Ideal Power (IPWR), Diversified Technologies, Inc. to Collaborate on B-TRAN Based AC Circuit Breaker Under New Department of Energy SBIR Award

Ideal Power Inc. (Nasdaq: IPWR), pioneering the development and commercialization of highly efficient and broadly patented B-TRAN™ bi-directional power switches, is partnering with Diversified Technologies, Inc. (DTI), under a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Department of Energy (DOE), to develop a B-TRAN™-driven low-loss 13.8 kV alternating current (AC) Solid State Circuit Breaker (SSCB). The SSCB is intended to be used in medium voltage power distribution and renewable energy / microgrid connection to the United States main power grid.

In the Phase I project, DTI and Ideal Power will: design a 50 MW, 13.8 kV-class SSCB; build and demonstrate B-TRAN™ switch modules to interrupt AC power; and confirm the efficiency and speed of the B-TRAN™ devices in AC operation. The B-TRAN™ based SSCB is expected to limit fault energy by orders of magnitude compared to conventional mechanical circuit breakers. If successful and awarded a Phase II grant, DTI and Ideal Power will build and test a full 50 MW SSCB.

“We believe this project is a significant strategic opportunity to demonstrate B-TRAN™’s capabilities in an arena that is incremental to our current efforts with the U.S. Navy and one that is critical to electric grid development,” stated Dan Brdar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ideal Power. “Complementing our work to develop a direct current SSCB for the U.S. Navy, we believe this alternating current SSCB directly addresses today’s large existing utility distribution and transmission market that relies primarily on mechanical breakers, which, while reliable, are slow acting, allow large fault currents and suffer high wear and maintenance needs. While solid state breakers are faster acting and do not experience these wear issues, they have not yet been embraced in critical power applications because of their high cost and conduction losses, which we believe can be solved with B-TRAN™ SSCBs.”

SSCBs prevent damage to downstream loads, upstream generators, and the grid itself by utilizing microsecond current interruption times. B-TRAN™s are expected to make SSCBs more efficient, smaller, and less expensive through:

• Elimination of the need for external cooling systems using instead passive cooling similar to a pad-mounted utility transformer;
• 50% lower conduction losses compared to conventional power semiconductor switches; and
• Reduced component/switch count and smaller footprint due to the unique bi-directional capability of B-TRAN™.

“Solid state circuit breakers have many advantages over legacy mechanical breakers, including increased safety, speed, reliability and control-ability, and B-TRAN™ can provide substantial additional improvements over uni-directional SSCBs, solving the challenges they pose today. The global market for all circuit breakers, including SSCBs, is projected by Fortune Business Insights in a recent market research report to grow at a CAGR of over 6% to $25.85 billion by 2027 – this represents tremendous opportunity for SSCBs to gain incremental share across numerous medium voltage applications in the utility, distributed generation, and transmission/distribution markets, and in additional commercial and industrial power switching applications such as hybrid and electric vehicle power train and charging. We look forward to this additional collaboration with DTI and a successful demonstration for the DOE. ” stated Mr. Brdar.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Mondi Says It Does Not Intend To Make An Offer For DS Smith
• RumbleOn Inc. (RMBL) Appoints Michael Quartieri to its Board
• DoorDash (DASH) Appoints Jeffrey Blackburn to its Board