Fayetteville and Canadian Tech Firms Team up to Improve Electric Cars

A Fayetteville company and a Canadian firm are working together to develop next-generation technology that could potentially enable more powerful, reliable and efficient hybrid and electric cars.

Arkansas Power Electronics International Inc., headquartered at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park at the University of Arkansas, develops state-of-the-art technology for power electronics systems, electronic motor drives and power electronics packaging. The company’s management team members are all graduates of the university College of Engineering.

GaN Systems Inc., from Canada, makes power switching semiconductors using gallium nitride instead of silicon, the current industry standard.

Together the companies plan to build more versatile and more efficient power components for electric power conversion systems. Their goal is to show that gallium nitride power devices are a better way to power hybrid and electric vehicles than existing silicon-based systems. The co-development is funded in part by the Canadian government through Sustainable Development Technology Canada.

Hybrid and electric vehicles – as well as solar electric systems – require power electronics to convert electrical energy from one form to another – from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), for example.  

“Power switches are the heart of these systems,” said Alexander Lostetter, president and CEO of APEI. “High performance power device packaging is required to house the semiconductor switches that shape the electrical waveforms, thus providing mechanical and electrical connections to the rest of the system. Current power semiconductor switches use silicon semiconductors that lose a great deal of energy during the conversion process and can’t operate at high temperatures. Gallium nitride significantly improves upon that capability.”

Applications for power modules go beyond electric vehicles and include uses such as connecting solar energy cells to the electrical grid. But the efficiencies of gallium nitride are only available if they are in high performance power packages capable of supporting their increased performance capabilities. GaN Systems provides the semiconductors; the high performance power packages are APEI’s specialty.

“For some time APEI has been looking for an opportunity to get more heavily involved in developing products for newly-emerging gallium nitride device technology,” said Lostetter.  “Our partnership with a pioneer such as GaN Systems is very exciting for us, resulting in new power packaging and converter technologies for an industry that is demanding increased energy efficiency, higher performance and reliability, and smaller size and weight.”

“As gallium nitride is just beginning to gain acceptance for the next generation of power semiconductors, prospective users are keen to see the technology validated through real system design implementations,” said Girvan Patterson, CEO of GaN Systems. “Advanced packaging is the key that unlocks the vast potential of gallium nitride in high-power applications, so we are delighted to be collaborating with a world leader on a package and system design that will maximize the benefits of this exciting technology. This important partnership also marks a powerful endorsement of our patented, island-based topology, validating our unique design approach.”

“Sustainable Development Technology Canada works to ensure that different partners – from innovators to end-users – are involved in the development and demonstration of new technologies,” said Vicky Sharpe, president and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada. “GaN Systems and APEI are showing the clear benefits of this approach. By working together, they will make sure that users’ needs are reflected in the product’s development early enough to pave a smooth path to market.”

About Arkansas Power Electronics International Inc. (APEI)

Arkansas Power Electronics International Inc. (APEI) is a developer of state-of-the-art technology for power electronics systems, electronic motor drives, and power electronics packaging. The company specializes in high density, high power electronics solutions and products based on new and emerging materials, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). Power electronics are implemented in nearly every aspect of energy usage, ranging from driving motors in hybrid and electric vehicles, to converting renewable energy sources to usable electricity, to supplying electrical power to computer systems on satellites, spacecraft, and military platforms. Future power electronic systems must be small, lightweight, and very energy efficient to yield these benefits to the everyday end user. APEI's technology reduces energy losses of electrical power systems by more than 90 percent, which will save billions of dollars per year in wasted energy, when implemented on a mass scale. Simultaneously, these systems are an order of magnitude smaller and lighter weight. For more information, please visit www.apei.net or follow APEI, Inc. on Facebook at http://facebook.apei.net/

GaN Systems

GaN Systems provides gallium nitride power switching semiconductors using a unique, island-based topology, building on over 10 years of process research at the National Research Council of Canada. The Company’s upcoming Cool Switching™ product line of highly efficient, low-loss diodes, transistors, and integrated systems, and its patented gallium nitride designs address the limitations of silicon power conversion approaches. For the first time, compound semiconductor devices will be cost competitive with silicon devices, enabling future power conversion products that will be more energy efficient, lower cost, and lighter weight. For cleantech applications, GaN Systems’ technology offers improved economics -through reduced energy conversion losses and increased power production -enabling feasible solutions to the global energy crisis. For more information, please visit www.gansystems.com.

Sustainable Development Technology Canada

Sustainable Development Technology Canada  is a foundation funded by the Government of Canada that operates a $590 million fund to support the development and demonstration of clean technologies — solutions that address issues of clean air, climate change, clean water, and clean soil to deliver environmental, economic and health benefits to Canadians. For more information, please visit www.sdtc.ca.

Arkansas Research and Technology Park

The Arkansas Research and Technology Park is the only technology incubator in the state associated with the University of Arkansas. It offers a unique business, research, and entrepreneurial environment to nurture innovation and commercialization of breakthrough technologies to stimulate Arkansas' knowledge-based economy and provide quality employment opportunities for University of Arkansas graduates.