Announced September 2014, the competition gives developers until July 2015 to come up with the world’s smallest solar power inverter. The prize? Lucrative. One million US Dollars.

The Google challenge goes right to heart of the conundrum facing today’s electronics design: how to increase miniaturization without losing performance? Just qualifying will be the first challenge. Google’s minimum specifications pull no punches: the solar power inverter has to feature:

• ·2 kW
• ·240V
• 1 phase
• Efficiency of >95%
• Maximum surface temperature of 60°C.

Moreover the build size cannot exceed 655cm³, which is equivalent to an edge length of 8.7 cm, and the device as a whole has to operate flawlessly for at least 100 hours.

Eighteen designs will be selected for the final round. 200 international teams have already thrown their hats in the ring. 

Fraunhofer IZM is entering the fray with ETH Zurich (Team led by Prof. Kolar) by combining its expertise in miniaturization and EMC with the Swiss institute’s outstanding know-how in power electronics. The developers are not making a secret of their strategy. The design will include:

• Reducing the need for passive components using high switching frequencies and purpose-built control electronics
• Active air cooling
• Embedding techniques to limit parasitic elements and to facilitate high switching frequencies

The team is quietly confident of a spot in the finals. We’ll be cheering them on.