Automotive traction inverter hits efficiency 98.5% at 5% load (and peaks at 99.57%)

It is a 100kHz forced-resonant, soft-switching inverter, controlled by an AI algorithm (more on the technology here).

“Over a year ago we announced peak efficiency of over 99%. Since that time, we have been improving our AI algorithm to improve low-load performance,” said company CEO Bruce Renouard, claiming that his 5% load efficiency “is far in excess of what can be achieved by any other approach today”.

The topology is a variation of an auxiliary resonant commutated pole (ARCP) soft-switching converter, with the AI calculating switch timings dynamically, cycle-by-cycle, to maintain soft switching over input voltage, output load and temperature variations, as well as device tolerances.