SBIR Phase I: Compact Power-Stack and Packaged Power Module

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是模块化电源子系统（电源堆栈）的开发，这将使新一代的电源逆变器具有紧凑，可重复使用，可升级，抗模具供应短缺的弹性，并且可以更快，更便宜地制造。随着世界向清洁能源的转移以及工业、交通和家庭的进一步电气化，对电力转换器的需求显著增长。清洁能源的广泛采用要求这些转换器简单、可扩展、可靠和经济。今天的设计对于最终客户和转换器供应商来说都是不方便的，因为它们通常是：复杂，大型，笨重，不灵活，昂贵且上市缓慢。目前的逆变器通常由少数专业公司制造，对于没有经验的进入者来说，技术壁垒很高。此外，目前的逆变器被锁定为电源芯片供应商，这使得扩大规模和重复使用具有挑战性。拟议的项目将开发和测试一种新颖的方法，使逆变器能够满足新的市场需求。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一种解决电源转换问题的新方法。高功率半导体开关的高速工作通常会产生大量的热量。与现有技术相比，所提出的创新的新颖性在于将电隔离点从电源芯片附近移动到冷却剂附近，并将电源路径、控制路径和热路径大规模集成到可扩展的构建块中。另一个优势是能够开发新的制造工艺来可靠地构建和集成这些模块。该项目的结果可能是一种设计和制造方法，可以减少50%的开发时间和开发成本，减少80%的重量和尺寸，每单位成本降低100- 200美元，增加可扩展性，并提高对模具供应短缺的弹性。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 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the development of modular power sub-systems (power-stacks) that will enable a new generation of power inverters that are compact, re-usable, upgradable, resilient against die-supply shortages, and can be manufactured faster and cheaper. As the world migrates to sources of clean energy and the further electrification of industry, transportation, and homes, there is a significant and growing demand for electric power converters. Widespread adoption of clean energy requires that these converters be simple, scalable, reliable, and cost-effective. Today's designs are inconvenient both for end customers and for converter suppliers, as they typically are: complex, large, heavy, inflexible, expensive, and slow to market. Current inverter are often made by only a few specialized companies and have high technical barriers to entry for inexperienced entrants. Additionally, current inverters are locked to power-die suppliers, making scale-up and re-use challenging. The proposed project will develop and test a novel approach to enable inverters to meet new market demands.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop a novel approach to power conversion problems. High speed operation of high-power semiconductor switches typically generates significant heat. The novelty of the proposed innovation over current technologies resides in moving the point of electrical isolation from adjacent to the power-die to adjacent to the coolant, and massively integrating the power path, the control path and thermal path into scalable building blocks. An additional advantage is the ability to develop new manufacturing processes to build and integrate these blocks reliably. The outcomes of this project may be a design and manufacturing approach that results in 50% reduced development time and development cost, 80% lower weight and size, a $100-$200 per unit cost reduction, increased scalability, and improved resilience to die-supply shortages.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.