SmartSpark Energy Systems, Inc.

1. SmartSpark Energy Systems, Inc. Patrick L. Chapman Assistant Professor Power Affiliates Program Review, May 2004 Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

2. Context • SmartSpark is a UIUC spinoff company • Activities • Research and development of power electronic circuits • Manufacturing of circuits to supply OEMs • Licensing and sublicensing of IP • Consulting (as appropriate) • Reside in “Research Park at the University of Illinois” • Enterprise Works incubator facility • owned by UIUC • companies lease space • Office and lab space, about 1000 sq. ft. Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

3. Principals – UIUC FTE • Phil Krein, President (acting), Secretary (acting) • Patrick Chapman, Treasurer (acting) • Jonathan Kimball, Vice President of Engineering (acting) Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

4. Other Key Personnel • Brian Kuhn, Senior Engineer, FTE • former research engineer at Purdue • M.S.E.E. UM-Rolla • Neil Kane, Interim CEO • former IBM, extensive startup experience • B.S.M.E. UIUC • Mr. ‘X’, COO to be named later Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

5. Patents • Owned by UIUC • licensing in negotiation for exclusive rights • Ten patents or patents pending involved • battery equalizer • multi-carrier pulse width modulation • ripple correlation control • various power converter circuits, subcircuits, control techniques Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

6. Products • Battery management circuit (Batteq™) • most developed • Power inverters for fuel cell or solar • second-most developed • Optimal controllers for power converters • proven in some applications, more work to do on others • Others in the ‘pipeline’ Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

7. Batteq • Manage recharging of series strings of batteries, cells • Problem addressed: • series string develop imbalanced cell charges • some cells overcharge, others undercharge • ultimately, cells - and thus the whole string – lose(s) cycles • Shortens life of pack considerably Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

8. Battery Balancing • Traditional work-around • extended time overcharge (float voltage) • attempts to get charge to the low-voltage cells • overcharges other cells • achieves some balancing, but in wasteful and suboptimal manner • extends pack life better than nothing at all… Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

9. Other Balancing Methods • Parallel resistors • attempt to bleed away excess charge • obvious shortcomings (heat, size, ineffectiveness) • Switched resistors • same idea, but use the resistors more judiciously • same shortcomings, but less so • additional problems • must have supervisory control circuit • must have accurate voltage sensing Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

10. More Methods • Dc-dc converters • similar to using a separate charger for each battery • matching, cost, sensing, supervisory control all issues • at least the efficiency is good • Charge-shuttling dc-dc converters • more sensible but still many of the same issues Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

11. Batteq Method • Charge shuttling, but • uses switched capacitor • requires no supervisory control • requires no closed-loop control for matching; matching is inherent • uses inexpensive components • Prior to SmartSpark, • licensed and used in electric buses and telecommunications backup power supplies • proven extensively on lead-acid (2-3 times the cycle life) Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

12. Concept Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

13. Testing Facility (Li-Ion Focus) Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

14. Li-Ion Batteq Circuit 1.0 Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

15. Rechargeable Batteries • Multi-billion dollar market • Portables • laptops, power tools, etc. • Backup • UPS • Energy storage • fuel cell power sytems, solar • Vehicles • hybrid cars, bikes, scooters, golf carts, fork lifts, GEM, etc. Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

16. Fuel Cell or Solar Power Inverter • Dc-ac conversion with • high efficiency • low part-count • modularity and scalability • Uses novel multi-carrier based ac-ac converter output stage Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

17. PulseLink™ Circuit Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

18. Traditional Circuit, Same Function Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

19. Customers, Potential Customers • INI Power Systems • local fuel cell startup • did small project, now have $60,000 project pending • Proposals for modular inverters • Other defense-related projects are in the proposal stage • Inquiries from several companies from light electrical vehicles to laptop computers Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

20. Funding Approach • Pre-pre-money • employees’ personal cash (~$100k) • Pre-money • Illinois Ventures, pending (wide range, $50k to $2M) • a significant partner already • Money • if necessary, venture capital in multi-million range Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics

21. Blue-Sky Forecasts • Sales in the $10’sM to $100M in five years • One FTE now, but 5-10 in a year Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics