Back into may perhaps, Google announced its not enough Box challenge, a $1 million prize in support of skill with the intention of can radically decline the size and mass of inverters. This week, it opened the contest to applicants, announced the IEEE so a partner, and clarified honest how minute it’s in suspense to get a hold with the next-generation power conversion technologies.
According to Google’s Tuesday blog placement, its goal is to decline today’s picnic-cooler-sized DC-to-AC inverters, used to join solar panels, wind turbines, thrilling vehicles and other grid bank diplomacy, into something “the size of a minute laptop, roughly 1/10th its current size.” into technical stipulations, with the intention of equates to a kilowatt-scale inverter with a power density greater than 50 watts for every cubic creep.
Google’s not enough Box challenge specifications essay (PDF) offers a destiny further details, plus smallest efficiency (95 percent), how spicy to the converge it can get a hold (60 degrees Celsius), and a slew of specs in support of how the diplomacy can intermingle with the grid. But all of these are further otherwise a reduced amount of standard solar inverter food -- it’s the size with the intention of matters generally.
Getting today’s inverters down to laptop size motivation require more or less revolutionary different equipment and design concepts, according to MJ Shiao, director of GTM's solar follow a line of investigation. Today’s inverter manufacturers are pushing the upper bounds of efficiency, and "investing into the operational, use, figure area of the inverter may perhaps let somebody see further returns -- not with the intention of there's thumbs down use into investing into less significant road," he understood. "Smaller, further efficient designs visibly encompass more or less return. Fit further power into the same footprint can hint to let fall electrical balance of systems and logistical expenditure."
Google concedes with the intention of it’s setting a high point pole, and it’s enlisted the help of the IEEE Power Electronics Society to help give your opinion and top quality the winners. Applicants encompass until July 2015 to get a hold their submissions into. So in support of why it thinks with the intention of much less significant inverters are vital, Google’s blog placement cited their effectiveness to “help create low-cost microgrids into remote parts of the planet. Otherwise allow you to keep the illumination on in a faint via your thrilling car’s battery. Otherwise enable advances we haven’t even concept of yet.”
Of flow, $1 million doesn’t energy with the intention of far into stipulations of bringing a technical notion to lab demonstration, agree to and no-one else commercialization. But a link with Google may possibly stay worth a destiny further than with the intention of, particularly particular its contemporary attention into power conversion skill. In support of the long-ago not many months, Google has been hiring power electronics engineers in support of a project dubbed the “Bottom Up Grid,” with the pledge of getting to drive on “advanced electrical power conversion and conditioning solutions with the intention of point to fundamentally exchange the planet of power.” According to news reports, Google has position ex- branch of Energy ARPA-E curriculum director Arun Majumdar into charge of a power electronics band together surrounded by the company’s Energy Access team.
Everywhere may possibly the breakthroughs go from? Different wide-bandgap semiconductor equipment are portion power electronics realize better performance into less significant parcels. President Obama devoted $70 million to a power electronics manufacturing focal point into North Carolina continue time, and ARPA-E is funding a host of next-generation semiconductor follow a line of investigation hard work.
Lone of them, Transphorm, has Google so an investor, and is using gallium nitride so a replacement in support of silicon into all style of power electronics components. Silicon carbide is a further material with the intention of promises to allow important reduction into equipment mass and cost. Google's not enough Box labyrinth folio lists semiconductor companies plus Transphorm, NXP, Cree and United Silicon Carbide so seats everywhere not enough Box applicants must energy in support of in a row, and asks other large bandgap device manufacturers not on the record to add their names so well.
Google’s attention into better power conversion skill isn’t honest charitable. The company has invested further than $1 billion into solar and wind power projects into the long-ago five years, and holds a 37.5 percent stake into the Atlantic Wind Connection, a $5 billion offshore wind transmission project considered in support of the East Coast. It’s furthermore laying the base in support of further in action participation into the grid. Into 2010, it customary praise from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to produce an effect further like a effectiveness into stipulations of onsite generation and power-purchase agreements. And, of flow, it has been squeezing efficiency comatose of its data centers in support of years at this moment, a further area everywhere tiny gains into power conversion efficiency can add up to enormous savings.
TAGS: Energy storage, gallium nitride, google, inverter, little box, microgrid, power conversion, power electronics, semiconductor, silicon carbide, smart grid, solar, transphorm, venture capital, wind
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