Sustainable Energy Technologies Completes Initial Testing of Power Inverter

Sustainable Energy Technologies Ltd. (Canada) announced that it has successfully completed initial testing of its next-generation power inverter. Results show that the 4kW dc/ac inverter has a peak efficiency of 96 percent at 20 percent of full load. The test showed that as power was increased, the efficiency dropped only slightly, maintaining an average of 95 percent efficiency at full load. These efficiencies were achieved for input voltages ranging from 44Vdc to 66Vdc using Sustainable Energy's switching algorithms.

“This is a significant milestone," commented Michael Carten, the company's president and CEO. “The ability to accept such a wide range of input voltages while maintaining very high efficiencies is a critical factor in achieving industry efficiency targets and is one of the key features that distinguishes our product from other power inverters on the market."

Sustainable Energy is also completing development of a software-configurable dc/dc converter that is claimed to have a very fast response time as well as bid-directional buck and boost capability. The dc/dc converter is used to charge and discharge the batteries used in a stationary fuel cell system.

Carten added, “These two technologies will be deployed as part of an integrated fuel cell management system controlling the key power electronics functions and providing supervisory control for the fuel cell system."

Sustainable Energy expects to deliver evaluation prototypes to the industry in May of 2001.