Strategic Polymer Sciences (SPS), a developer of electroactive polymer (EAP) technology, has secured a $1m grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop SPS High Performance Energy Storage DC Bus film capacitors for electric vehicles.
SPS is one of 33 companies across the nation to receive the grant as part of the DOE’s Small Business Phase III Xlerator awards under the Small Business Innovation Research and the Small Business Technology Transfer Programs.
The DC bus capacitors, which feature SPS proprietary high temperature EAP compositions, are a critical component to power invertors, the technology that converts direct current to alternating current in electric drive vehicles.
The commercialization of SPS EAP film technology, which has high temperature stability of greater than 140 degree centigrade, is expected to eliminate the need for a secondary system for the capacitor to operate, reducing material costs and enhancing inverter reliability and performance.
The DOE grant will enable SPS to capture the growth opportunities in the market for DC bus film capacitors for hybrid and electric drive vehicle power inverters that are projected to be over $1.6bn by 2015.
SPS director of engineering and project leader Shihai Zhang said that DC bus capacitors are a key component in the power managing electronics of hybrid and plug-in electric drive vehicles and that SPS EAP film capacitor technology will improve device reliability and reduce cost and size.