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Delphi has been picked by the US Department of Energy to lead an industry-government team to develop a new propulsion inverter for hybrid vehicles.

The smaller inverter is intended to cost less and Delphi says it will be used on next generation high-efficiency hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and "plug-in" hybrids (PHEVs). In the longer-term, the inverter will be used for fuel cell vehicles (FCVs).

The Delphi-led research and design team will contribute $3 million and receive $5 million in funding from the DOE, resulting in an $8 million project, seeking to reduce the cost and size of the inverter for electric propulsion systems by 50 per cent or more.

Thomas Goesch, Delphi managing director of the Power Electronics PBU, said: "We have assembled a team of highly qualified industry leaders and national laboratories to identify and develop the key technologies needed for an electric propulsion inverter that meets or exceeds the DOE performance and cost targets."

The primary team members for the project include:

• Delphi for the inverter design, packaging, thermal management, mechanical integration, build, test and assessment of cost to manufacture;

• Dow Corning and GeneSiC for silicon carbide-on-silicon power semiconductor devices;

• General Electric for high-temperature thin-film DC buss capacitors;

• Argonne National Lab for ceramic capacitors;

• and Oak Ridge National Lab for characterisation of power semiconductor devices, modelling, simulation and evaluation of alternative inverter topologies, and system testing.

Propulsion inverters provide phased AC (alternating current) power for hybrid vehicle traction motors and generators, as well as auxiliary pumps and drives. The propulsion inverter enables precise control over electrical power flow from the battery to the electric motor. One or more electric motors can be combined with another power source such as a gasoline or ethanol engine, an engine-generator, or a fuel cell to propel the vehicle at higher efficiency than conventional engine technology.

In addition to reducing the cost and size of the inverter system, the Delphi team is taking on the challenge of enabling the system to operate at normal engine coolant-loop temperatures of 105-120°C to help reduce other system costs and the space needed to cool inverters.

"This will result in development of inverter building blocks that will be readily scalable to a wide range of power levels, enabling the necessary economies of scale for lower cost," said A.J. Lasley, Delphi chief engineer for advanced HEV and powertrain electronics.