News
Hillcrest Energy Technologies completes proof of concept testing on traction inverter technology

VANCOUVER — Hillcrest Energy Technologies, a clean technology company developing transformative power conversion technologies and control system solutions for EVs and electrical systems, has completed proof of concept testing that demonstrates the elimination of switching losses with its traction inverter.

A comparison of losses between soft-switching and hard-switching was calculated by Hillcrest. The system was tested with 470V DC-link voltage under 5A load with 20kHz switching frequency. The Hillcrest inverter reportedly achieved an average of more than 90% fewer switching losses and a roughly 90% reduction in dV/dt compared to the conventional, hard-switched inverters found in many EVs.

While previous testing had confirmed the efficiency of total inverter losses, the new tests looked specifically at the efficiencies gained via Hillcrest’s soft-switching.

Electric motors currently used in EV powertrains operate within a switching frequency range of 8kHz to 16kHz, due to the historic trade-off between the best possible switching behavior and acceptable thermal losses. The ability of the Hillcrest high-efficiency inverter to reportedly soft-switch at much higher frequencies without generating additional losses will allow motor manufacturers to possibly create new motors not previously available to them.

“These test results represent another milestone on the pathway to commercialization of our traction inverter,” said Don Currie, CEO of Hillcrest Energy Technologies. “It’s an exciting step that proves we’re on the right track to providing the optimal inverter technology that will help make the next generation of EVs even more efficient and more powerful.”

Leveraging the Hillcrest traction inverter in an EV powertrain is intended to improve overall system-level performance.