Advanced materials manufacturing gets a government-backed boost
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Advanced materials manufacturing gets a government-backed boost http://www.ncsu.edu/power/ http://almmii.org/
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wo new materials-focused manufacturing institutes have recently been established giving high-tech materials manufacturing in the United States a significant boost. The Next Generation Power Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute and the American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ALMMII) will serve as regional hubs focused on developing manufacturing industries around promising research technologies. Advanced manufacturing in the United States has been an area of focus for the Obama Administration, and in his 2013 State of the Union address, the President proposed the establishment of these institutes—as well as other advanced manufacturing institutes—using existing federal funds. Over the next five years, each of the new manufacturing institutes will receive $70 million from the federal government to be matched by state, university, and industry funds. But in addition to providing the seed funding, the federal government “acted as a catalyst for the formation of the institutes,” said Alan Taub, Engineering Professor at University of Michigan and Chief Technology Officer for ALMMII. Taub said that the institutes are “designed to bridge the gap between basic research and commercialization, which required building a team of world-class experts from universities, federal labs, and industry.” Announced in January 2014 and led by North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the Department of Energy, the Next Generation Power Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute is focused on wide-bandgap semiconductor (WBGS) technologies. Semiconductors are crucial for converting power to us able energy in devices such as cell phones and laptops, in industrial motors
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like those used in manufacturing, and in grid-connected power substations. Today’s power electronics are dominated by silicon semiconductors, which are inexpensive but lose power during transitions to heat. WBGS devices—often made from silicon carbide or gallium nitride—can reduce the wasted power by up to 90%. Since less power is lost to heat, WBGS devices can utilize a smaller heat sink that reduces the size and cost of the device. Overall, WBGS devices are smaller, faster, and more efficient than silicon-based devices. Despite the sound technological advantages of WBGSs, they have not yet had a significant market impact because the cost for WBGS devices can exceed five times the cost of commonly used silicon devices. Jay Baliga, NCSU Distinguished University Professor, has been working on WBGSs for power electronics for over 30 years—he pioneered WBGS research and produced the first SiC high-performance devices. Baliga said that the next hurdle for WBGS devices is the transition from the laboratory into the commercial arena, and he characterized the disparity in cost between silicon and wide-bandgap semiconductors as “the biggest challenge today for WBGS technology for pow
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