Technical Capabilities:

Dielectric Materials Development for Power-Electronic Applications

A significant effort within the Department of Energy's Office of Transportation Technologies and the U.S. Navy's Advanced Electronic Power Systems (AEPS) program has focused on reducing the size and weight of power electronic devices for electric and hybrid vehicles and ships. Power electronic circuits, which are composed of active switching elements and passive components, such as capacitors and inductors, provide motor control, power distribution, and DC/AC conversion functions in electric vehicles.

Progress has been made on reducing the size and weight of active power electronic components, such as MOS-controlled thyristors and insulated-gate bipolar transistors. Additional effort on high power capacitors will be needed for load leveling and filter functions. As a subsystem component of electric and hybrid vehicles, the size, cost, and reliability of the high-power capacitor must be addressed. Significant volume savings can be realized if high dielectric constant perovskite materials can be substituted for oxides with lower dielectric constants. The objective of this program is to develop new capacitor technologies for integration into power electronic modules. The understanding and optimization of high dielectric constant ferroelectric materials form the central themes of this program. The research and development efforts are highly focused on developing a range of new practical and economical capacitor technologies.