlying physics-of-failure (POF) mechanisms and extensive stress testing, which is often prohibitively costly and time-consuming when conducted individually. This study addresses these challenges by establishing a centralized reliability database, developed through a comprehensive survey of failure mode and effects analysis (FEMA) for the most vulnerable components in PE systems. Lifetime models associated with dominant failure mechanisms are compiled and standardized, including the extraction of key model coefficients, to support consistent and efficient reliability assessments. The resulting database serves as a valuable resource for benchmarking and guiding future research. The focus is placed on wide bandgap (WBG) power semiconductors and module packaging, two of the most failure-prone elements in modern power electronic converters. Additionally, this study identifies existing research gaps and proposes a structured roadmap for advancing the development of a comprehensive reliability database.
Other Projects
June 2021 - Apr 2022
Wireless Power Transfer: Electric Scooter based Design
For our year-long undergraduate capstone project, we designed and optimized a wireless power transfer system for a commercial electric scooter. We successfully demonstrated a working hardware prototype, which was well received by the department.
Collaborators: Peter Multiverse (Ganesh Rai), Abinash Man Karmacharya and Anjana Shrestha
What: Simulation and hardware prototype development of inductive resontant coupling based wireless power transfersystem for electric scooter - transfering power from ground pad to coil at base of the scooter.
How:
What: Simulation and hardware prototype development of inductive resontant coupling based wireless power transfersystem for electric scooter - transfering power from ground pad to coil at base of the scooter.
How:
- Design and optimization of coil design at given constraints in COMSOL Multiphysics Tool
- Design of half bridge inverter with inductive power transfer using S-S topology
- Design of gate driver circuits using isolated-tranformer topology
- Development of hardware prototype using matrix board and off the shelf parts
- Successful design and demonstration of working prototype on project defence
- Optimized coil design within dimensional constraints and limiting maximum flux density to 80 mT
- Working hardware prototype with power transfered upto 150W achieving maximum power transfer efficiency of 90%
Dec 2019 - Jan 2020
Induction Heater Design and Case Study
As part of an energy hackathon organized to explore sustainable solutions, we studied the feasibility of replacing traditional LPG-based cooking in the Kathmandu Valley with an induction heater-based approach. Our analysis considered projected energy generation and demand trends over the next five years. To support the case for local adoption, we built a functional induction heater prototype demonstrating the potential for in-country production. Our team won the hackathon in the efficiency category.
Team Name: NT RAYS
Collaborators: Abinash Man Karmacharya, Peter Multiverse (Ganesh Rai), Anjana Shrestha
What: Case study of induction heater cooking to replace LPG cooking in Kathmandu Valley with in-country manufactoring
How:
Collaborators: Abinash Man Karmacharya, Peter Multiverse (Ganesh Rai), Anjana Shrestha
What: Case study of induction heater cooking to replace LPG cooking in Kathmandu Valley with in-country manufactoring
How:
- Use of official Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) data for demand and generation of electrical energy
- Local manufactoring of induction heaters for cost effective heaters production
- Comparison and feasibility of the induction heater based solution at peak loading hours
- With clear upward generation trend surpassing electricity consumption demand, the study showed that future generation is capable of providing heater cooking demand
- Comparing cooking cost to LPG cooking revealed about 50% save in energy cost
- Updating grid side stability components and infrastructure revealed the shorter payback period
Feb 2018 - Mar 2018
Ferrous Black Body based Concentrating Solar
In Himalayan regions, solar panels operate under significantly lower insolation, reducing their power output and overall feasibility. To address this, we designed a system that improves panel efficiency by concentrating solar rays and minimizing reflection losses through effective light trapping.
Collaborators: Mahesh Sharma, Keshav Sharma and Lal Babu Mahato
What: Ferrous black body inspired solar rays concentraing system to improve utility of solar panels
How:
What: Ferrous black body inspired solar rays concentraing system to improve utility of solar panels
How:
- Large parabolic rays concentraing disc panel to increase solar intensity to panels
- Solar box to trap incident rays to reduce losses in reflection
- Use of mirros to fill in gaps to redirect rays
- Upto 50% increase in open circuit voltage
Contact info
Thank you for visiting my website! I look forward to connecting with you.