I am an Electrical Engineer and specialize in EMI and EMC testing. I am interested to see more about this technology and how it is different from similar inverters. The manufacturer claims that their algorithms are the key driver in increasing efficiency, so I would like to know more about this. Anytime you have any switching of electricity, you generate broadband noise. That’s just physics. The Fourier Transform of a unit impulse (delta function) is an infinite line located at the y value of 1. I don’t know how you can avoid a fundamental law of physics with a computer algorithm! Please show us their evidence and release peer reviewed scientific papers! Thanks for diving into this technology. If it really does work, then this may really benefit the world.
@@dertythegrower On 06/18/2024, we hired a subcontractor, Two Bit da Vinci to perform public awareness services on behalf of Hillcrest Energy Technologies and paid Two Bit da Vinci fifty thousand dollars.
"The intellectual property of Hillcrest Energy Technologies includes 3 registered patents primarily in the 'Generation; Conversion Or Distribution Of Electric Power' category, according to IPqwery. Additionally, Hillcrest Energy Technologies has registered 3 trademarks with the most popular class being 'Scientific and technological services', according to IPqwery." Crunchbase. It's a penny stock. The more information about the 3 patents would be good, and on the Hillcrest website I couldn't find anything about patents, which seems like a red flag.
@SameLif3 You seem to think that peer review and reproducibility are mutually exclusive or separate concepts. However, reproducibility is a key criterion that peer reviewers consider when evaluating a study.
As a fellow Electrical Engineer with a Master's degree in electronics and control systems, I'm curious about the distinction between this new 'zero switching' technology and traditional soft switching methods. Soft switching, whether it targets zero voltage or zero current, typically occurs close to zero voltage in practical applications. This concept isn't new; it has evolved significantly thanks to advancements in microcontroller capabilities and algorithms. While implementing soft switching is technically challenging, it is a well-established technique in the field. I will just add that it's pretty hard to impossible to switch at zero so there will always be a transition period between ON and OFF that's why they didn't claim 100% efficiency
0 volt switching and soft switching are just different names for the same thing. This Hillcrest energy is a sham company. Vicor semiconductor company invented and patented 0 volt switching over 20 years ago and their patent just expired last year so this two-bit copy cat company is now trying to scam investors pretending they have done something innovative that you should give them investment money for. They can never patent it because it's public domain now. Seems like a real scam to me. I hope 2-bit DaVinci doesn't become a modern two-bit snake oil peddler...
OK, something here is missing. I have been a design EE for 30+ years :(,ZVS, PWM, etc. etc. etc. is nothing new and nothing that was previously unknown. We have been doing some form of this for years now. Efficiencies in excess of 90% is almost trivial and 95% with a little more effort. More so efficiency is typically highest at the higher end of the load and varies over load - you can't get away from the math. EMI is a problem long solved and is typically at switching frequencies not solved with big heavy capacitors, though sometimes when you lost control of your return currents for whatever reason and all else fails your big heavy shielding is necessary. Again, I may be missing something here, but this just sounds like a tweak or IP on something everyone took for granted and even better marketing. All the same, thx for sharing the content is appreciated.
Inverters on the market are hard switching. This is soft switching which has not been achieved. You can view the white paper on their website, being an EE it should provide insight to you.
From 95% to >99% is not an easy path, ZVS nor not. There is something new you had no clue about 30 years ago; in fact, two things: EVs and the huge development of DC electrical power generation. "EMI is a problem long solved" 🤣. Good joke. Please ask an EV maker, for example why they don't have AM radios in their cars 🤣.
Yes! This Hillcrest energy is a sham company. Vicor semiconductor company invented and patented 0 volt switching over 20 years ago and their patent just expired last year so this two-bit copy cat company is now trying to scam investors pretending they have done something innovative that you should give them investment money for. They can never patent it because it's public domain now. Seems like a real scam to me. I hope 2-bit DaVinci doesn't become a modern two-bit snake oil peddler...
Hey Ricky, I see a lot of haters in the comments. With all due respect, imho I think a quick disclaimer at the start would avoid most of it. People are super sensitive these days. I didn't view it as an "infomercial" but I can see how the others did. Bills have to be paid and everyone has their own opinions. Keep doing you. Enjoy your Sunday.
@@ABaumstumpf I hear the term "crowd funding" circulating about on RUclips (see Aptera). It's a way to raise investment money from unsophisticated investors who base their trust on other than hard facts/engineering/science - not so much a "scam", but an "alternate universe" that is populated with dreams and dreamers.
The current fall you show at 4:17 starts when the switch opens. In actuality, the fall doesn't start until the voltage across the switch is very near maximum. This is due to inductance in the circuit that keep current flowing. And, results in much higher switching losses. Zero current or zero voltage switching isn't new, it has been used for decades. By driving a resonant circuit, you wait until the voltage, or current swings to zero to open the switch. Also, switching at 10KHz, being in the audio range, would be very noisy. Most inverters operate over 20KHz, up to many MHz.
Being a former Analog IC designer, designing switching regulator IC's, semiconductor companies have been chasing the switching losses for 20 years. There will never be a zero switching loss goal based upon the physical realization of the task. There is always a transition loss, it just can be reduced by clever design. I suspect that what the company mentioned is doing is reducing the reverse recovery period by using a synchronous rectifier, reducing the time and losses of the normally used reverse recovery diode losses, commonly found in low frequency (i.e. 10 kHz) switching regulators. Most high current switching regulators operate at 50kHz range due to magnetic materials being used. Operating at 10 kHz could reduce switching losses by a factor of 5 but the magnetic materials get larger for this frequency. Many high efficiency switching regulators operate in the megahertz region to reduce the size of the magnetic (inductors) requirements but that comes with electro magnetic interference (EMI) issues that interfere with even modern electronic systems.
Some major strides have been made. We shouldn't ignore those in the noise of the "New breakthrough technology" A big improvement has happened with the introduction of the super junction MOSFETs. The energy needed to switch the devices on and off has been greatly decreased by this. SBR rectifiers allow better efficiency in cases where sync rectifiers are not practical.
This is BS, you can ZVS an AC signal since the voltage/current are sine waves which alternate and cross zero 120 times/sec if you are using 60 Hz power as in the USA. With a DC power source the voltage never crosses zero and the current only crosses zero if you open the circuit which will be a full voltage when it is opened. This company sounds like they are 'Gaslighting' investors with an acronym that is not applicable to DC to AC inverters. ZVS is only possible with an AC source to AC output device such as solid state relay or SCR or Triac switching system to vary motor speed or dim lights.
Yes, there must be something more unique than just ZVS that is not explained to make these claims. I guess you could look at the patents…can you do that and get back to us….
"The intellectual property of Hillcrest Energy Technologies includes 3 registered patents primarily in the 'Generation; Conversion Or Distribution Of Electric Power' category, according to IPqwery. Additionally, Hillcrest Energy Technologies has registered 3 trademarks with the most popular class being 'Scientific and technological services', according to IPqwery." Crunchbase. It's a penny stock. The more information about the 3 patents would be good, and on the Hillcrest website I couldn't find anything about patents, which seems like a red flag.
Looking at the chart, the pump happened last week already, before the video release, so I guess the rumor already happened by then Dunno if he used the tip the contact provided (these kind of videos are contracted well in advance)
I'm not sure why everybody is so upset. He used to pitch EcoFlow as the best storage system on the planet and has now switched to pushing some other brand. Every once in a while, he actually talks about some actual new technology, but mostly he's a pitchman.
ecoflow still has the best plugNplay set up and marketing proven... thats called native advertising.. what we have here is a sales pitch for unproven claims, about some secret uniique algorithm which of course they dont explain... aka very pumpish and dumpish
Love EcoFlow but there are lots of things that EcoFlow does not have yet. I dont see a problem with checking and testing other brands, I prefer someone else to test it for me and then I’ll pick
The mosfet switches when 0 volts and the extra energy gets oscillated between capacitors and inductors with resistor in between. This keeps the mosfet cool by switching at zero volts. You can make the circuit at home on your rework bench.
Yes, but its a lot more complicated than that. Capacitors and Inductors have losses too... ESR, and the losses are frequency-dependent. You can't just switch willy nilly by sloshing energy through magnetic and electric-field storage components as a means of avoiding switching losses. Generally speaking, reducing losses in a circuit requires switching higher voltages (= less current = exponentially lower component losses) and also tuning the magnetic components of the circuit to a range of frequencies. Tuning components to reduce losses at a single frequency, such as 60hz, is easy. Tuning components to a range of frequencies, such as an EV motor, is not so easy. Also, you switch at 0 current, not 0 voltage. There is no AC voltage across the switch when it is on (because its a switch). The AC waveform is on the current axis. Also most MOSFET losses are *NOT* switching losses, they are (Ron) losses. Minimizing switching losses is low-hanging fruit from a design standpoint. -Matt
@@junkerzn7312 Most of the loss in reactive stuff is in the inductors. Generally that is the part that wins in that area. Also: Since the on resistance of a MOSFET runs as something like the square of breakdown voltage, increasing voltage has serious limits.
@@davidconner-shover51 IGBTs are going to start losing out to the super junction devices and the silicon carbide high voltage fets. They had a good run
@@davidconner-shover51 For high-voltage applications, such as EV motors or Fast DC charging, yes. IGBTs can typically handle in excess of 1000V (often in excess of 2000V) and also tend to be more efficient when very high currents need to be switched in a high-voltage environment. For lower-voltage applications (e.g. residential voltages), including low-voltage + high-current applications, MOSFETs tend to be better. There is a cross-over point and a couple of other variables (for example, IGBTs have severe switching frequency limitations), but voltage is the primary differentiator and current is a secondary differentiator. IGBTs are considerably more expensive than MOSFETs. -Matt
The 99.7% efficiency I assume is for the switching losses. They may be able to reduce the switching losses to this level but you still have the internal resistance of the IGBT (or other switching device) which no amount of clever software will remove.
OK, so basically if this software is used with the right hardware you can get a few percent efficiency gains. A, while the specific code can be copyrighted the concept can't so if it's viable everyone building converters will copy it. B seems some hardware changes need to be made to make it work so only new or major retrofits could put it in BUT the system has to be as durable and as cheap to implement in grid scale because A few percent in efficiency at the production level of cost is easily out weighed by cost or maintenance or components service life.
I like your videos I don’t care if you’re promoting ice makers for Eskimos, your videos are informative, and may provide an opportunity for early investment in game changing technology. Keep up the good work.
As someone in wind energy, I'm used to every video on clean energy technology being wrong in some way. I guess it's probably true for any video, for people actually familiar with the subject matter. In this case at about time 5:00 He says 10,000 kHz is ten thousand switches per second, but that would be 10,000 Hz, not kHz. 10,000 kHz would actually be 10 million switches per second. And Hz (abbreviation for Hertz) is capitalized because it represents the name of an early electricity pioneer. "Hertz" means "times per second". What's really sad, and I'm sure plenty of people will agree, is when supposedly knowledgeable people (and it seems to actually be MOST of them) don't even know the difference between a kiloWatt (kW) and a kiloWatt-hour (kWh), using the terms interchangeably - again, the W is capitalized because it represents the last name "Watt" of another early electrical pioneer. A Watt is a unit of power. A kWh is a thousand Watts running for an hour's time, and is therefore a unit of energy. Haven't watched the whole video yet, but most of them are full of such errors over basic high-school-level terminology. And that barely scratches the surface of the wrong information plaguing most tech videos. I'm guessing most people never catch any of it, and just believe everything they hear.
Interesting. Most important: great content and ty for it. If I research my model 3 inverter, my understanding is 97% efficient with peak of 99% efficient and it states sift switching and similar things to what you're talking about here. I'll have to research more but if anyone is bored and understands how an inverter can have an efficiency rating but also a different peak efficiency rating, voltage supplied I guess? =b idk much
I notice you don't mention how they get the current or voltage to go through zero, at approximately when it would be needed, to modulate the DC into AC. The ordinary way this is achieved is to add a large ringing filter (a resonator) to the switched power path, to bounce the load current up and down on a high frequency sine wave. But those filters are also an additional lossy component, unless very large and expensive. But even very good resonators have more than 0.3% loss, all by themselves. This is getting very close to claiming perpetual motion.
I have been designing ZVS more than 30 years back. All true on the benefits on loses and EMI, but yes there is something missing; like below mentioned possible more digital control instead of analogue or a different combination of both including the latest fast switching devices. But not required a complete video on old proven concepts where there is plenty of ZVS converters in the field from different companies . So either marketing or not sharing the real secret. Or the new engineer just discovered ( after endless hours) that with his secret tweek he can get 0.2% increase in efficiency, so he had to tell the world.
As someone with many years in inverter design, inverter efficiency should be around 98% anyway, of which around 25% of the losses would be switching losses. That means if you reduced switching losses to zero, efficiency would go from about 98% to 98.5%
@@carloscueva7492 Look for the link in the video description right next to "This video was conducted on behalf of Hillcrest Energy Technologies, and was funded by Gold Standard Media LLC and/or affiliates. For our full disclaimer, please visit: " click on the link and go to the bottom of the page where you'll find: "Third Party Compensation On 06/18/2024, we hired a subcontractor, Two Bit da Vinci to perform public awareness services on behalf of Hillcrest Energy Technologies and paid Two Bit da Vinci fifty thousand dollars."
Current and voltage are only in phase through a pure resistive load. Any length of conductor will have inductance which causes current to lag the voltage. It's unclear how they deal with this conundrum.
important disclaimer: This video was conducted on behalf of Hillcrest Energy Technologies, and was funded by Gold Standard Media LLC and/or affiliates if it sounds like a campaign for investment $ ... it is a campaign for investment $ that does not make it bad ... just food for thought
My tiny DC welder uses IGBT and it will burn low hydrogen rod, stainless, cast, 6011, 6010 with ease, and I'm not talking 3/32 rod, I'm talking about 5/32 rod. It runs on 110ac and 220ac and it senses the voltage and behaves accordingly.
That's what it looks like, doesn't it? Two Bit da Vinci seems to have made a "phase shift" in its approach to information presentation. With a growing family, ya gotta pay the bills somehow.
ZVS devices have been around for a long time - from Mazzilli drivers to tesla coils - they can transform Low voltage low current supply to high Voltage to equivalent current for driving indiction and other high output coils 🙏👍👍
Some people are on the "benefit of the doubt" side of things, im on the "why stir the pot" side. But money talks, opinions aren't accepted currency when paying the bills.
I always wondered why not just go D.C. With more and more d.c. appliances sipping energy. More like a solar electric sail boat. So the inverter is more like a rectifier than inverter. But does it do 3 phase A.C. to D.C. Easier to run 3 phase distances then rectify to D.C. for cottage.
For everyone if they succeed which I doubt. Far more intelligent teams are designing the current inverters we have today with billions in research and they are telling them that they found the secret with algorithms what a joke.
How many stocks did they offer you to talk about their inverters? Feels like the Aduro (ATCHF) video he dropped. Go ahead and look at the dates when that video dropped and where it went afterwards. Pump and dump.
You can, if you switch the current when voltage across the switching element is zero. And "eliminate" is a metaphor versus the loses in normal class D switching.
@@mrmariusi That only takes out one of the switching losses and not all of them. Also remember that in the zero voltage switching designs the voltage is passing zero and doesn't stay there.
@@kensmith5694 We were speaking about switching losses 🙂. Of course you cannot ELIMINATE switching losses, only REDUCE them. It's good enough if the voltage is small during the IGBT/MOSFET/whatever switch/raise/fall time (tenths..hundreds of nanoseconds)
@@mrmariusi I think you mistook the meaning of my comment. "passing through zero" means it isn't really zero. Also: The energy that goes into turning on and off the switch counts as a switching loss. You have to pump a charge in and out of the gate and also deal with the current from the drain to gate capacitance. A rapidly changing drain voltage can make this significant.
@@kawa1755 Both of you have missed a very important point about my comment. 99.5% + 0.7% = 101.2% That is an efficiency greater than 100%. My comment really was a joke.
Newer inverter topology no longer use PWM, but with nearest level modulation (NLM), requiring much less switching frequency and having way higher efficiency.
You need to look at this as a total system efficiency. Right now, the total efficiency of an EV from solar panel to miles In model 3 on flat land, this will drop to under 200whr per mile from 230ish But right now charge efficiency means you need about 300whr per mile from the wall and this is about 390w at the solar panel, all from conversion losses . Means we are wasting 38-40% from the point of generation. This tech will reduce this to only a few percent at most. This is the same effect of gaining a 30% bigger solar system, 20% home battery, 10-15% more range on the ev. It's a bigger deal than most think
Hi Ricky.. I've been subscribed for a while, and during that time I've watched your videos almost every time they pop up in my timeline. I realize you have to make money, and I don't fault you for that. But transparency is very very very very important to me (and apparently a lot of other viewers) This video (following the John Deere one) is strike two for me.... I will continue to watch your videos when they pop up in my recommendations, but I have unsubscribed.
I have often said that AC connected batteries are a massive trade-off with up to 10% inverting to and from DC to AC and back again, if these inverters do what they say this could reduce the loss to 2% or less which is an absolute game changer. Calling it an advert is ridiculous as all that’s being reported as the work of one company as only one company has managed to do this so rock on and continue with your great videos
Wait what, was the whole thing a sponsored video? I didn't understand that from the thanks at 0:51, and thought it was about having access to their people to interview. It's only once reading the comments that I understand I've been mislead for 10 minutes. I want my time back.
If New homes had DC Only wiring from 3ft UP to ceiling on Each floor, All we would need is a reduction transformer to run the Led's. Why do we STILL Invert the DC to AC , then BACK to DC to run SO many things? Makes a lot of waste AND heat... Feel the base of a Screw in LED bulb......
Some windmills were DC; most now AC. Some do connect the generator/alternator/Synchronous/induction directly to mains ... Significant work sometimes done interfacing with the grid.
My wind generator is 3 phase AC with an output for a 48 volt system. It feeds a MPPT charge controller to rectify it to DC and charges the 48 volt battery system. The voltage and frequency output of the generator is determined by the wind speed and requires a charge controller.
All houses should have an AC and a low voltage D C. System and wiring. All the transformation inverter losses must add up, plus the heat and wasted copper.
Ricky misspoke... well, they over-simplified it. Its really 0-current switching, not 0-voltage switching. By definition, the delta voltage between the input and the output of any fully-turned-on transistor or FET is going to be a very low, relatively fixed value. For a MOSFET it's just (I^2 * Ron), so it is fully in-phase with the current. Motors induce AC currents through the switch. The voltage on the output of a DC-driven switch is DC by definition when the switch is on. -Matt
@@mrmariusi Think about where exactly the "zero volts" comes from when talking about a switching MOSFET or BJT in an inverter. It's not a thing. You have a fixed DC voltage on one side and the other side is either that very same DC voltage when the switch is on, or a free-wheeling voltage @ 0 current when the switch is off. Zero crossing on the voltage axis is more typically used when switching relays, in a synchronous rectifier, or on the input stage to a PFC after a rectifier (but before any buffer capacitor). You can synchronize the turning "ON" of a MOSFET or BJT to a zero-crossing on the free-wheeling side, but that isn't really that big a deal because the current is already zero due to the switch being off. Not gonna be any switching losses anyway. But it could help with EMI. -Matt
The question for me is why are we not discussing moving from AC to DC in the whole grid. PV and batteries use DC as well any components/appliances that use electronics. In addition, if we were to move to a city block scale DC microgrid distribution system each home on the microgrid possibly could eliminate the need for inverters, except at the point of connection to the main AC grid. This change in distribution system would have a positive impact on the national security vulnerabilities of the existing grid.
DC to DC buck and boost devices are still more pricy for a projected life span than transformers. They are also far more prone to failure and more susceptible to hacking. You can't stucxnet a dumb transformer.
It does beg the question as to why we're so wedded to AC. If we generate & store electricity as DC, surely we should domestically distribute DC and save ourselves any inverter overhead. LED lights & electronic devices are DC and even many heating appliances are fine with DC. Is it time to go hetero in the home?
Many nearly identical comments such as yours. All equally unintelligent. Makes me wonder if they are bought comments. For efficient power transmission we need high voltage. Boosting and bucking DC to DC voltage is more expensive both in initial investment and reduced life expectancy, it is also more lossy and prone to hacking than AC transformers. DC power transmission has benefits in less capacitive and inductive losses making it advantageous for long distance power transmission applications. While we may see more long and medium distances lines go DC we will not see power distribution go DC in your lifetime.
@@zyxwvutsrqponmlkh why are you talking about transmission? I said domestically distribute DC i.e. in the home. What an odd response. And why do you believe a DC transformer is easier to hack than an AC transformer? There's the 'paid' comment.
@@daveh6356 DC "transformers" (are not really a thing, but I'll presume your referring to dc to dc converters) require a microcontroller that does high frequency switching, it has a little computer in it that can be hacked. AC transformers are just coils of copper. Nothing to hack. DC in the house will not be a thing beyond some lighting and POE devices. You will not see a DC powered vacuum connected to the grid.
It seems to me if they were to just alternate 2 panels on and off of reversed polarity, instead of reversing polarity on 1 panel, that would be more efficient.?
ah, now i understand, you need a resonant load with the resonance around the switching frequency. therefor you can create these zero volt points where you do the switching. that is the magical point, right? i would like to have cheap dc/dc converters for solar panels to a programmable maximum voltage of the battery, maybe 96V. mass produced as a standard that would bring cost down quite a bit.
Looking at the white papers doesn’t tell you how it’s done. But I found a patent from some of the guys in the company, and I think I know what’s going on. First of all, it’s not just software that magically makes ZVS happen. There is quite a bit of auxiliary circuitry. It basically triggers a resonance at the correct time to manipulate the main power device current at the time of switching. So you CAN make ZVS happen if you care to surround the main power components with extra components and controls. Second, new semiconductors (SiC and GaN) significantly reduce switching loss compared to normal Si, and can both be set up to also have no reverse recovery. So that makes the reverse recovery and dc link capacitor size arguments (higher switching frequency = less capacitance needed) irrelevant. Third, ZVS would make things better for EMC. Is all the extra circuitry and control worth it? Debatable. Maybe. Looks like to emphasize the benefits of soft switching they are using some really old Si IGBT technology. Not fake, just old.
Honestly we need DC to DC outlet standard in home. Other than my oven, washer, dryer, and HVAC system everything else is converting AC to DC anyway including most LED light bubs.
The devices you are listing here are the ones responsinle for the heavy loads and most of your energy bill. Things like LED bulbs, smartphones and even laptops could save some energy, but adding a complete 12v system to your home will cost more than it saves. Even if we could convert some appliances to DC, a 12V system would lose a lot of energy because you need more current, even an 48V system will lose a lot with long cables. Besides that, a high voltage DC system can be very dangerous. If you touch a live AC cable, chances are you will survive. With high voltage DC your muscles will contract making it impossible to let go when you are unfortunate enough. This will not end well. There may be some situations where DC works better, but AC is a pretty good standard, and even more so with three phase systems.
DC is more dangerous, and most devices use so little power that conversion losses are not that big a deal. Though I wouldn't mind there being regulation to require PFC circuits for all AC-DC conversion (which these days is literally just an 8-pin switching supply chip). The main issue with DC wiring is that devices are more prone to ARC faults causing fires when they fail. DC safety devices are also more expensive for the same reason... they have to be able to safely break ARCs and because of that the interrupt current rating becomes far more important for DC than for AC. AC devices more or less get a free pass on breaking ARCs 120 times a second due to the waveform. -Matt
Maybe I misunderstood what you wrote, but the washers, dryers, and HVAC systems all use AC-DC + inverters, with the exception of the cheapest (and inefficient) ones.
Just curious. How efficient is a DC motor driving and AC generator. Old technology and probably a bit noisy but a very pure sine wave should be produced.
This is called a motor-generator set or a rotary converter. DC to AC is not very common anymore, but doing this to make 3phase from single phase is still relatively commonplace even today. Efficiency around 95% is common, some manufacturers claim 97% efficient. This is for small scale applications, maybe a few kw at most. Industrial scale could get efficiencies at 98% to 99% without much trouble using copper. High 99.??% efficiency could be achieved with superconducting motors and generators. These types of motors are already being used on ships at several megawatt size.
EV's are produced by finite marterials / minerals and expensive, to make e.g. energy used, the amount of water (in arid areas for lithium batteries and even recycling old batteries is a dead end) so no matter what inventions come it's only for 20 + yrs. Ammonia combustion engines where can reuse old vehicles or even the alreay in action ship running on ammonia setup as Ammonia has 3 hydrogen molacules attached / easier storage, transport, already a partical global infra-structure e.g. infinite hydrigen, even deposits of gold hydrogen in various areas around the world.
This represents a merging of technical proficiency in different fields and technology to the zenith. It also shows that applied specialization of skills and technical innovation is approaching the end for inverter components. If the numbers represented are right than the price of any inverter is now close to the highest price it will ever have. The road going forward will drive prices further and further down as economies of scale kick in fully.
The problem with solar is that it requires a lot of realestate AND when night falls so does solar output. Cloudy days too lower charging output as well as snow falls upon solar panels and decreases or stops the charge. HOWEVER, wind does not suffer any of these drawbacks. A windgen uses a very small footprint spins all nightlong even during a storm is uneffected by snow. The best locations would be 20 miles offshore where we wouldnt have to see nor hear them and that far offshore there are few birds out there. !
I am an Electrical Engineer and specialize in EMI and EMC testing. I am interested to see more about this technology and how it is different from similar inverters.
The manufacturer claims that their algorithms are the key driver in increasing efficiency, so I would like to know more about this.
Anytime you have any switching of electricity, you generate broadband noise. That’s just physics. The Fourier Transform of a unit impulse (delta function) is an infinite line located at the y value of 1. I don’t know how you can avoid a fundamental law of physics with a computer algorithm! Please show us their evidence and release peer reviewed scientific papers! Thanks for diving into this technology. If it really does work, then this may really benefit the world.
Yes... seems like a giant shill ad for a pumpNdump
Their white paper is on their website
@@dertythegrower On 06/18/2024, we hired a subcontractor, Two Bit da Vinci to perform public awareness services on behalf of Hillcrest Energy Technologies and paid Two Bit da Vinci fifty thousand dollars.
"The intellectual property of Hillcrest Energy Technologies includes 3 registered patents primarily in the 'Generation; Conversion Or Distribution Of Electric Power' category, according to IPqwery. Additionally, Hillcrest Energy Technologies has registered 3 trademarks with the most popular class being 'Scientific and technological services', according to IPqwery." Crunchbase. It's a penny stock. The more information about the 3 patents would be good, and on the Hillcrest website I couldn't find anything about patents, which seems like a red flag.
@SameLif3 You seem to think that peer review and reproducibility are mutually exclusive or separate concepts. However, reproducibility is a key criterion that peer reviewers consider when evaluating a study.
yes. you just watched an entire ad.
LOL
And a shite ad at that.
As a fellow Electrical Engineer with a Master's degree in electronics and control systems, I'm curious about the distinction between this new 'zero switching' technology and traditional soft switching methods. Soft switching, whether it targets zero voltage or zero current, typically occurs close to zero voltage in practical applications. This concept isn't new; it has evolved significantly thanks to advancements in microcontroller capabilities and algorithms. While implementing soft switching is technically challenging, it is a well-established technique in the field.
I will just add that it's pretty hard to impossible to switch at zero so there will always be a transition period between ON and OFF that's why they didn't claim 100% efficiency
0 volt switching and soft switching are just different names for the same thing. This Hillcrest energy is a sham company. Vicor semiconductor company invented and patented 0 volt switching over 20 years ago and their patent just expired last year so this two-bit copy cat company is now trying to scam investors pretending they have done something innovative that you should give them investment money for. They can never patent it because it's public domain now. Seems like a real scam to me. I hope 2-bit DaVinci doesn't become a modern two-bit snake oil peddler...
OK, something here is missing. I have been a design EE for 30+ years :(,ZVS, PWM, etc. etc. etc. is nothing new and nothing that was previously unknown. We have been doing some form of this for years now. Efficiencies in excess of 90% is almost trivial and 95% with a little more effort. More so efficiency is typically highest at the higher end of the load and varies over load - you can't get away from the math. EMI is a problem long solved and is typically at switching frequencies not solved with big heavy capacitors, though sometimes when you lost control of your return currents for whatever reason and all else fails your big heavy shielding is necessary. Again, I may be missing something here, but this just sounds like a tweak or IP on something everyone took for granted and even better marketing. All the same, thx for sharing the content is appreciated.
100
Inverters on the market are hard switching. This is soft switching which has not been achieved. You can view the white paper on their website, being an EE it should provide insight to you.
From 95% to >99% is not an easy path, ZVS nor not. There is something new you had no clue about 30 years ago; in fact, two things: EVs and the huge development of DC electrical power generation.
"EMI is a problem long solved" 🤣. Good joke. Please ask an EV maker, for example why they don't have AM radios in their cars 🤣.
@@mrmariusi I'd assumed that market forces pushed out AM radios.
But the presence of lots of switching EMI does make sense.
@@BillMitchell-lm8dg I agree with both of your statements.
The company that you are doing a story about is sponsoring the video. Therefore, this is a commercial.
Yes, but it's interesting and explains a tiny bit about inverters in general.
Two Bit should have explained the sponsorship up front. It is interesting if accurate...
Yes! This Hillcrest energy is a sham company. Vicor semiconductor company invented and patented 0 volt switching over 20 years ago and their patent just expired last year so this two-bit copy cat company is now trying to scam investors pretending they have done something innovative that you should give them investment money for. They can never patent it because it's public domain now. Seems like a real scam to me. I hope 2-bit DaVinci doesn't become a modern two-bit snake oil peddler...
Hey Ricky, I see a lot of haters in the comments. With all due respect, imho I think a quick disclaimer at the start would avoid most of it. People are super sensitive these days. I didn't view it as an "infomercial" but I can see how the others did. Bills have to be paid and everyone has their own opinions. Keep doing you. Enjoy your Sunday.
What’s all the hate? I don’t understand 🤔
@@claudiaroy9455 I see no "hate". I just see a friendly caustion against being viewed as a commercial for-hire RUclips "Presenter".
I would like to hear him explain how it works since they said they have patents.
Perhaps pushing the stock symbol and their financial fillings at the end of the vid was a cherry on top of this bag-of-cash shaped cake.
Maybe those "haters" need to stop coming to this channel if they have a problem with the way he runs his own property.
Is it just me, or did this completely fail to explain how this actually works?
It went halfway. It's just a handwaving intro to switching loss. Mostly, it's to pump up the stock so they can continue development.
it's an ad, that company gave them money
Cause it is a scam.
@@ABaumstumpf I hear the term "crowd funding" circulating about on RUclips (see Aptera). It's a way to raise investment money from unsophisticated investors who base their trust on other than hard facts/engineering/science - not so much a "scam", but an "alternate universe" that is populated with dreams and dreamers.
@@ABaumstumpf Do you have any proof this is a scam???
The current fall you show at 4:17 starts when the switch opens. In actuality, the fall doesn't start until the voltage across the switch is very near maximum. This is due to inductance in the circuit that keep current flowing. And, results in much higher switching losses.
Zero current or zero voltage switching isn't new, it has been used for decades. By driving a resonant circuit, you wait until the voltage, or current swings to zero to open the switch.
Also, switching at 10KHz, being in the audio range, would be very noisy. Most inverters operate over 20KHz, up to many MHz.
Being a former Analog IC designer, designing switching regulator IC's, semiconductor companies have been chasing the switching losses for 20 years. There will never be a zero switching loss goal based upon the physical realization of the task. There is always a transition loss, it just can be reduced by clever design. I suspect that what the company mentioned is doing is reducing the reverse recovery period by using a synchronous rectifier, reducing the time and losses of the normally used reverse recovery diode losses, commonly found in low frequency (i.e. 10 kHz) switching regulators. Most high current switching regulators operate at 50kHz range due to magnetic materials being used. Operating at 10 kHz could reduce switching losses by a factor of 5 but the magnetic materials get larger for this frequency. Many high efficiency switching regulators operate in the megahertz region to reduce the size of the magnetic (inductors) requirements but that comes with electro magnetic interference (EMI) issues that interfere with even modern electronic systems.
I remember thinking that heating a house with over 100% efficiency wasn't a thing either.
@@ericmaclaurin8525 You can heat a house now with 300% efficiency (the heat pumped in the house versus the electricity consumed).
Some major strides have been made. We shouldn't ignore those in the noise of the "New breakthrough technology"
A big improvement has happened with the introduction of the super junction MOSFETs. The energy needed to switch the devices on and off has been greatly decreased by this.
SBR rectifiers allow better efficiency in cases where sync rectifiers are not practical.
@@kensmith5694 Then lets give credit to the super junction Mosfet designs.
@@thehobe150 Yes, they get credit. Remember that stuff that works stops getting reported on.
Why is this so revolutionary. I was designing hardware 40
years ago using ZVS . Haven’t most inverters used ZVS for years?
Exactly
This is BS, you can ZVS an AC signal since the voltage/current are sine waves which alternate and cross zero 120 times/sec if you are using 60 Hz power as in the USA. With a DC power source the voltage never crosses zero and the current only crosses zero if you open the circuit which will be a full voltage when it is opened. This company sounds like they are 'Gaslighting' investors with an acronym that is not applicable to DC to AC inverters. ZVS is only possible with an AC source to AC output device such as solid state relay or SCR or Triac switching system to vary motor speed or dim lights.
Yes, there must be something more unique than just ZVS that is not explained to make these claims. I guess you could look at the patents…can you do that and get back to us….
All inverters are hard switching, this is soft switching which hasn’t been achieved
"The intellectual property of Hillcrest Energy Technologies includes 3 registered patents primarily in the 'Generation; Conversion Or Distribution Of Electric Power' category, according to IPqwery. Additionally, Hillcrest Energy Technologies has registered 3 trademarks with the most popular class being 'Scientific and technological services', according to IPqwery." Crunchbase. It's a penny stock. The more information about the 3 patents would be good, and on the Hillcrest website I couldn't find anything about patents, which seems like a red flag.
How much of this stock did you buy before dropping this video? wow
No buy. Comp for the promo vid.
He definitely made sure to let us know it was publicly traded and had a small market cap right in the opening. Dude is a fraud.
It does feel like a pump and dump
@@rodfatherfishing9223 kind of like the video he did on Aduro (ACTHF) and the stock behavior looked just like a pump n dump.
Looking at the chart, the pump happened last week already, before the video release, so I guess the rumor already happened by then
Dunno if he used the tip the contact provided (these kind of videos are contracted well in advance)
Man this deserves a comment ! I like this alot, with it not requiring anything but brains and some punching of a keyboard. So cool, thanks
I'm not sure why everybody is so upset. He used to pitch EcoFlow as the best storage system on the planet and has now switched to pushing some other brand. Every once in a while, he actually talks about some actual new technology, but mostly he's a pitchman.
ecoflow still has the best plugNplay set up and marketing proven... thats called native advertising.. what we have here is a sales pitch for unproven claims, about some secret uniique algorithm which of course they dont explain... aka very pumpish and dumpish
Which is OK, as long as you see it as entertaining overviews and not in-depth comparisons with competing approaches.
I agree that he is basically a "pitchman" and IMO we don't need that
Love EcoFlow but there are lots of things that EcoFlow does not have yet. I dont see a problem with checking and testing other brands, I prefer someone else to test it for me and then I’ll pick
The mosfet switches when 0 volts and the extra energy gets oscillated between capacitors and inductors with resistor in between. This keeps the mosfet cool by switching at zero volts. You can make the circuit at home on your rework bench.
Yes, but its a lot more complicated than that. Capacitors and Inductors have losses too... ESR, and the losses are frequency-dependent. You can't just switch willy nilly by sloshing energy through magnetic and electric-field storage components as a means of avoiding switching losses.
Generally speaking, reducing losses in a circuit requires switching higher voltages (= less current = exponentially lower component losses) and also tuning the magnetic components of the circuit to a range of frequencies.
Tuning components to reduce losses at a single frequency, such as 60hz, is easy. Tuning components to a range of frequencies, such as an EV motor, is not so easy.
Also, you switch at 0 current, not 0 voltage. There is no AC voltage across the switch when it is on (because its a switch). The AC waveform is on the current axis. Also most MOSFET losses are *NOT* switching losses, they are (Ron) losses. Minimizing switching losses is low-hanging fruit from a design standpoint.
-Matt
@@junkerzn7312 Most of the loss in reactive stuff is in the inductors. Generally that is the part that wins in that area.
Also: Since the on resistance of a MOSFET runs as something like the square of breakdown voltage, increasing voltage has serious limits.
IGBTs have won the day in the power department, with a fixed 2ish volt drop. they get more efficient with more power handling
@@davidconner-shover51 IGBTs are going to start losing out to the super junction devices and the silicon carbide high voltage fets. They had a good run
@@davidconner-shover51 For high-voltage applications, such as EV motors or Fast DC charging, yes. IGBTs can typically handle in excess of 1000V (often in excess of 2000V) and also tend to be more efficient when very high currents need to be switched in a high-voltage environment.
For lower-voltage applications (e.g. residential voltages), including low-voltage + high-current applications, MOSFETs tend to be better.
There is a cross-over point and a couple of other variables (for example, IGBTs have severe switching frequency limitations), but voltage is the primary differentiator and current is a secondary differentiator.
IGBTs are considerably more expensive than MOSFETs.
-Matt
Great content and source of knowledge. I really like this channel it really enlightens me and keeps me updated on world matters. Kudos
The 99.7% efficiency I assume is for the switching losses. They may be able to reduce the switching losses to this level but you still have the internal resistance of the IGBT (or other switching device) which no amount of clever software will remove.
Indeed. 1.4V Vce_sat for a 400V EV inverter is already 0.35% loss.
I am thinking they switched to Super Junction devices or Silicon Carbide. These days you can get lower on voltages this way.
OK, so basically if this software is used with the right hardware you can get a few percent efficiency gains. A, while the specific code can be copyrighted the concept can't so if it's viable everyone building converters will copy it. B seems some hardware changes need to be made to make it work so only new or major retrofits could put it in BUT the system has to be as durable and as cheap to implement in grid scale because A few percent in efficiency at the production level of cost is easily out weighed by cost or maintenance or components service life.
Continued Work in this Field ……….
Much appreciated ,. …..!
I like your videos I don’t care if you’re promoting ice makers for Eskimos, your videos are informative, and may provide an opportunity for early investment in game changing technology. Keep up the good work.
As someone in wind energy, I'm used to every video on clean energy technology being wrong in some way. I guess it's probably true for any video, for people actually familiar with the subject matter. In this case at about time 5:00 He says 10,000 kHz is ten thousand switches per second, but that would be 10,000 Hz, not kHz. 10,000 kHz would actually be 10 million switches per second. And Hz (abbreviation for Hertz) is capitalized because it represents the name of an early electricity pioneer. "Hertz" means "times per second". What's really sad, and I'm sure plenty of people will agree, is when supposedly knowledgeable people (and it seems to actually be MOST of them) don't even know the difference between a kiloWatt (kW) and a kiloWatt-hour (kWh), using the terms interchangeably - again, the W is capitalized because it represents the last name "Watt" of another early electrical pioneer. A Watt is a unit of power. A kWh is a thousand Watts running for an hour's time, and is therefore a unit of energy. Haven't watched the whole video yet, but most of them are full of such errors over basic high-school-level terminology. And that barely scratches the surface of the wrong information plaguing most tech videos. I'm guessing most people never catch any of it, and just believe everything they hear.
You were paid $50k for this stock market advertisement. Nice work if you can get it.
Interesting. Most important: great content and ty for it.
If I research my model 3 inverter, my understanding is 97% efficient with peak of 99% efficient and it states sift switching and similar things to what you're talking about here.
I'll have to research more but if anyone is bored and understands how an inverter can have an efficiency rating but also a different peak efficiency rating, voltage supplied I guess? =b idk much
Speaking of Hz, could you think about updloading in 60fps? Some of the animations hurt my eyes at this low framerate
I notice you don't mention how they get the current or voltage to go through zero, at approximately when it would be needed, to modulate the DC into AC. The ordinary way this is achieved is to add a large ringing filter (a resonator) to the switched power path, to bounce the load current up and down on a high frequency sine wave. But those filters are also an additional lossy component, unless very large and expensive. But even very good resonators have more than 0.3% loss, all by themselves. This is getting very close to claiming perpetual motion.
That is cool. I want to install a new Enphase panel based inverter solar system . Solves so many problems that combiner systems have.
like what?
The Golden age is truly kicking off!
I have been designing ZVS more than 30 years back. All true on the benefits on loses and EMI, but yes there is something missing; like below mentioned possible more digital control instead of analogue or a different combination of both including the latest fast switching devices. But not required a complete video on old proven concepts where there is plenty of ZVS converters in the field from different companies . So either marketing or not sharing the real secret. Or the new engineer just discovered ( after endless hours) that with his secret tweek he can get 0.2% increase in efficiency, so he had to tell the world.
If it is so good, why is the stock price down approx 12%?
As someone with many years in inverter design, inverter efficiency should be around 98% anyway, of which around 25% of the losses would be switching losses. That means if you reduced switching losses to zero, efficiency would go from about 98% to 98.5%
Time will fix all those haters. But! Yes! I also think is a good idea to add a disclaimer on the beginning or ending. P&L
"Dave.... Your figures seem to defy physics, did you set up the oscilloscope correctly this time?"
Pump n dump, used to do that myself. Quit for moral reasons. For shame!
He got paid $50k, that will buy a lot of puts... information is in the video description
@@cameratoolwhere do you get this 50K number? Where’s the proof to that?
@@carloscueva7492 Look for the link in the video description right next to "This video was conducted on behalf of Hillcrest Energy Technologies, and was funded by Gold Standard Media LLC and/or affiliates. For our full disclaimer, please visit: "
click on the link and go to the bottom of the page where you'll find:
"Third Party Compensation On 06/18/2024, we hired a subcontractor, Two Bit da Vinci to perform public awareness services on behalf of Hillcrest Energy Technologies and paid Two Bit da Vinci fifty thousand dollars."
@@carloscueva7492 follow the link in the description
Great video, I’ll be buying puts immediately!
Current and voltage are only in phase through a pure resistive load. Any length of conductor will have inductance which causes current to lag the voltage. It's unclear how they deal with this conundrum.
I suspect the magic unicorns show up somewhere.
Bro. Pushing that ticker symbol hard.... Times must be tough for Ricky. Don't lose your morals my guy.
Gotta pay the bills. Just enjoy it but before you get too excited dig deeper.
important disclaimer: This video was conducted on behalf of Hillcrest Energy Technologies, and was funded by Gold Standard Media LLC and/or affiliates
if it sounds like a campaign for investment $ ... it is a campaign for investment $
that does not make it bad ... just food for thought
Thank you! This Awesome!🌐🕊️
“Let’s figure this out together”. I love that opening line
ZVS has been done for years. You can buy TI chips that have ZVS firmware built in to the hardware. Nothing special about it.
My tiny DC welder uses IGBT and it will burn low hydrogen rod, stainless, cast, 6011, 6010 with ease, and I'm not talking 3/32 rod, I'm talking about 5/32 rod. It runs on 110ac and 220ac and it senses the voltage and behaves accordingly.
Infomercial
That's what it looks like, doesn't it? Two Bit da Vinci seems to have made a "phase shift" in its approach to information presentation.
With a growing family, ya gotta pay the bills somehow.
ZVS devices have been around for a long time - from Mazzilli drivers to tesla coils - they can transform Low voltage low current supply to high Voltage to equivalent current for driving indiction and other high output coils 🙏👍👍
Some people are on the "benefit of the doubt" side of things, im on the "why stir the pot" side. But money talks, opinions aren't accepted currency when paying the bills.
I always wondered why not just go D.C. With more and more d.c. appliances sipping energy. More like a solar electric sail boat. So the inverter is more like a rectifier than inverter. But does it do 3 phase A.C. to D.C. Easier to run 3 phase distances then rectify to D.C. for cottage.
I'll be long dead before 98% of these breakthroughs actually break through.
I live in a motorhome. This would be a TREMENDOUS deal for RVers - probably greater than for EVs.
For everyone if they succeed which I doubt. Far more intelligent teams are designing the current inverters we have today with billions in research and they are telling them that they found the secret with algorithms what a joke.
How many stocks did they offer you to talk about their inverters? Feels like the Aduro (ATCHF) video he dropped. Go ahead and look at the dates when that video dropped and where it went afterwards. Pump and dump.
This sounds like great news. and sounds like it could be applied in many different ways. Not just Solar!
You can't eliminate switching losses with a clever algorithm! I'm surprised at you Ricky!
You can, if you switch the current when voltage across the switching element is zero. And "eliminate" is a metaphor versus the loses in normal class D switching.
@@mrmariusi That only takes out one of the switching losses and not all of them. Also remember that in the zero voltage switching designs the voltage is passing zero and doesn't stay there.
@@kensmith5694 We were speaking about switching losses 🙂.
Of course you cannot ELIMINATE switching losses, only REDUCE them.
It's good enough if the voltage is small during the IGBT/MOSFET/whatever switch/raise/fall time (tenths..hundreds of nanoseconds)
Only if you make some type of reostat switch 😂
@@mrmariusi I think you mistook the meaning of my comment. "passing through zero" means it isn't really zero. Also: The energy that goes into turning on and off the switch counts as a switching loss. You have to pump a charge in and out of the gate and also deal with the current from the drain to gate capacitance. A rapidly changing drain voltage can make this significant.
Thanks, dear dear, like your videos in technologies keep up
Badically a 0.7% improvement is a game changer..humm no. Unless the price is much lower than other inverters....yes that would be a game changer.
If someone improved a 99.5% efficient converter by 0.7% that would be news worthy of a Nobel Prize.
@@kensmith5694 A Nobel prize is an academic endeavor, not always a practical one.
@@kensmith5694 If it costs you 30% increase in production to increase effeciency by .7% effeciency no. Nobody would buy them.
@@kawa1755 Both of you have missed a very important point about my comment.
99.5% + 0.7% = 101.2% That is an efficiency greater than 100%. My comment really was a joke.
@@kensmith5694 I just assumed you didn't know how to add or made a simple mistake. Obviously we saw that but didn't think much of it.
Newer inverter topology no longer use PWM, but with nearest level modulation (NLM), requiring much less switching frequency and having way higher efficiency.
You need to look at this as a total system efficiency.
Right now, the total efficiency of an EV from solar panel to miles
In model 3 on flat land, this will drop to under 200whr per mile from 230ish
But right now charge efficiency means you need about 300whr per mile from the wall and this is about 390w at the solar panel, all from conversion losses . Means we are wasting 38-40% from the point of generation. This tech will reduce this to only a few percent at most.
This is the same effect of gaining a 30% bigger solar system, 20% home battery, 10-15% more range on the ev.
It's a bigger deal than most think
How does a home microwave with an inverter differ from a regular one?
Hi Ricky..
I've been subscribed for a while, and during that time I've watched your videos almost every time they pop up in my timeline.
I realize you have to make money, and I don't fault you for that. But transparency is very very very very important to me (and apparently a lot of other viewers)
This video (following the John Deere one) is strike two for me.... I will continue to watch your videos when they pop up in my recommendations, but I have unsubscribed.
Can’t find ticker symbol and if I do find it, it is not purchasable at the moment am I correct? This not public yet 🤔
I have often said that AC connected batteries are a massive trade-off with up to 10% inverting to and from DC to AC and back again, if these inverters do what they say this could reduce the loss to 2% or less which is an absolute game changer. Calling it an advert is ridiculous as all that’s being reported as the work of one company as only one company has managed to do this so rock on and continue with your great videos
Wait what, was the whole thing a sponsored video? I didn't understand that from the thanks at 0:51, and thought it was about having access to their people to interview.
It's only once reading the comments that I understand I've been mislead for 10 minutes. I want my time back.
I will check them out thanks
very well explained, thanks
This seems like a pump and dump, look at the trading volume spike in the week before this video released.
If New homes had DC Only wiring from 3ft UP to ceiling on Each floor, All we would need is a reduction transformer to run the Led's. Why do we STILL Invert the DC to AC , then BACK to DC to run SO many things? Makes a lot of waste AND heat... Feel the base of a Screw in LED bulb......
Wait, why would you need inverters for wind turbines, don't they produce AC?
If they store in bateries then convert to ac again to send it back to the grid
On a boat you can convert DC inputs incl from the battery to efficiently power cheaper mains AC voltage equipment.
Some windmills were DC; most now AC. Some do connect the generator/alternator/Synchronous/induction directly to mains ... Significant work sometimes done interfacing with the grid.
Some make AC at the wrong frequency. It is easier to optimize the turbine without the need to hold a constant frequency
My wind generator is 3 phase AC with an output for a 48 volt system. It feeds a MPPT charge controller to rectify it to DC and charges the 48 volt battery system. The voltage and frequency output of the generator is determined by the wind speed and requires a charge controller.
You're kidding, we have been using Zero voltage switching for years.
Typically used to eliminate switching noise.
...was this a paid advertisement targeted at investors? I don't recall you ever mentioning stock so much in a video.
“Hello SEC, I’d like to report what looks like unsolicited investment advice”
and FCC... heh.. oh and FinCen
also fincen
😂
When can I switch my inverters on my solar system? Stock price is pretty low right now. Hope it goes up.
Stuff like this will get many faithful fans off the bell alert.. or just outright leaving for good.. fyi
I wonder how would this affect the typical humming inverters do
All houses should have an AC and a low voltage D C. System and wiring. All the transformation inverter losses must add up, plus the heat and wasted copper.
I think that's a pretty good idea, but low voltage DC has big losses over long distances. what about a higher voltage DC system...
How do any of these solid state inverters handle the high energy throughput of an EV? They don’t seem particularly robust.
Does this increase longevity of the inverters as well ?
I do not see a solution to the switching losses that reduce efficiency. Is this just a ad?
Zero voltage switching is understandable in an AC waveform - but how can you do this with DC? as there is never a time the voltage is Zero?
with resonant load
Ricky misspoke... well, they over-simplified it. Its really 0-current switching, not 0-voltage switching. By definition, the delta voltage between the input and the output of any fully-turned-on transistor or FET is going to be a very low, relatively fixed value. For a MOSFET it's just (I^2 * Ron), so it is fully in-phase with the current.
Motors induce AC currents through the switch. The voltage on the output of a DC-driven switch is DC by definition when the switch is on.
-Matt
@@junkerzn7312 I don't think he misspoke. I think is ZVS because usually, ZVS has higher efficiency than ZCS.
@@mrmariusi Think about where exactly the "zero volts" comes from when talking about a switching MOSFET or BJT in an inverter. It's not a thing. You have a fixed DC voltage on one side and the other side is either that very same DC voltage when the switch is on, or a free-wheeling voltage @ 0 current when the switch is off.
Zero crossing on the voltage axis is more typically used when switching relays, in a synchronous rectifier, or on the input stage to a PFC after a rectifier (but before any buffer capacitor).
You can synchronize the turning "ON" of a MOSFET or BJT to a zero-crossing on the free-wheeling side, but that isn't really that big a deal because the current is already zero due to the switch being off. Not gonna be any switching losses anyway. But it could help with EMI.
-Matt
The Load Freq is 50Hz - so how could you build a sinewave of 50Hz?
The question for me is why are we not discussing moving from AC to DC in the whole grid. PV and batteries use DC as well any components/appliances that use electronics. In addition, if we were to move to a city block scale DC microgrid distribution system each home on the microgrid possibly could eliminate the need for inverters, except at the point of connection to the main AC grid. This change in distribution system would have a positive impact on the national security vulnerabilities of the existing grid.
DC to DC buck and boost devices are still more pricy for a projected life span than transformers. They are also far more prone to failure and more susceptible to hacking. You can't stucxnet a dumb transformer.
Great video, thanks for bringing this to our attention. Doing my DD now.
It does beg the question as to why we're so wedded to AC. If we generate & store electricity as DC, surely we should domestically distribute DC and save ourselves any inverter overhead. LED lights & electronic devices are DC and even many heating appliances are fine with DC. Is it time to go hetero in the home?
Many nearly identical comments such as yours. All equally unintelligent. Makes me wonder if they are bought comments. For efficient power transmission we need high voltage. Boosting and bucking DC to DC voltage is more expensive both in initial investment and reduced life expectancy, it is also more lossy and prone to hacking than AC transformers. DC power transmission has benefits in less capacitive and inductive losses making it advantageous for long distance power transmission applications. While we may see more long and medium distances lines go DC we will not see power distribution go DC in your lifetime.
@@zyxwvutsrqponmlkh why are you talking about transmission? I said domestically distribute DC i.e. in the home. What an odd response.
And why do you believe a DC transformer is easier to hack than an AC transformer? There's the 'paid' comment.
@@daveh6356 DC "transformers" (are not really a thing, but I'll presume your referring to dc to dc converters) require a microcontroller that does high frequency switching, it has a little computer in it that can be hacked. AC transformers are just coils of copper. Nothing to hack. DC in the house will not be a thing beyond some lighting and POE devices. You will not see a DC powered vacuum connected to the grid.
It seems to me if they were to just alternate 2 panels on and off of reversed polarity, instead of reversing polarity on 1 panel, that would be more efficient.?
Busted by thunderfoot. That's hilarious. I always feel icky whenever I watch this guy anyway
Ricky: "That's why I've partnered up with…" Me: click! (to next video )
Short summery:
No they don't, they can't and they won't.
"It's all software". China: Thank you.
ah, now i understand, you need a resonant load with the resonance around the switching frequency. therefor you can create these zero volt points where you do the switching.
that is the magical point, right?
i would like to have cheap dc/dc converters for solar panels to a programmable maximum voltage of the battery, maybe 96V. mass produced as a standard that would bring cost down quite a bit.
Looking at the white papers doesn’t tell you how it’s done. But I found a patent from some of the guys in the company, and I think I know what’s going on.
First of all, it’s not just software that magically makes ZVS happen. There is quite a bit of auxiliary circuitry. It basically triggers a resonance at the correct time to manipulate the main power device current at the time of switching. So you CAN make ZVS happen if you care to surround the main power components with extra components and controls.
Second, new semiconductors (SiC and GaN) significantly reduce switching loss compared to normal Si, and can both be set up to also have no reverse recovery. So that makes the reverse recovery and dc link capacitor size arguments (higher switching frequency = less capacitance needed) irrelevant.
Third, ZVS would make things better for EMC. Is all the extra circuitry and control worth it? Debatable. Maybe.
Looks like to emphasize the benefits of soft switching they are using some really old Si IGBT technology. Not fake, just old.
For investing, I am very averse to Canadian stock exchanges. Hillcrest seems to be in an even worse position without a listing!
Honestly we need DC to DC outlet standard in home. Other than my oven, washer, dryer, and HVAC system everything else is converting AC to DC anyway including most LED light bubs.
We'll switch to DC, but it'll take a looooooooooooooong time.
The devices you are listing here are the ones responsinle for the heavy loads and most of your energy bill. Things like LED bulbs, smartphones and even laptops could save some energy, but adding a complete 12v system to your home will cost more than it saves.
Even if we could convert some appliances to DC, a 12V system would lose a lot of energy because you need more current, even an 48V system will lose a lot with long cables.
Besides that, a high voltage DC system can be very dangerous. If you touch a live AC cable, chances are you will survive. With high voltage DC your muscles will contract making it impossible to let go when you are unfortunate enough. This will not end well.
There may be some situations where DC works better, but AC is a pretty good standard, and even more so with three phase systems.
DC is more dangerous, and most devices use so little power that conversion losses are not that big a deal. Though I wouldn't mind there being regulation to require PFC circuits for all AC-DC conversion (which these days is literally just an 8-pin switching supply chip).
The main issue with DC wiring is that devices are more prone to ARC faults causing fires when they fail. DC safety devices are also more expensive for the same reason... they have to be able to safely break ARCs and because of that the interrupt current rating becomes far more important for DC than for AC. AC devices more or less get a free pass on breaking ARCs 120 times a second due to the waveform.
-Matt
Maybe I misunderstood what you wrote, but the washers, dryers, and HVAC systems all use AC-DC + inverters, with the exception of the cheapest (and inefficient) ones.
@@junkerzn7312 The PFC is becoming more and more common.
What happens when instead of AC , DC motors and systems comes in as an alternative?
so why the big copper base plate ?
If it can scale that will be great since one looses the % with each change between ac/dc.
Just curious. How efficient is a DC motor driving and AC generator. Old technology and probably a bit noisy but a very pure sine wave should be produced.
This is called a motor-generator set or a rotary converter. DC to AC is not very common anymore, but doing this to make 3phase from single phase is still relatively commonplace even today. Efficiency around 95% is common, some manufacturers claim 97% efficient. This is for small scale applications, maybe a few kw at most. Industrial scale could get efficiencies at 98% to 99% without much trouble using copper. High 99.??% efficiency could be achieved with superconducting motors and generators. These types of motors are already being used on ships at several megawatt size.
It is so frustrating: I am learning about all this beautiful technology but can't but it.
My understanding is switching loss is power loss due to discharging of gate capacitance.
good explanation
This tech sounds cool , gonna follow it n see if they can get a deal with big name brand
EV's are produced by finite marterials / minerals and expensive, to make e.g. energy used, the amount of water (in arid areas for lithium batteries and even recycling old batteries is a dead end) so no matter what inventions come it's only for 20 + yrs. Ammonia combustion engines where can reuse old vehicles or even the alreay in action ship running on ammonia setup as Ammonia has 3 hydrogen molacules attached / easier storage, transport, already a partical global infra-structure e.g. infinite hydrigen, even deposits of gold hydrogen in various areas around the world.
This represents a merging of technical proficiency in different fields and technology to the zenith. It also shows that applied specialization of skills and technical innovation is approaching the end for inverter components. If the numbers represented are right than the price of any inverter is now close to the highest price it will ever have. The road going forward will drive prices further and further down as economies of scale kick in fully.
The problem with solar is that it requires a lot of realestate AND when night falls so does solar output. Cloudy days too
lower charging output as well as snow falls upon solar panels and decreases or stops the charge. HOWEVER, wind does not suffer any of these drawbacks. A windgen uses a very small footprint spins all nightlong even during a storm is uneffected
by snow. The best locations would be 20 miles offshore where we wouldnt have to see nor hear them and that far offshore
there are few birds out there.
!
A majority of houses have enough roof area to place solar panels that would meet their energy needs. The storage issue is the big one.
Very informative! Ignore the yahoos!
What we need is appliances manufactured for standard DC voltages
If the picture is accurate, the fans, alone, would consume more than 0.3%.