By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, contributing writer
Wide-bandgap (WBG) materials are currently making significant gains in the power electronics market, providing much better performance than silicon. Silicon-carbide (SiC) technology offers definite advantages, mainly related to its electrical resistance. By using these WBG materials, it is possible to obtain the same resistance as silicon-based technology but at a smaller size.
WBG devices such as SiC and gallium nitride (GaN) are the hot topics of the moment, bringing with them the promise of reducing the size of each device to almost-zero values for various applications such as wireless charging and power converters.
PCIM was exciting and it provided interesting information on new ideas, technology, and products, offering companies the opportunity to promote and support their industry.
The PCIM Europe advisory board awarded the best paper to Jürgen Schuderer at ABB Corporate Research, Switzerland, for the article “High-Power SiC and Si Module Platform for Automotive Traction Inverter.”
An exciting keynote held in one of the first days of PCIM, entitled “Next Generation of Power Supplies,” by Professor Fred Lee at Virginia Tech, highlighted the evolution of power supplies. Currently, a significant level of quality has been reached, and thanks to further progress in the field of materials, they can continue to make a difference. Advances have also led to the development of numerous circuit challenges aimed at managing high switching frequency.
Currently, the SiC devices are conventional, from about 650 V to 1,200 V and even at higher values, while the GaN devices are limited to about 650 V. Packaging is a more tangible difference between the devices; SiC devices are usually available in TO-247 and TO-220 packages, allowing a rapid replacement of MOSFETs and IGBTs in existing projects to gain immediate advantages.
PCIM on the floor
Many companies presented numerous solutions, with the presence of over 500 exhibitors providing tutorials, presentations, and posters that have characterized the activity at an academic and research level. Companies also set up numerous packaging solutions for a variety of applications.
Danisense introduced a new high-performance 200-A current-sense transducer for OEM applications such as power supplies for magnetic fields in a particle accelerator and hadron therapy equipment, variable-frequency drives, battery-charger metering, and monitoring. In particular, it has been used by teams at CERN as part of a significant upgrade program .
The Danisense DC200IF transducer provides DC and AC metering with ±0.1 absolute accuracy up to 5 kHz.
The Infineon press conference highlighted continuous market growth in recent years, which was mostly driven by the automotive market. Infineon introduced a new package: the Easy 3B. Together with the other Easy 1B and 2B packages, this includes the broadest power module portfolio at a 12-mm height without a base plate. With its latest three-phase inverter module, motor drives can rely on the highest power density.
With the completion of its production ramp for SiC MOSFET technology, Infineon enters high-volume production for a comprehensive discrete product portfolio of 1,200-V CoolSiC MOSFET devices .
Infineon also presented the first member of a new family of magnetic current sensors. The XENSIV TLI4971 provides an accurate and stable current measurement in industrial applications. Moreover, for its automotive customers, Infineon offers four new derivatives of the HybridPACK Drive power module for main inverters in hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs). They are optimized for different inverter performance levels between 100 kW and 200 kW.
The Littelfuse stand was very intriguing with its latest innovations in the high-power field. In particular, it has presented a new 1,000-V ultra-junction MOSFET particularly well-suited for high-efficiency, high-power-density applications. These include resonant-mode power supplies, battery chargers, and welding inverters.
Bruce T. Renouard, CEO of Pre-Switch, presented the CleanWave 200-W SiC inverter evaluation system that enables power design engineers to investigate the accuracy of the company’s soft switching architecture and platform over varying load, temperature, device tolerance, and degradation conditions. Pre-Switch’s platform , including the Pre-Drive controller board, powered by the Pre-Flex FPGA, and RPG gate driver board, virtually eliminates switching losses, enabling fast switching at 100 kHz and significantly improving low torque motor efficiency.
The Pre-Switch CleanWave 200-W SiC inverter evaluation system.
ROHM Semiconductor presented the addition of four new automotive-grade 1,200-V−rated IGBTs, which are suited for inverters used in electronic compressors and for switching circuits used in positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heaters. The portfolio has increased with the availability of the BM2SCQ12xT-LBZ series of AC/DC converter ICs with a built-in 1,700-V SiC MOSFET.
“PCIM Europe 2019 was not only a successful fair, it even exceeded our expectations,” said Toshimitsu Suzuki, president of ROHM Semiconductor. “The leads generated at the show will keep us very busy, and we are happy to see that our technology is so well-accepted in the European market.”
ROHM’s BM2SCQ12xT-LBZ series of AC/DC converters.
Wolfspeed introduced a new, fully integrated product portfolio for EV, industrial, and renewable energy applications. The portfolio includes the C3M MOSFETs , a C6D Gen 6 diode , and a XM3 power module . The XM3 is optimized for SiC MOSFETs in a high-density, low-inductance footprint, delivering excellent electrical, thermal, and reliability performance while reducing system failure and enhancing power-cycling capability.
The Wolfspeed E-Series line of SiC MOSFETs claims the industry’s lowest switching losses and highest figure of merit. The E-Series MOSFET is optimized for use in EV battery chargers and high-voltage DC/DC converters.
An interesting talk was held by the CEO of GaN Systems , Jim Witham, with the title “GaN and Industry 4.0 — A Small Change that is Revolutionizing the Industry.” GaN Systems has demonstrated a 650-V, 150-A GaN power transistor , which is touted as the industry’s highest-current 650-V GaN power transistor — with 100 times lower switching losses than comparable IGBTs. Besides, a wide breadth of new products, devices, and systems from customers and partners were shown, and many of them are currently in production.
Helix Semiconductors presented a new DC/DC product family that maximizes low-profile DC/DC power delivery to create leading-class, high-power-density solutions. Consisting of five monolithic, configurable, high-voltage switch capacitor ICs, the new product family is targeted to both non-isolated and isolated buck or boost DC/DC converter applications. Nick Vergunst gave a fascinating talk entitled “New frontiers in voltage conversion technology,” highlighting the critical aspects of new power electronics with the vigorous demands of increasingly higher power density.
Vergunst illustrated Helix’s patented MuxCapacitor (MuxCap) and Capacitive Isolation (Capso), which are enabling technologies behind smaller, cooler, and more efficient products. The company claims that its MuxCapacitor is able to convert mains power worldwide to virtually any lower voltage with more than 95% efficiency, also enabling real-zero power.
LEM has increased its market with the LZSR family of transducers, a new range that can be mounted on printed circuit boards for non-intrusive, isolated measurements of DC, AC, and pulsed currents from 100 A to 200 A nominal. The family consists of three new models: LZSR 100-P, LZSR 150-P, and LZSR 200-P. Working over a temperature range from −40°C to 85°C, the LZSR offset drift is up to seven times better than the previous generation of closed-loop Hall-effect current transducers working with a traditional Hall-effect chip.
Unlike other packages in which internal bond wires often limit performance, LFPAK88 devices presented by Nexperia make use of copper-clip and solder-die-attach construction, resulting in low electrical and thermal resistance, good current spreading, and heat dispersal. LFPAK88 MOSFETs are available in both automotive-qualified (BUK) and industrial (PSMN) grades.
Analog Devices discussed current power conversion technology challenges during the Forum Conference. Stefano Gallinaro, ADI’s strategic marketing manager, highlighted various aspects of isolated gate control and integrated circuits for power management at a conference on “Battery Management for Energy Storage Systems: innovations in the ecosystem.” ADI also held various demonstrations that highlighted the company’s offerings for system integrators and designers working in the field of energy storage in high-power systems in which it is necessary to provide ever-higher levels of conversion efficiency.
Power Integrations announced the release of a suite of offline switcher ICs incorporating 900-V primary MOSFETs. The newly released devices include ICs for high-efficiency isolated flyback power supplies and simple non-isolated buck converters. The new products include 900-V versions of the LinkSwitch-TN2 and InnoSwitch3-EP families, which enable extremely high-efficiency isolated flybacks up to 35 W.
Power Integrations’ InnoSwitch 3-EP.
Coilcraft has continued its development with the new XGL4020 Series of high-performance, molded power inductors. The XGL4020 features the industry’s lowest DC losses, extremely low AC losses for a wide range of DC/DC converters (from hundreds of kHz up to 5+ MHz), and soft saturation characteristics. The XGL4020 is available in various inductance values from 0.33 µH to 8.2 µH, with current ratings up to 15.2 A.
Texas Instruments and Mitsubishi presented their latest innovations with two interesting talks on motion control and SiC technology. Motion control is an intrinsic combination of software and hardware, representing an increasingly complex and sophisticated control model.
Part of the discussion focused on power electronics for electric vehicles. EVs need efficient electronic power circuits to convert electrical energy from different voltage levels or from AC to DC and vice versa. At the center of these power electronic circuits are devices such as switches and inverters. Over the years, WBG materials have been introduced such as SiC and GaN, which have outperformed silicon in many ways. Their unique properties also help reduce the size of other power supply circuit components, such as cooling systems and passive elements, leading to more compact and lighter power electronic systems.
During Mitsubishi’s talk, the next developments were discussed, including how to obtain highly efficient and reliable power electronic components and their adoption into the transmission, chargers, and test systems of next-generation hybrid and electric vehicles.
Conclusion
GaN and SiC technologies are enabling a new generation of power conversion designs that would not otherwise be possible. PCIM has highlighted many solutions and improvements, thus envisaging a new world for the power in automotive and smart building applications. Power-switching devices based on WBG technology are in volume production now and delivering high efficiency and power density in real-world power applications.
This article was originally published at Power Electronics News . Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio is editor-in-chief of Power Electronics News.
See related article: SiC power devices on full display at PCIM Europe
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