Chinese firm Traftor Technology, which specializes in developing power conversion products including toroidal inductors, transformers and chokes for power electronics applications, has won second place in the "new energy and energy saving" category of the China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition for the Shenzen region.
Traftor, the only engineering firm to win one of the top 10 prizes, was recognized for its unique toroidal technology that can cut costs by up to 20 percent.
Traftor beat more than 2,700 firms from Shenzen region, China's counterpart for Silicon Valley in the U.S.
Traftor CEO Jacki Li said that the award is a significant accomplishment for the firm, which has succeeded in hiring extremely talented employees from Europe and Asia despite the fact that it is relatively new in the industry.
"It is remarkable for an engineering company like ours to succeed in a competition where the top prizes are nearly always awarded to hi-tech start-ups from the IT, telecoms and biotech industries," Li said. "Winning this award is official recognition of the technical breakthroughs we have made in magnetic topology, a field that has not seen much real progress in 70 years--until now."
Traftor's toroidal technology has no yoke, fewer coil layers and larger winding coil area, allowing the firm to design and manufacture smaller, lighter, but more efficient magnetic components for medium and high-power applications compared with traditional systems.
Traftor's products are used by major players in the power electronics sector, including Emerson, Eaton and Schneider Electric.
The award includes a 400,000-yuan cash prize and 1-million-yuan grant from the Chinese government to support the company's research and development projects and expansion efforts.