Cree SiC Technology Enables the Quantum Reduction of Solar Power Inverter Size, Weight, and Cost

March 16, 2015 | By Business Wire News

DURHAM, N.C.

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a market leader in silicon carbide (SiC) power products, has demonstrated that its best-in-class SiC MOSFET and diode technologies enable previously unattainable levels of power density in string solar inverter products, yielding ultra-high efficiencies (greater than 99.1 percent at peak) at one-fifth the average size and weight of today’s silicon-based inverter units.

Historically, efficiency, reliability, and unit cost have been the three primary metrics that designers of string solar inverters have sought to optimize. In recent years, however, size and weight have proven to significantly affect overall system cost, and have subsequently been added to designer’s list of essential design metrics.

Using the latest Cree® power MOSFETs and diodes, Cree’s systems engineering team designed a proof-of-concept 50kW string solar inverter that exhibits a remarkable 50 percent reduction in power loss and operates at three to five times the switching frequency that conventional silicon technology can currently achieve. The combination of these two factors drastically reduces both the size and weight of the inverter’s cooling system, as well as its filtering components, which translates into a unit-cost reduction approaching 15 percent.

This application will be on display at the Cree booth (#1417) at this year’s Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), which will take place in Charlotte, N.C., March 16–18, 2015, and is a great example of how Cree SiC power products enable smaller, faster, and better power system solutions. Additional applications that have been proven to benefit from Cree SiC technology include: industrial power supplies, induction heating units, battery charging stations, wind turbine converters, and traction inverters, amongst others.

For more information about Cree SiC technology, please visit http://cree.com/Power to access product datasheets, tools, and support, and to find your local distributor.

About Cree

Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and making energy-wasting traditional lighting technologies obsolete through the use of energy-efficient, mercury-free LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting, and semiconductor products for power and radio frequency (RF) applications.

Cree’s product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and RF devices. Cree® products are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, backlighting, electronic signs and signals, power suppliers and solar inverters.

Please refer to www.cree.com for additional product and company information.

This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including the risk that actual savings and lifetimes will vary from expectations; the risk we may be unable to manufacture these new products with sufficiently low cost to offer them at competitive prices or with acceptable margins; the risk we may encounter delays or other difficulties in ramping up production of our new products; customer acceptance of new LED products; the rapid development of new technology and competing products that may impair demand or render Cree’s products obsolete; and other factors discussed in Cree’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 29, 2014, and subsequent filings.

Cree® is a registered trademark of Cree, Inc.