Oct. 22, 2019
MILWAUKEE 鈥� Dr. Nathan Weise, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been awarded a $500,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The grant is part of Advanced Research Projects Agency 鈥� Energy鈥檚 program called Building Reliable Electronics to Achieve Kilovolt Effective Ratings Safely 鈥� also known as 鈥淏REAKERS.鈥�
BREAKERS seeks to develop new medium-voltage, DC devices to better manage power by eliminating electrical faults, improving efficiency and reaction times, and potentially enabling greater proliferation of energy storage and renewable resources.
Weise said his project, 鈥淯ltra-Fast Resonant DC Breaker,鈥� will develop a direct-current, transformational, state-of-the-art breaker. It will combine the advantages of a vacuum interrupter with a wide-bandgap based resonant current source and novel actuator topology.
鈥�(It) will be scalable across voltage and current in medium voltage DC applications,鈥� Weise said. 鈥淪uch as power distribution, solar, wind and electric vehicles.鈥�
鈥淲e are excited that Dr. Weise and his team were selected to receive this competitive award from the Department of Energy,鈥� said Dr. Kristina Ropella, Opus Dean of the Opus College of Engineering. 鈥淗is leadership and scholarship in the area of power electronics has earned him well-deserved recognition among his peers.鈥�
Shelby is a senior communication specialist in the Office of Marketing and Communication. Contact Shelby at (414) 288-6712 or shelby.williamson@marquette.eduAbout Shelby Williamson
