Name of the Organisation : Google & IEEE
Name of the Contest : Little Box Challenge 2014-16
Contest Countries : Worldwide (Refer Except Countries Below)
Deadline : September 30, 2014

Website : https://www.littleboxchallenge.com/

No Purchase Necessary To Enter Or Win. Void Where Prohibited. Contest Is Open To Residents Of The 50 United States, The District Of Columbia And Worldwide, Except For Italy, Brazil, Quebec, Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, And Sudan. Entry In This Contest Constitutes Your Acceptance Of These Official Rules
Little Box Challenge :
The Little Box Challenge (the “Contest”) is a skill contest where entrant(s) must build a 2 kVA DCAC inverter with a power density exceeding 50 Watts/inch3 that also exceeds performance criteria detailed below. The devices will be evaluated by judges, who will choose the winning entry in accordance with these Official Rules. The prize(s) will be awarded to entrant(s) whose device is evaluated as having the highest score in the judging criteria. See below for the complete details.

Binding Agreement:
In order to enter the Contest, you must agree to these Official Rules (“Rules”). Therefore, please read these Rules prior to entry to ensure you understand and agree. You agree that submission of an entry in the Contest constitutes agreement to these Rules. You may not submit an entry to the Contest and are not eligible to receive the prizes described in these Rules unless you agree to these Rules. These Rules form a binding legal agreement between you and Google with respect to the Contest.

Eligibility:
To be eligible to enter the Contest, you must be:
(1) above the age of majority in the country, state, province or jurisdiction of residence (or at least twenty years old in Taiwan) at the time of entry;
(2) not a resident of Italy, Brazil, Quebec, Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, or Sudan;
(3) not a person or entity under U.S. export controls or sanctions; and
(4) have access to the Internet as of July 22, 2014. Contest is void in Italy, Brazil, Quebec, Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Sudan, and where prohibited by law.

Note:
Employees, interns, contractors, and official officeholders of Google, employees of IEEE, and any companies affiliated with providing material or testing for this Contest (as further detailed below) and their parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, employees, advertising and promotion agencies, representatives, and agents (“Contest Entities”), and members of the Contest Entities’ and their immediate families (parents, siblings, children, spouses, and life partners of each, regardless of where they live) and members of the households (whether related or not) of such employees, officers and directors are ineligible to participate in this Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to verify eligibility and to adjudicate on any dispute at any time.

Specifically, the groups that are also ineligible to enter the Contest either as being designated as part of a team, or being promised a share of the prize money:
** Wide bandgap semiconductor switching manufacturers who are linked to from Contest Site.
** Anyone serving as a judge for any stage of the Contest, including without limitation review for grants, technical approach and testing application and/or final inverter testing.
** Anyone who performed a final evaluation of the prize specifications and testing procedure under NonDisclosure Agreement with the Sponsor.

Note:
If you are entering this Contest as part of a company or on behalf of your employer, these rules are binding on you, individually, and/or your employer. If you are acting within the scope of your employment, as an employee, contractor, or agent of another party, you warrant that such party has full knowledge of your actions and has consented thereto, including your potential receipt of a prize. You further warrant that your actions do not violate your employer’s or company’s policies and procedures

Technical and Registration Details :
What the inverter needs to do :
The winning inverter will be the one that achieves the highest power density and meeting a list of other specifications, as determined by a panel of judges, while undergoing testing for 100 hours.

In brief, the other specifications are :
** Must be able to handle up to 2 kVA loads
** Must achieve a power density of equal to or greater than 50 W/in3
** Must be able to handle loads with power factors from 0.7–1, leading and lagging in an islanded mode
** Must be in a rectangular metal enclosure of no more than 40 in3
** Will be taking in 450 V DC power in series with a 10 O resistor
** Must output 240 V, 60 Hz AC single phase power
** Must have a total harmonic distortion + noise on both voltage and current of < 5%
** Must have an input ripple current of < 20%
** Must have an input ripple voltage of < 3%
** Must have a DC-AC efficiency of greater than 95%
** Must maintain a temperature of no more than 60°C during operation everywhere on the outside of the device that can be touched.
** Must conform to Electromagnetic Compliance standards as set out in FCC Part 15 B
** Can not use any external source of cooling (e.g. water) other than air
** Does not require galvanic isolation

Our testing philosophy is to not look inside the box. You provide us with a box that has 5 wires coming out of it : two DC inputs, two AC outputs and grounding connection and we only monitor what goes into and comes out of those wires, along with the temperature of the outside of your box, over the course of 100 hours of testing. The inverter will be operating in an islanded mode—that is, not tied or synced to an external grid. The loads will be dynamically changing throughout the course of the testing, similar to what you may expect to see in a residential setting.

A more detailed description of the technical specifications for the inverter, the testing procedure and the requirements for technical approach and testing application can be found in this document.

How to register :
The registration process is a simple form to fill out. Information must be provided in each of the fields, but any serious entry (e.g. not containing offensive material or clearly gibberish) submitted in english, regardless of approach suggested or team background, will be successful in registering. You should receive a confirmation email within three business days of your registration with a unique confirmation code.

Once registered, all the team members listed will receive updates and reminders about the prize. You must register before the registration deadline (September 30, 2014) in order to submit a technical approach and testing application and be qualified to win the prize.

Register Here : https://www.littleboxchallenge.com/#register
Device Manufacturers :
One promising set of new technologies which may allow for the achievement of higher power densities are wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, such as Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC). Below are a list of WBG device manufacturers who have made pages describing their technology, how it might enable contestants to win the competition and opportunities for obtaining some of their devices

Grants :
Are you an academic interested in trying to win The Little Box Challenge- Research at Google is also making a limited number of awards of available to academics in concert with the prize.

Visit their website here : https://research.google.com/universi...littlebox.html
Competition Dates :
September 2014 :
Applicants contemplating competing in the prize must register their team by the registration deadline : September 30, 2014.

Eligible academics interested in pursuing grant funding must apply by the grant application deadline : September 30, 2014 by visiting the University Relations site.

July 2015 :
Registered teams must submit a technical approach and testing application by July 22, 2015.

October 2015 :
Up to 18 finalists will be notified of their selection for final testing at the testing facility. They are required to bring their inverters in person to a testing facility in United States by October 21, 2015.

January 2016 :
The grand prize winner will be announced sometime in January, 2016.

Terms & Conditions: www.indianjobtalks.com/uploads/73623-LBC-TermsAndConditions.pdf