Efficiency

The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and its project team will develop an on-board electric vehicle charger using a gallium nitride (GaN) based converter to improve power density and conversion efficiency. Conventional power converter topologies which primarily use magnetics (i.e. inductors and transformers) for energy transfer suffer from a tradeoff between efficiency and size. In this project, the team proposes a shift in traditional charger design to develop a bidirectional converter dominated by capacitor-based energy transfer.

The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and its project team will develop an extremely efficient AC-to-DC converter based on gallium nitride (GaN) devices for use in datacenters. Datacenters are the backbones of modern information technology and their physical size and power consumption is rapidly growing. Converters for datacenters need to be power dense and efficient to maximize the computing power per unit volume and to reduce operating costs and environmental impact.

The University of Arkansas and its project team will develop a power inverter system for use in the electrification of construction equipment. Heavy equipment providers are increasingly investing in electrification capability to perform work in harsh environments. As with all electrified systems, size, weight and power considerations must be met by these systems. The team's approach is to utilize the advantages of wide bandgap semiconductors not only in the converter elements themselves, but also in the converter’s gate driver as well.

United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) will develop a silicon carbide-based, single stage, 15 kW direct AC-to-AC (fixed frequency AC to variable frequency AC) power converter that avoids the need for an intermediate conversion to DC or energy storage circuit elements. The team seeks to build a device that weighs about half as much as available converters while demonstrating scalability for a broad power range (from kW to tens of MW) and achieving conversion efficiencies greater than 99%.

United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) and its project team will develop an extremely efficient power converter capable of handling kilowatts of electricity at ultra-high power densities. The team will leverage the superior performance of silicon carbide (SiC) or gallium nitride (GaN) devices to achieve its efficiency and power density goals. In the aerospace industry, electrical power distribution can begin to displace pneumatic power distribution using this technology.

Northeastern University will develop a new class of universal power converters that use the fast switching and high breakdown voltage properties of silicon carbide (SiC) switches to significantly reduce system weight, volume, cost, power loss, and failure rates. Northeastern's proposed 10 kW SiC based high-frequency converter topology minimizes the size of passive components that are used for power transfer, and replaces electrolytic capacitors with short lifetimes with film capacitors.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and its project team will develop high power, high voltage AC-to-DC and DC-to-DC modular power converters with a circuit configuration optimized for silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors. In medium voltage and high voltage applications, multilevel modular converters are the favored architecture that overcomes the limitations of Si. Such architecture requires high frequency galvanic isolation to attain higher operating voltages.

Ampaire Inc. will provide a dedicated testbed aircraft that ARPA-E projects can use to deploy and test their technologies at high altitude (up to 6km) in actual flight environments. Ampaire’s dedicated, custom-built, 337 Electric EEL is a converted Cessna 337, the largest aircraft ever to fly using plug-in hybrid electric propulsion. The excess space and flight test payload capacity enable the addition of test circuits without compromising the plane’s performance.

Sandia National Laboratories will develop a solid-state circuit breaker for medium to high voltage applications based on a gallium nitride (GaN) optically triggered, photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS). During normal operation, the current will flow through high-performance commercial silicon carbide (SiC) devices to achieve high efficiency. When a fault occurs, the fast-response GaN PCSS will be used to break the current. The concept builds on Sandia’s knowledge of optically triggered GaN devices, as well as the team’s experience in circuit design for MV applications.

The Ohio State University (OSU) team will develop a MVDC circuit breaker prototype based on its novel “T-breaker” topology. OSU will leverage its unique high voltage and real-time simulation facilities, circuit prototyping experience with MV silicon carbide devices, and capability in developing protection strategies for faults in DC networks. The result will be a circuit breaker with reduced cost and weight, simplified manufacturing, and increased reliability, functionality, efficiency, and power density.