Available Technologies

The invention aims to reduce the cost, weight and volume of existing on-board electric vehicle chargers by integrating power electronic converters of the chargers with the traction inverter.

New demands in electric vehicles have resulted in design changes for the power electronic components such as the capacitor to incur lower volume, higher operating temperatures, and dielectric properties (high dielectric permittivity and high electrical breakdown strengths).

The use of class A3 and A2L refrigerants to replace conventional hydrofluorocarbons for their low global warming potential (GWP) presents risks due to leaks of flammable mixtures that could result in fire or explosion.

A new, simpler power module and manifold design shows lower weight and volume, which allows higher power density compared with current state of the art.

The quality and quantity of refrigerant charge in any vapor compression-based heating and cooling system is vital to its energy efficiency, thermal capacity, and reliability.

Performance of heat exchangers greatly suffers due to maldistribution of fluid, which also impacts the performance of the entire HVAC system. One method to reduce fluid maldistribution is to improve the design of the manifold to make the flow evenly distributed.

Wind or hydro power are predominantly large-scale with giant generators to convert wind or water captured by turbines into electricity. But residential-sized wind turbines could generate power for a whole house.

Moisture management accounts for over 40% of the energy used by buildings. As such development of energy efficient and resilient dehumidification technologies are critical to decarbonize the building energy sector.

There is a strong drive to improve the electrical performance of a power module for power electronics applications including transportation, buildings, renewables, and power delivery.

ORNL has developed a new thermal energy storage design utilizing low conductivity organic phase change materials.