Commercialization
Our research creates a lot of new ideas and patents. Many of these ideas have tremendous commercialization potential, and many of our patents are available for licensing from NC State. The stories below highlight some of our promising technologies. If you'd like to know more about our licensing process or any of these research projects, email Ken Dulaney, FREEDM's Director of Industry and Innovation, at ken_dulaney@ncsu.edu. Click here to view our most recent inventions and patents.
Chargers, Inverters, Motors & More
We don’t build electric vehicles, but we expand the capabilities of all the components that make EVs better. For example, larger electric vehicles will require higher power charging to meet utilization targets. Our solutions provide megawatts of power at high efficiency. Our teams also designed a traction drive for Class 8 electric trucks. And our motors push the boundaries of what’s possible with novel controls and new ideas about thermal management. Did we mention wireless power transfer?
Increasing the Value of Solar Energy
Solar intermittency makes it difficult to predict PV energy production with high accuracy. Unless, of course, you apply machine learning techniques. But it also helps to understand the net load for demand response when combined with PV output. And most utility scale PV operators will tell you that today’s inverters fail way too often. We’re developing a novel combination of older technology with new control techniques that increases inverter reliability. All this research makes solar more valuable.
Moving from Centralized to Distributed Control
Studies show that more inverter based resources on the grid can cause issues unless they are properly managed. Some envision a network of microgrids that coordinate local energy production and consumption. We see the need for standards among manufacturers, the development of new control techniques, and open source controllers.
