I-Corps: Solid State Circuit Breakers Technology to Market

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种技术，以具有竞争力的成本解决当前断路器的局限性。该技术通过直流电力系统促进可再生能源的整合，并有助于加速电气化行业的发展，以应对世界范围内减少碳足迹的努力。据报道，2019年全球断路器市场规模为160.4亿美元，预计到2027年美国断路器市场规模将达到258.5亿美元。在这个市场中，直流断路器预计从2019年到2024年将以每年6.54%的速度增长。当前断路器技术的痛点包括但不限于运行速度慢、功率密度低、灵活性和可靠性低、无可扩展性、监控功能有限。除了这些缺点之外，现有的断路器技术还不能满足新兴电气化技术的迫切需求，例如航空航天、船舶和电动汽车应用。这个I-Corps项目是基于新兴的固态断路器技术的发展，以隔离电力系统中的故障。该技术旨在利用最先进的、宽带隙的固态器件来增加紧凑性、提高效率和运行速度。该解决方案包括软件和硬件，可以根据不同的电力应用进行调整。性能、设计简单性和低价格的结合使该技术广泛地可访问和管理各种应用程序。该技术通过呈现模块化结构来提供可伸缩性。这一特性有助于提高当前技术的功率限制。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a technology that addresses the limitations of current circuit breakers, at a competitive cost. The technology facilitates renewable energy integration by direct current power systems and helps to accelerate the development of the electrification industry to cope with the world-wide effort in minimizing carbon footprints. The global circuit breaker market has been reported as $16.04 billion in 2019 and is estimated to reach $25.85 billion in the US by 2027. Among this market, direct current circuit breakers are estimated to grow at an annual rate of 6.54% from 2019 to 2024. The pain points of the current circuit breaker technology include, but are not limited to, slow operation, low power density, low flexibility and reliability, no scalability, and limited monitoring and controlling functions. In addition to these drawbacks, the existing circuit breaker technology cannot respond to the urgent needs of emerging electrified technologies, e.g., aerospace, marine, and electric vehicle applications.This I-Corps project is based on the development of emerging solid state circuit breaker technologies to isolate fault in an electric system. The technology aims to utilize state-of-the-art, wide bandgap, solid-state devices to increase compactness, enhance efficiency, and operate faster. The solution includes both software and hardware which can be adjusted for various applications with different electrical power. The combinations of performance, design simplicity, and low-price make this technology broadly accessible and manageable for various applications. The technology provides scalability by presenting a modular structure. This feature helps to push up power limitation of the current technology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.