by Brianna Crandall — September 18, 2015—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced several initiatives in the last few days related to clean energy manufacturing and reducing energy use in industrial processes.
Next Generation Electric Machines
As part of the Obama Administration’s effort to increase energy efficiency and double U.S. energy productivity by 2030, DOE is awarding $22 million in funding for five projects aimed at merging wide-bandgap (WBG) technology with advancements for large-scale motors to increase energy efficiency in high-energy consuming industries, products and processes, such as the transportation of fossil fuels and industrial-scale compression systems.
DOE is funding research on wide bandgap semiconductors to increase the energy efficiency and reliability of power electronics.(Click on image to enlarge)
These projects, funded through the Next Generation Electric Machines funding opportunity, could cut energy waste by as much as 30 percent. The projects also aim to reduce the size of megawatt-scale motors and drive systems used in the chemical and petroleum refining industries, natural gas infrastructure, and general industry compressor applications like heating/ventilation/air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, refrigeration, and wastewater pumps by up to 50 percent.
These projects will leverage the work of DOE’s Power America Institute on WBG semiconductors for power electronics by deploying WBG technology to drive large power, industrial and high-speed electric motors and systems. WBG components—which control or convert electrical energy into usable power—operate at higher temperatures, voltages, and frequencies than silicon-based technologies, explains DOE.
The components are more durable and reliable, and can eliminate up to 90 percent of the power losses in electricity conversion compared to current technologies. By focusing on their specific application for large-scale motors, manufacturers can significantly improve the efficiency and productivity of processes ranging from small-scale machining to large-scale refining, pumping and cooling.
The DOE funding just announced is going to projects being conducted by: Calnetix Technologies, General Electric Company, Eaton Corporation, Clemson University and The Ohio State University.
Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute
DOE also announced up to $70 million in funding for the next Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute, which will be focused on smart manufacturing. With this investment, the Department aims to support research and development (R&D) advancements that can reduce the cost of deployment for technologies such as advanced sensors, controls, platforms, and modeling for manufacturing by as much as 50 percent.
As part of President Obama’s National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) institutes, the institute will also demonstrate these technologies in manufacturing processes with a goal to increase energy efficiency by at least 15 percent and improve energy productivity by at least 50 percent, to help transform American manufacturing.
Technologist in Residence selections
In addition, seven “technologist” pairs have been selected to receive $2.6 million to participate in DOE’s two-year Technologist in Residence (TIR) pilot to strengthen U.S. clean energy manufacturing competitiveness and enhance the commercial impact of its national laboratories. The competitively selected technologist pairs are comprised of one senior technical staff member from a national lab and another from a manufacturing company or consortium of companies.
Through this pilot, each technologist pair will propose collaborative R&D efforts to support industry needs and will develop mechanisms to help interested companies more easily leverage the national lab network moving forward for strategic, long-term, collaborative R&D in clean energy technologies.
High Performance Computing for Manufacturing Program
DOE also announced up to $3 million available for qualified industry partners to participate in the High Performance Computing for Manufacturing Program (HPC4Mfg) led by Lawrence Livermore, Oak Ridge, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. HPC4Mfg couples U.S. manufacturers with the national laboratories’ world-class computational research and development expertise to address key challenges in U.S. manufacturing.
The selected projects will apply modeling, simulation, and data analysis to industrial products and processes to lower production costs and shorten the time to market for new products—accelerating advanced clean energy technologies capable of keeping the USA at the forefront of innovation.
For more information on clean energy manufacturing, watch DOE’s Video: Clean Energy Manufacturing Boosting U.S. Competitiveness, or visit the Web site for the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative.
