Sandia wins R&D100 awards
SiC JFET switch and pulsed LED included in 2015 "˜Oscars of invention'
Competing in an international pool of universities, corporations and government labs, Sandia National Laboratories researchers captured five R&D100 Awards this year. These included a SiC JFET switch and Pulsed LED.
R&D Magazine presents the awards each year to researchers whom its editors and judges determine have developed the year's 100 most outstanding advances in applied technologies.
The awards, with their focus on practical impact rather than pure research, reward entrants on their products' design, development, testing and production. They were dubbed "˜the Oscars of invention' by now-retired Chicago Tribune science writer Jon Van.
The 6.5kV enhancement-node SiC JFET switch (pictured above) is a low-loss power switch designed to improve the efficiency of next-generation power conversion systems used in energy storage, renewable energy and military applications, as well as datacentre power distributions. Sandia's Stan Atcitty was the project leader in collaboration with United Silicon Carbide and DOE.
The LED Pulser uses LEDs instead of expensive lasers to provide high-brightness, rapidly pulsed, multicolour light for scientific, industrial or commercial uses. The Pulser's small LED source permits better detection of ignition via high-speed imaging and already has resulted in better understanding of injection, combustion and emissions formation in diesel engines. Sandia's Chris Carlen was project leader and the work was supported by DOE's Vehicle Technologies.
