CHPPE hosts Industry Consortium

Posted: 

chppe1.jpg

Nearly 60 participants attended the first Industry Consortium meeting for the Center for High Performance Power Electronics (CHPPE) on The Ohio State University campus Sept. 19.

The focus for the event was wide bandgap power electronics.

chppe3.jpg
Representatives from more than 20 companies and research institutes attended. The event combined the kickoff meeting, a poster session, a closed-door discussion and an open-house lab tour.

Invitees from GE Aviation, American Electric Power, Ford, International Recifier and OPAL-RT Technologies gave keynote speeches that covered their experiences working with CHPPE and their visions for the future development of power electronics. CHPPE faculty members also introduced their three different focused research areas.

University Vice President Dr. Whitacre and ECE Department Chair Joel Johnson attended the event and made welcome statements to the guests.

Dr. David Williams, dean of College of Engineering, announced the Mathis Undergraduate Students Award during the lunch.

The consortium is geared toward industry professionals involved in cutting-edge, high-risk research and establishing communication channels between those people and CHPPE researchers. It brings university, private industry and government entities together to collaborate on impactful and focused areas of technology in a sustainable manner.

chppe4.jpg
The consortium also helps bridge CHPPE students to the industry.

Industry members benefit from the consortium by receiving access to publications, webinars and reports; dedicated and non-exclusive intellectual property; customized training; and distance short courses.

CHPPE's world-class power electronics laboratory opened in 2013. It was was established thanks to a $9.1 million grant from the Ohio Third Frontier Initiative, national lab and industry partners.

chppe2.jpg
The research at CHPPE is focused on harnessing the strengths of wide band gap (WBG) devices, currently created from Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN), in emerging power electronics applications. These devices have ability to operate at higher temperatures, switch at faster speeds, and achieve better efficiency over their Silicon (Si) based counterparts. The WBG technology allows designers to realize smaller, more efficiency hardware, as well as develop power electronics for new applications in the aerospace, auto, and utility industry.

CHPPE houses an advanced hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing platform and current work includes investigating the impact of communication delays on the stability of the smart grid, and device, circuit, and complex system modeling.

For additional information about CHPPE and the benefits of joining the consortium, visit the center's website.

Categories: In the NewsResearch