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Temperature-responsive material performs well against thermal runaway

LG Chem has developed a temperature-responsive material that can suppress thermal runaway and be manufactured in a high-volume, roll-to-roll process, writes Nick Flaherty. The Safety Reinforced Layer (SRL) is a composite that can be as thin as 1 μm.

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Parker Chomerics to show thermal interface materials at electronica

The Chomerics division of Parker Hannifin Corporation will present a trio of new thermal interface materials at Electronica 2024, staged on November 12-15 in Munich, Germany. Exhibiting at booth B3.236, the innovations on show will include

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Faster heavy EV production

A purpose-built high voltage modular cable assembly (mCAY) has been developed to speed up production of heavy duty electric vehicles, writes Nick Flaherty. It can be said that many vehic manufacturers focus on the direct costs of their solutions, without paying enough attention to indirect production costs such as assembly, test and production equipment, or even reworks.

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Charging forward with polyphase

A polyphase wireless power transfer system has achieved a record 270 kW charging rate, writes Nick Flaherty. Researchers in the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Lab at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the US successfully demonstrated the first 270 kW wireless power transfer to a Porsche Taycan at the end of a three year project with Volkswagen.

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Reference design trio

Microchip Technology has developed three Reference Designs for different EV charger requirements, writes Nick Flaherty. These reference designs cover a Single-Phase AC Residential, a Three-Phase AC Commercial with Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) and System-on-Chip

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Stack high

Epsilor Electric Fuel has developed lithium-ion batteries that stack to provide 1000 V in military systems, writes Nick Flaherty. The COMBATT Military High Voltage Battery System is based on Epsilor’s NATO standard 6T battery modules, it provides a capacity up to 175 Ah and 4400 Wh.

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Machine learning to reduce EV cost

Machine learning is being used to improve the quality of laser welding systems and powder metal 3D additive manufacturing, writes Nick Flaherty. Laser welding machine maker TRUMPF is working with software developer SiMa.ai to develop lasers with artificial intelligence (AI).

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A cool idea for a DC-DC

Vitesco Technologies has boosted the performance of its fifth generation automotive DC-DC converter, incorporating a move from liquid to air cooling, writes Nick Flaherty. This Vitesco Gen5+ DC-DC converter uses 650 V CoolGan transistors from Infineon Technologies to achieve an efficiency of over 96% by increasing the switching frequency from 100 kHz to 250 kHz with an energy density of 4.2 kW/l.

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NTO’s bus pass

Toshiba has developed a new generation of its fast charging SCiB battery technology, which combines a lithium-ion cathode with a niobium titanate oxide (NTO) anode, writes Nick Flaherty. SCiB Nb has an energy density of 350 Wh/L at 2.3 V while the chemistry minimises the risk of fires and explosions, and it is being used for the first time in an electric bus in Brazil. The cells

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Testing distributed electric propulsion

Tyto Robotics has developed a test system for the next generation of electric aircraft that are using distributed electric propulsion (DEP), writes Nick Flaherty. DEP describes a propulsion system whereby the thrust generation is distributed across three or more electrically-powered propulsors.