DOE Awards Delphi Corp. Funding for Propulsion Inverter for Hybrid Electric Vehicles
June 30, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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Delphi Corp. will develop a propulsion inverter for hybrid vehicles for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
The new smaller inverter will be used on high-efficiency hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and "plug-in" hybrids (PHEVs), according to Delphi.
In the longer-term, the inverter will be used for fuel cell vehicles (FCVs).
The Delphi-led research and design team will contribute $3 million and receive $5 million in funding from the DOE, resulting in an $8 million project, seeking to reduce the cost and size of the inverter for electric propulsion systems by 50% or more, said Delphi.
The team members for the project include:
- Delphi for the inverter design, packaging, thermal management, mechanical integration, build, test and assessment of cost to manufacture.
- Dow Corning and GeneSiC for silicon carbide-on-silicon power semiconductor devices.
- General Electric for high-temperature thin-film direct current (DC) buss capacitors.
- Argonne National Lab for ceramic capacitors.
- Oak Ridge National Lab for characterization of power semiconductor devices, modeling, simulation and evaluation of alternative inverter topologies and system testing.
Propulsion inverters provide phased alternating current (AC) power for hybrid vehicle traction motors and generators as well as auxiliary pumps and drives. The propulsion inverter enables control over electrical power flow from the battery to the electric motor.
One or more electric motors can be combined with another power source like a gasoline or ethanol engine, an engine-generator or a fuel cell to propel the vehicle at higher efficiency than conventional engine technology, claims Delphi.
Source: Delphi Corp.