APEI Set to ‘Graduate’ UA Genesis Incubator
by May 8, 2006 12:00 am 80 views
In May, Arkansas Power Electronics International Inc. will graduate from the University of Arkansas’ Genesis Technology Incubator in Fayetteville.
Alex Lostetter, APEI’s president, said the company has been doubling in staff size about every year. APEI currently has 16 employees and will have 20 by the end of the year, he said.
The firm’s focus is to research and develop lightweight, miniaturized power electronics that can withstand high temperatures for military and space applications.
The excessive amounts of heat given off by switch systems in large electric motor drives requires them to be equipped with heat sinks, something that dissipates heat and takes up space. If APEI can perfect its “packaging” of high-temperature silicone carbide microchips into electric drives, the heat sinks won’t be needed.
Lostetter said APEI has been bringing in about $2 million in annual revenue, with about 50 percent coming from contracts and the other 50 percent coming from grants, such as Small Business Innovation Research grants.
The company is currently working on six SBIR grants worth a total of $1.5 million.
One of APEI’s current contracts is a $1.8 million, four-year contract with the U.S. Army to develop power converters for on-board weapons systems. And another is with NASA to develop a high temperature motor drive for a unit that will land on Venus. The planet has surface temperatures of about 485 degrees Celsius (905 degrees Fahrenheit) and an atmosphere with plenty of sulfuric acid, Lostetter said.
“[There are] lots of really nasty things to contend with,” he said.