New Solid State Power Switch Safguards Electric Service By Susan
Trulove Aug. 15, 2003 -- "The nation's electric grid is
operating so close to capacity that many of today's electric
load demands for fast and dynamic voltage support cannot be
provided fast enough," says Alex Huang, professor of electrical
and computer engineering at Virginia Tech. Electricity moves
across miles in seconds to power manufacturing and utilities
nationwide. But, for all its speed, the loss of just fractions
of seconds of electric power is costing the U.S. economy $100
billion a year. To solve the problem, Virginia Tech researchers
have developed a high-power semiconductor switch. The invention
has earned a 2003 Research & Development 100 Award from R&D
Magazine, which will announce the "100 most technologically
significant products introduced into the marketplace over the
past year" in its September issue. Awards will be presented at a
banquet in Chicago on Oct. 16. Huang, a researcher with the
Center for Power Engineering Systems