Semiconductors and 3D Printing Technology for More Efficient Electric Vehicles

 Electric Vehicles  

Researchers have developed a new power inverter technology that is lighter, more powerful, and much more efficient than conventional inverter. These devices are essential for use in electric vehicles.

Power inverters are one of the key components in electric vehicles, used for converting DC power into AC power, supplying a car's electric motor with power. That's why they further improving the design of power inverters can play a major role in the development of electric vehicles and help make them more efficient, and scientists are focusing on finding a way to make inverters more powerful, and more affordable, at the same time. Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been working on a new power inverter technology, and they have managed to create an inverter that is lighter, more powerful, and much more efficient than conventional inverters.

"Wide bandgap technology enables devices to perform more efficiently at a greater range of temperatures than conventional semiconductor materials."

The key aspect of their innovation is a new, so-called wide bandgap material, made of silicon carbide, that they used in order to create a new type of semiconductor (shown below). "Wide bandgap technology enables devices to perform more efficiently at a greater range of temperatures than conventional semiconductor materials," said ORNL's Madhu Chinthavali, who led the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Group on this project. "This is especially useful in a power inverter, which is the heart of an electric vehicle." The new semiconductors are produced using 3D printers, which allows researchers to modify the shape of inverters, enhancing their performances significantly.

Wide Bandgap Material power inverter from Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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Scientists say that, thanks to 3D printing, the 30-kilowatt inverter features higher overall efficiency, higher temperature capability, as well as higher power density, which means that it is able to transfer heat more efficiently, and minimize electrical losses. What's more, the lower-temperature components in the prototype inverter are closer to the high-temperature ones, resulting in reduced size of the unit. "With additive manufacturing, complexity is basically free, so any shape or grouping of shapes can be imagined and modeled for performance," Chinthavali said.

In addition to this, the fact that there are more small capacitors that are connected to each other inside the inverter, allows better cooling and reduces production costs.

According to the researchers, this inverter provides an efficiency of 99%, far beyond the target that they had set, suggesting that 3D printing might be the perfect solution for manufacturing cheaper, more reliable and more compact inverters, considering that only 50% of the ORNL's prototype are 3D printed. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory continues to work on power inverter technology, and scientists hope that they will be able to develop an inverter that will be entirely 3Dprinted.

At the moment, this technology is still under development, but it is expected to become commercially available in the near future, and when it does, it will undoubtedly have a great contribution to making electric cars more affordable and more energy efficient.

By Jordan Perch

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Author Bio - Jordan Perch is an automotive fanatic and “safe driving” specialist. He is a writer for DMV.com, which is a collaborative community designed to help ease the stress and annoyance of “dealing with the DMV.”