Whats inside the CE Box? Google Little Box Challenge

[dero]

Hello Forum!

Since not much information is available on what's inside the Control Electronics we can only speculate:
So here it goes....

There have to be two inverters from battery DC to MGU-K and MGU-H AC Motors.
The technology used to make such inverters tiny and get a really good power density is really interesting.

Since google recently announced the winners of the https://www.littleboxchallenge.com/ i thougt i'd link the winners aproches here.

General Info: http://googleresearch.blogspot.co.at/20 ... e-box.html
#1: https://www.littleboxchallenge.com/pdf/ ... 8-Tech.pdf
#2: https://www.littleboxchallenge.com/pdf/ ... 7-Tech.pdf
#3: https://www.littleboxchallenge.com/pdf/ ... 6-Tech.pdf

Note: all of these are DC/AC converters for the power-grid and not for driving motos but the (interesting) problems largely remain the same! They all use GaN semiconductos instead of more traditional SiC.

Hope you find it interesting.

Yours Stefan

[gruntguru]

Thanks for posting that. I had some involvement with a university team. Our solution was small (not quite as small as the winner!) but unfortunately didn't get our unit full de-bugged before the deadline.

Our office has been discussing the winners and the technology - quite an achievement. We have also discussed whether the F1 teams would be using GaN semiconductors. The inverters in Andy Cowell's video look pretty small!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ3EIbhwx2w

[dero]

Thanks for posting that. I had some involvement with a university team. Our solution was small (not quite as small as the winner!) but unfortunately didn't get our unit full de-bugged before the deadline.

Our office has been discussing the winners and the technology - quite an achievement. We have also discussed whether the F1 teams would be using GaN semiconductors. The inverters in Andy Cowell's video look pretty small!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ3EIbhwx2w

Sad to hear that you could not enter, but i'm sure you still learned a lot!

How can you draw conclusions to the size of the inverters from the size of the box in the linked video?
This box includes the batteries as well doesn't it?

Whats your point of view on the usage of SiC devices? I'm not sure either because best efficiency may not be their top priority. Could be that they optimize more for size which when using foreced watercooling does not have to correlate with efficiency.

Would love to gather some more infos about the CE side of the Powerunits!

Yours Stefan

[gruntguru]

I assumed the two bumps where the cables enter the ES contain the inverters.

[godlameroso]

Am I the only one that notices how much *thicker the MGU-H cables are than the MGU-K?

[gruntguru]

Well spotted. Confusing if you are right.

The MGUK is more powerful so would need more current (if the operating voltage is the same as the MGUH). So perhaps the MGUK runs at a higher voltage? That would be surprising too since the operating speed is lower for the MGUK - why use a higher voltage motor than the H?

Perhaps it is an optical illusion?