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With the increasing demand for efficient & clean transport solutions, applications such as road transport vehicles, aerospace and marine are seeing a rise in electrification at a significant rate. Irrespective of industries, the main source of power that enables electrification in mobility applications like electric vehicles (EV), electric ships and electrical vertical take-off & landing (e-VTOL) is primarily a battery making it fundamentally a DC system. Fast charging solutions for EVs & e-VTOLs are also found to be DC in nature because of several advantages like ease of integration, higher efficiency, etc. Likewise, the key drivers of the electric grid are resulting in an energy transition towards renewable sources, that are also essentially DC in nature. Overall, these different business trends with their drivers appear to be converging towards DC power systems, making it pertinent.

The automotive industry has seen accelerating demand for electrified transportation. While the complexity of conventional ICE vehicles has increased, the powertrain still largely consists of a mechanical system. In contrast, vehicle architectures in electrified transportation are a complex integration of power electronics, batteries, control units, and software. This shift in system architecture impacts the entire organization during new product development, with increased focus on high power electronic components, energy management strategies, and complex algorithm development. Additionally, product development impact extends beyond the vehicle and impacts charging networks, electrical infrastructure, and communication protocols. The complex interaction between systems has a significant impact on vehicle safety, development timeline, scope, and cost.

With the advent of wide band gap semiconductor devices like SiC based MOSFETs/Diodes, there is a growing demand for utilizing electrical power instead of the conventional fuel-based power generation in both automotive and aerospace industry. In automotive/aerospace industry the focus on electrification has resulted in a need for sub-systems like inverters, power distribution units, motor controllers, DC-DC converters that actively utilize SiC based power electronics devices. To address the growing power density requirements for electronics in next generation product families, more efficient & reliable thermal management solution plays a critical role. The effective thermal management of the power electronics is also critical aspect to ensure overall system reliability. The conventional thermal management system (TMS) optimization targets heat sink/ cold plate design parameters like fin spacing, thickness, height etc. or sizing of the required cooling pump/fan.

Compared to the internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles on the road today, Electric Vehicles (EV) deliver more torque to vehicle wheels, and require smaller driveline packaging envelopes. Current differentials use asymmetrical ring gears with differential housings that are roughly a third of the tire outside diameter. New differential architecture concepts are shown here to deliver more torque to the wheels, while decreasing the height of the differential as much as fourfold. Most EV’s are driven by one or more torsion motors, delivering torque to the left side and the right side of the EV’s at different speeds during a vehicle turn, or a wheel “spinout.” At low speeds, the EV motors deliver more torque to the wheels than comparably sized ICE vehicles, so EV differentials must be built stronger and stiffer to manage the distribution of available drive torque.

In amorphous solids such as fused quartz, the failure mechanism under cyclic loading is very different when compared to metals where this failure is attributable to dislocation movement and eventual slip band activity. Standard mechanical fatigue prediction methodologies, S-N or ε-N based, which have been historically developed for metals are rendered inapplicable for this class of material. The fatigue strength of Fused Silica or Fused Quartz (SiO2) material is known to be highly dependent on the stressed area and the surface finish. Stable crack growth in Region II of the V-K curve (Crack growth rate vs Stress intensity factor) is dependent on the competing and transitional effects of temperature and humidity, along that specific section of the stress intensity factor abscissa. Fused glass (under harsh environment conditions) finds usage in Automotive, Marine and Aerospace applications, where stress and load (both static and cyclic) can be severe.