power electronics tagged posts

Engineering researchers have created new high-power electronic devices that are more energy efficient than previous technologies. The devices are made possible by a unique technique for “doping” gallium nitride (GaN) in a controlled way.

“Many technologies require power conversion — where power is switched from one format to another,” says Dolar Khachariya, the first author of a paper on the work and a former Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University. “For example, the technology might need to convert AC to DC, or convert electricity into work — like an electric motor. And in any power conversion system, most power loss takes place at the power switch — which is an active component of the electrical circuit that makes the power conversion system.

“Developing more efficien...

People love their electric cars. But not so much the bulky batteries and related power systems that take up precious cargo space. Help could be on the way from a gallium oxide-based transistor under development at the University at Buffalo.

In a study published in the June edition of IEEE Electron Device Letters, electrical engineers describe how the tiny electronic switch can handle more than 8,000 volts, an impressive feat considering it’s about as thin as a sheet of paper.

The tr...