Hillcrest Energy Technologies Ltd (CSE:HEAT, OTCQB:HLRTF) has said it is accelerating its development activities around grid-tied power conversion technologies following the completion of a zero voltage switching (ZVS) inverter commercial prototype.
The company is developing the firmware and hardware necessary to deploy its ZVS inverter technology into grid-tied applications, such as renewable energy generation, storage, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
This work, in turn, opens the door to accelerating progress on Hillcrest’s grid-tied inverter, multi-level inverter and enhanced powertrain solution, the company added.
READ: Hillcrest Energy completes its first Zero Voltage Switching traction inverter commercial prototype
“Our ZVS inverter technology is intentionally designed to be decoupled from the power control system, making our firmware agnostic to specific applications, allowing us to move quickly to adapt our technology to any motor or grid application,” said Ari Berger, Hillcrest chief technology officer in a statement.
The Hillcrest ZVS inverter technology can be applied with batteries, electric motors, generators, fuel cells, or virtually any other power source where power conversion is needed.
“With the completion of our 800-volt, 250-kilowatt traction inverter commercial prototype, we’ve set the foundation to facilitate our entry into grid-tied applications such as renewable energy generation and storage, as well as e-mobility charging,” Berger added.
Ultimately, the next generation of grid-tied energy systems will require high-frequency power electronics to better enable the smart, grid-forming capabilities of a more distributed, bidirectional system containing a variety of intermittent sources, the company said.
That’s where the ZVS inverter technology comes in, which is designed to provide new benefits to grid-connected energy systems by offering a more efficient and reliable means of deploying higher switching frequencies.
The new firmware and hardware being developed for Hillcrest’s grid-focused inverters will also expedite advancements in the development of its patent-pending enhanced powertrain solution, the company noted.
“The enhanced powertrain solution is designed so that EVs would no longer require an onboard charger, which is expected to reduce the cost, complexity and weight of an EV powertrain,” the company said.
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