Electrical Efficiency

The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) will develop ultra-light-weight and efficient DC-DC power converters for electric aircraft. The team will drive power density and efficiency through innovation in the electrical and thermal domains and will apply sophisticated modeling and digital control to achieve system-level scalability, reliability, and fault-detection. If successful, this project will propel a disruptive change in electric aircraft propulsion systems, enabling low-cost, high-efficiency, and highly reliable electric flight DC power conversion and distribution. .

The Ohio State University team will transform the design and manufacturing processes of electric machines for electrified vehicles (EVs) through innovative magnetic and insulation materials. First, the team will develop a novel composite magnetic powder material with high electrical resistivity, a strong magnetic field, and low resistance to magnetization changes and use it to build the electric machine cores, enabling a new class of power-dense and high-performance electric machines.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and collaborators will develop a new generation of power electronics based on vertical GaN superjunction diodes and transistors that can break the theoretical limit of today’s GaN unipolar power devices. MIT’s new superjunction structure will provide transistors and diodes with an on-resistance at least 5X better than today’s best GaN or silicon carbide (SiC) power devices, and at least 50-100X better than today’s commercial Si power devices with similar voltage ratings.

Chilldyne proposes improving data center energy efficiency by developing a high-performance cold plate with a helical turbulator that increases the heat transfer rate by a factor of 3. The cold plate uses flowing water and nucleate boiling, where the surface temperature is higher than the saturated fluid temperature, under sub-atmospheric pressure for maximum heat transfer. This technology will improve data center efficiency, enable data centers to operate in hotter climates and supply hotter water for heat reuse, and enable processors to operate more efficiently at lower temperatures.

Nokia will reuse the heat energy AI workloads produce while delivering digital services to supply high quality thermal energy that can be used directly for building heating, cooling, and/or thermal energy storage. The proposed technology will pursue a low-cost, passive, ultra-reliable, high-performance, two-phase cooling philosophy from chip to room scale. The team will rearchitect the computing infrastructure for secondary use as a valuable heat source in heat reuse applications with minimal supporting infrastructure.

SixPoint Materials and Texas Tech University will develop a photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) that will enable low-cost, fast-acting, high-efficiency, high-voltage HVDC circuit breakers. SixPoint will develop the key material, bulk crystals of semi-insulating gallium nitride (GaN), and Texas Tech will design the device structure and fabricate a 100 kV PCSS. Combining the GaN PCSS with a conventional mechanical switch will create a hybrid HVDC circuit breaker suitable for a multi-terminal HVDC grid.

Synteris will use additive manufacturing to print transformative 3D ceramic packaging for power electronic modules. Existing power modules contain flat ceramic substrates that serve as the electrically insulating component and thermal conductor that transfer the large heat outputs of these devices. Synteris will replace the traditional insulating metalized substrate, substrate attach, and baseplate/heat exchanger with a ceramic component that acts an electrical insulator and heat exchanger for a dielectric fluid.

The Stanford University team will additively manufacture amorphous metal SMCs with near-net shapes, reduced cost, reduced material waste, and tailored properties. SMCs are key to increasing energy density and efficiency of electric motors and enabling miniaturized electric vehicle chargers, transformers, and power generators. Scalable, solution-processed oxide-coated amorphous metal nanoparticles will be 3D-printed into rods and donut shapes (toroids) for magnetic measurements. SMC inductor performance will be tested within a calorimetric chamber for precise measurement of losses.

The UC Santa Barbara team aims to develop a networking solution based on coherent co-packaged optics (optics and switch silicon together in the same package), which enable the transport of much more information. Coherent link technology underpins all long-distance fiberoptic communications, but today is too complicated, power hungry, and bulky to be used within datacenters.