APEI Announces $4.2 Million in New Research Contracts

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Bret Whitaker, a design engineer at APEI, talks about a recently funded project with Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor on Monday at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.— Arkansas Power Electronics International Inc., a company affiliated with the University of Arkansas, announced $4.2 million in new federal research contracts at a news conference on Monday at the firm’s headquarters at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park.

Arkansas Power Electronics International specializes in advanced, high performance electronics for a variety of customers and applications, such as the Army and the future hybrid electric and electric vehicle markets.

Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor was on hand to celebrate the company’s success in securing research contracts from the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center.

The contracts will help the small business compete in both national and international markets, Pryor said.

“APEI is an example of the many hard working Arkansas-based companies that compete globally and the technologies developed on these awards today will greatly impact the world we live in tomorrow,” Pryor said.

Alex Lostetter, president and chief executive officer of APEI, said, “We’re proud that an Arkansas-based technology business, such as ours, has the opportunity to have an impact on both the nation’s defense and security, while simultaneously helping advance green energy applications like electric vehicles.”

APEI focuses on technology that makes things smaller — such as power modules used in vehicles, geological exploration and the aerospace industry. To shrink the size of such devices, company scientists have focused on silicon carbide, which can operate at temperatures up to 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit.

The $2 million Department of Energy award, from the agency’s Vehicle Technologies Program, was one of 38 new projects awarded nationally in a $45 million effort to develop new technologies that will reduce transportation costs and improve fuel efficiencies. The APEI contract will utilize proven gallium-nitride and silicon-carbide power device/module technology to enable low-cost, modular, scalable, electric traction inverters for use in commercial hybrid and electric vehicles.

APEI is the leader in a collaborative research project that includes the University of Arkansas, Toyota USA, GaN Systems Inc. and the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. According to APEI, the heart of the electric traction inverter — APEI’s wide bandgap power module — will yield significant energy savings in many applications if it is adopted on a global scale.

An award for about $1.5 million from the Army Research Laboratory will focus on developing high-voltage, silicon-carbide power modules for controlling the charge and discharge of high-voltage storage capacitors in advanced Army applications.

The Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center award for $707,000 will focus on the development of an advanced, ultra-compact, high-efficiency, silicon-carbide inverter technology for use in emerging military electric grids and energy storage devices. The project will address current issues facing tactically deployable military power systems, such as limited connection flexibility, configurability and robustness.