- Power inverter technology critical to electric motor operation, converts energy from DC to AC power
- Inverter size and power density present design and mechanical challenges to EV manufacturers
- Hillcrest’s technology solves challenges with smaller, lighter inverter solutions that reduce weight, increase payload, decrease heat production, boost range
- Company recently released series of technical whitepapers that validate technology
Electrification technology continues to make strides; however, inverter size and power density continue to present design and mechanical challenges to manufacturers in the EV space.
Hillcrest Energy Technologies (CSE: HEAT) (OTCQB: HLRTF) (FRA: 7HIA.F), a clean technology company, addresses these challenges with conversion technologies and control systems solutions that reduce the size and weight of inverter designs with the potential to disrupt the electrification industry.
“Capacitance for a typical EV traction inverter today is between 600 micro farads and 1 millifarad, while the commercial prototype design of the Hillcrest traction inverter contemplates one-fifth to one-tenth of the capacitance,” says Hillcrest CTO Ari Berger (
https://ibn.fm/puF40). “Such a significant reduction in capacitor and inverter size and increase in power density, coupled with improved power quality and system reliability, has the potential to disrupt power inverter designs across the automotive space.”
Capacitors work by allowing for pulses of electrical current to occur at different times and frequencies. These pulses act as an energy buffer while reducing the amount of peak-to-peak ripple voltage that can compromise the process. Capacitors are therefore critical to the function of the motor, however the bank of capacitors in the inverter contributes to the component’s size and weight, posing mechanical and design challenges for manufacturers.
Enabling switching at higher frequencies with Hillcrest’s Zero Voltage Switching (“ZVS”) inverter technology can result in a significant increase in power density, partly due to the reduction in the size of capacitors needed and in turn reducing the overall size, weight and cost of an inverter. Hillcrest’s technology allows for smaller, lighter high-efficiency power inverter solutions that reduce overall weight, increase payload, decrease heat production, and boost the vehicle’s range capability. The company continues to validate this technology with a series of whitepapers that showcase the value of its technology from various technical and sub-system aspects (
https://ibn.fm/iYA7l).
Last month the company released a report that demonstrated the value of operating electrical systems at higher switching frequencies with the ability to eliminate losses. The most recent white paper explains how operating at higher switching frequencies can result in a significant reduction in the size of capacitors within the system, in addition to improving power output, quality, system reliability, and component life.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Hillcrest develops transformative power conversion technologies and control system solutions for next-generation electrical systems. As the world moves forward on the path toward electrical energy systems, the company is strongly positioned to provide disruptive technologies that unlock performance and efficiency across the entire electrification value chain.
To download the latest technical white paper, visit
https://HillcrestEnergy.tech/reports.
For more information, visit the company’s website at
www.HillcrestEnergy.tech.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to HLRTF are available in the company’s newsroom at
https://ibn.fm/HLRTF
