Geothermal energy is a cost effective, reliable, environment-friendly, and sustainable energy source that has been utilized for space heating since Roman times but is now in recent years has become more attractive for its use in electricity generation. In order to harvest this energy, components must be subjected to extreme environments driven by high temperatures and pressures between the crust and core of the Earth. Conventionally, a downhole actuator system is based on a hydraulic technology and up until this point; the electronics have been limited to monitoring and logging type functionality. However, to eliminate the complexity of hydraulic systems and increase the productivity of harnessing geothermal energy, a pure electrical system is ideal. In this Phase I SBIR project, APEI will design and develop a high temperature 300 C) SiC- based power module with an integrated silicon carbide SiC) application specific integrated circuit ASIC) gate driver for geothermal applications. The advantage of this power module is high temperature operation with extended reliability while subjected to harsh environments associated with downhole drilling.
