Burak Ozpineci started out at Oak Ridge National Laboratory working on a novel project: introducing silicon carbide into power electronics for more efficient electric vehicles. Twenty years later, the car he drives contains those same components and the breadth of his expertise in power systems has earned Ozpineci recognition as an ORNL Corporate Fellow.

In his two decades of cutting-edge research, Ozpineci has seen the benefits of a long career at the lab, evolving into an internationally recognized leader in his field who has helped scores of young researchers establish their own path to success.

Ozpineci was already studying the use of new materials for power electronics when he came to the lab as a doctoral student from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. After being hired as ORNL staff, he was put in charge of one of the first U.S. Department of Energy projects to ever explore the use of silicon carbide, or SiC, in vehicle power electronics.

The use of silicon carbide to create what’s known as wide bandgap-based power conversion systems means these devices can withstand higher temperatures with reduced cooling needs. The material makes possible compact, energy-dense and more efficient power systems for a variety of applications like electric vehicle traction drives and fast-charging systems.

“We started publishing papers on the tremendous benefits of SiC, but people were also looking at us funny. It was very early in the game,” he said.

Those sentiments did not deter the scientist. After a successful prototype, Ozpineci and his colleagues created a SiC device-based power conversion system and built the nation’s first 55-kilowatt traction inverter, replacing silicon diodes with SiC ones, demonstrating a whopping 33% reduction in power losses and thermal requirements.

DOE subsequently shifted its vehicle power electronics research to the development and use of SiC-based devices, and the remarkable results were communicated to industry. The first commercial vehicle using SiC devices in its traction drive, the Tesla Model 3, was delivered in 2017. Soon, all electric vehicle drives are expected to use wide bandgap devices.