ZKZ 64717
08-13
ISSN: 1863-5598
Electronics in Motion and Conversion
August 2013
Medium voltage
A HIGH-WIRE ACT?
Welcome to the House of Competence.
Medium voltage components for power electronics
Does this sound familiar? You leave your comfort zone and step onto the
tightrope of new territories. For MV applications in power electronics
installations there's now a “double safety net”. The new GvA “ready-to-use
switch components”, based on IGBT and Thyristor technology. These are
available with or without control or current loop feed power supply – always
perfectly balanced. So if you want to reach your new goals quickly and above
all safely, talk to your House of Competence. It’s worth it.
•
MV IGBT DC switches
•
MV Thyristor AC switches
•
MV IGBT / Thyristor control
•
MV current loop feed power supply
engineered by
GvA Leistungselektronik GmbH | Boehringer Straße 10 - 12 | D-68307 Mannheim
Phone +49 (0) 621/7 89 92-0 | www.gva-leistungselektronik.de | info@gva-leistungselektronik.de
o-f.de
1
www.bodospower.com
July 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
Read online and search for key subjects from all articles in Bodo’s
Power Systems by going to Powerguru:
Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Batterie Energy Storage
Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-10
Blue Product of the Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Non-Contact Current Probes Target Advanced Power Designs
Power Electronic Measurements
Product of the Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Class D Amplifier Improves Power Delivery Efficiencies
Two-Fold For Driving Brush-Type Motors
APEX Microtechnology
Green Product of the Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Modular Inverter System
GvA
Guest Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
It All Started in a Coffee Shop
By Johann Thoma, President, Mesago Messe Frankfurt
Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Electronics Industry Digest
By Aubrey Dunford, Europartners
Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-23
Darnell’s Energy Summit = GaN/SiC/GaAs + DC Micro Grids
+ Digital Power + Smart Grid + More
By Richard Ruiz, Analyst, Darnell Group
Cover Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24-26
IGCTs: Benchmark Performance with Developments on Many Fronts
By Martin Arnold, Björn Backlund, Munaf Rahimo
and Tobias Wikström, ABB Switzerland Ltd, Semiconductors.
Renewable Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28-30
Moving to a New Direction, the Photovoltaic Market Suffers in Europe
By Marisa Robles Consée, Corresponding Editor; Bodo’s Power Systems
IGBT Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32-34
Implementation of Low Inductive Strip Line Concept in a IGBT Module
By Georg Borghoff, Infineon Technologies AG, Germany
Automotive Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35-37
Designing-Out High-Power Automotive Relays
By David Jacquinod, International Rectifier
Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38-42
Control Loop Modulation Applied to Programmable DC Power Supplies
By Ira J. Pitel and Adam Pitel, Magna-Power Electronics
Mosfets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44-45
Optimising Power Design Through MOSFET Efficiency and Integration
By Michael Piela, Toshiba Electronics Europe
Design and Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46-49
Create Embedded Power Designs Online
By Devin Crawford, senior application engineer, Transim Technology
Corporation
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-51
Innovative Solution to Connect Stator Main Windings in Rotating
Machines via Circular Laminated Busbars.
By Remy Roulier and Björn Asmussen, Mersen
Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52-53
Optimizing of Power Sources for Use with Fuel Cell Technology
By Rob Hill, Director of Sales & Marketing, Powerstax
New Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54-64
CONTENT
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Capacitors for Power Electronics - Where quality counts most!
Any device is only as strong as its weakest part.
When designing high-value equipment, components have to function
flawlessly. Capacitors tend to be more sensitive to extreme operating
conditions than other parts, and their failure can have grave consequences.
ELECTRONICON’s PEC range of capacitors proves that premium
performance and reliability can be achieved without a premium price tag.
We make your product superior in every way but at an affordable price.
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August 2013
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The Gallery
Getting you to market faster:
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Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
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4
Batteries have been known for quite a while.
An object with all the appearances and ele-
ments of a battery was found near Baghdad
in 1936 – estimated to be about 2000 years
old. It is a ceramic jar with cylindrical copper
and iron electrodes, and bitumen as an insu-
lator. You can see pictures of a recreation at
the Smith College Museum of Ancient Inno-
vation web site. About 1.1 volts can be
measured when filled with an acidic solution,
juice or wine. It has indeed been a long way
to today’s high performance batteries. The
Battery University Event in Aschaffenburg at
the end of June brought together manufac-
turers of batteries and the related industries.
Modern life depends more and more on
portable electronics and tools, and both
need efficient energy storage. Applications
are increasing day by day and into diverse
areas – our own mobility demonstrated in
electric and hybrid cars, bicycles, and wheel-
chairs. The health of today’s batteries is
best maintained with controlled charging and
discharging. Sensing and reporting the elec-
tric status is common. Cell sensing and
bypass controls are used on industrial sys-
tems - one gets the impression from recent
events that as energy density increases, the
risk of faults in the battery becomes more
critical. Microcontroller assisted charge and
control systems are available to perform
these tasks with sophistication. Important as
well are standards aimed at safe operation.
Renewable energy systems, solar and wind
power, where full utilization is not schedula-
ble, create a need to store energy when
generation exceeds demand. Batteries, large
or small, can be a solution. Purely electric
vehicles need an infrastructure to recharge
the battery pack on the road or, alternatively,
to swap the battery – but these approaches
need further development to be suitable for
volume solutions. “Wireless Charging” is an
attractive solution to easily provide reliable
charging by removing the connector as a
source of mechanical weakness. Public
wireless charging stations would avoid a
need to monitor the condition of connectors.
There are plenty of challenges down the
road, and engineers are the ones who will
develop the solutions.
With increased circulation, my magazine is
now printed in both Germany and the USA,
matching production to the market need.
Thanks to you all, my internal and external
supporters, for helping to develop such a
successful communication tool. It is certainly
fun and enjoyable to work with you all.
In September the race for conferences and
shows will be on again: Darnell in Texas,
EPE in Lille France and ECCE in Denver,
Colorado. We will be serving you with the
most important information communicated at
these events.
Communication is the only way to progress.
We delivered twelve issues last year and will
continue this year, each month, on time,
every time. This year, with my August issue,
we have 87 technical articles amongst 536
pages. As a media partner, Bodo’s Power
Systems is internationally positioned. If you
speak the language, or just want to take to
look, don’t miss our Chinese version:
www.bodospowerchina.com
My Green Power Tip for August:
Relax and enjoy the summer, but stay in the
shade. Reduced activity will lower your
body’s CO2 emissions and, as such, helping
the environment can be your excuse.
Best Regards
VIEWPOINT
A Media
Katzbek 17a
D-24235 Laboe, Germany
Phone: +49 4343 42 17 90
Fax:
+49 4343 42 17 89
editor@bodospower.com
www.bodospower.com
Publishing Editor
Bodo Arlt,
Dipl.-Ing.
editor@bodospower.com
Senior Editor
Donald E. Burke,
BSEE, Dr. Sc(hc)
don@bodospower.com
Corresponding Editor
Marisa Robles Consée,
Marisa@bodospower.com
Creative Direction & Production
Repro Studio Peschke
Repro.Peschke@t-online.de
Free Subscription to qualified readers
Bodo´s Power Systems
is available for the following
subscription charges:
Annual charge (12 issues) is 150 €
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Single issue is 18 €
subscription@bodospower.com
circulation
print run 25000
Printing by:
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A Media and Bodos Power Systems
assume and hereby disclaim any
liability to any person for any loss or
damage by errors or omissions in the
material contained herein regardless
of whether such errors result from
negligence accident or any other cause
whatsoever.
Battery Energy Storage
EPE 2013 ECCE Europe,
Lille, France, September 3rd-5th
www.epe2013.com/
Darnell’s Energy Summit,
Dallas, TX, September 9th-13th
energysummit.darnell.com/
ECCE 2013
Denver, CO, September 16th -20th
www.ecce2013.org
Telecoms for Smart Grids,
London, UK, September 23rd-24th
www.smi-online.co.uk/2013telecomsfors-
martgrids9.asp
LED professional 2013,
Bregenz, Austria, September 24th -26th
www.led-professional-symposium.com
EU PVSEC 2013
Paris, France, Sept. 30th-October 4th
www.photovoltaic-conference.com/
Events
Dawn of a new intelligence
for current measurement
‹ Three programmable ranges:
8 ARMS, 15 ARMS, 25 ARMS
‹ Single +5V or +3.3V power supply
‹ Through hole and SMT packages
‹ Up to 8 mm creepage and clearance
distances + CTI 600 for high insulation
‹ Half the offset and gain drifts of
previous generation
‹ Overcurrent detection with
programmable thresholds
‹ Programmable slow (6 ›s) or fast
(2 ›s) mode
‹ Up to 4 programmable internal
reference voltages
‹ Access to voltage reference
‹ 40 to +105‡C operation
www.lem.com
At the heart of power electronics.
Conventional current transducers are over. The age of intelligent, interactive
transducers begins with the dawn of the programmable HO. Set its operational
characteristics using a simple microcontroller interface to meet your applications»
needs. Its outstanding performance gives you better control and improves the
efficiency of your system whilst minimising inventory with one configurable device.
The future starts now!
HO
6
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
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NEWS
Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) introduces the
EPC9107, a fully functional buck power conversion demonstration
circuit. This board is a 9 V-28 V input to 3.3 V, 15 A maximum output
current, 1MHz buck converter. It uses the EPC2015 eGaN FET in
conjunction with the LM5113 100V half-bridge gate driver from Texas
Instruments. The EPC9107 demonstrates the reduced size and per-
formance capabilities of high switching frequency eGaN FETs when
coupled with this dedicated eGaN driver.
The EPC9107 demonstration board is 3” square and contains a fully
closed-loop buck converter with optimized control loop. The complete
power stage including eGaN FETs, driver, inductor and input/output
caps is in an ultra compact 0.5” x 0.5” layout to showcase the per-
formance that can be achieved using the eGaN FETs with the
LM5113 eGaN driver.
A Quick Start Guide,
http://epc-co.com/epc/documents/guides/EPC9107_qsg.pdf,
containing set up procedures, circuit diagram, performance curves
and a bill of material is included with the EPC9107 demo board for
reference and ease of use.
www.epc-co.com
96% Efficient, 1 MHz Buck Converter Featuring eGaN® FETs
From September 24th to 26th, 2013, researchers and designers will
discuss their newest insights and future trends in the areas of gener-
al, architectural and industrial lighting in Bregenz, Austria. 45 informa-
tive lectures, 5 detailed workshops and networking opportunities
combined with a diversified exhibition make this a “must go” event for
experts in the areas of LED and OLED technology.
The keynote speeches by Dietmar Zembrot, President of Lighting
Europe, Menno Treffers of the Zhaga Consortium and Alfred Felder
from Tridonic will be followed by two parallel lecture tracks with a
total of 45 expert talks on the subjects of LEDs, OLEDs, LED Future,
LED Systems, Drivers and Steering Elements, Optics, Thermal Man-
agement and Implementation. Concurrent to the lectures, there will
be two workshop tracks with a total of five distinctive workshops.
These workshops will offer symposium attendees detailed information
about UL standardizations and certifications, 3-D module designs,
printed optic technologies, LED system design tools and LED test
procedures. In addition to all that, there will be two interactive tech-
panels where attendees can discuss topics of the future in the area
of LEDs and OLEDs. More information about all the symposium
activities can be found at:
www.LpS2013.com/program
LED professional Symposium +Expo
Power electronics specialist Amantys has made a statement of its
global business intent with the opening of its first international sales
office in Shanghai, China. To mark the occasion, the company will
exhibit its IGBT Gate Driver family of products at PCIM Asia 2013,
taking place in Shanghai, from June 18th-20th.
Exhibiting in China for the first time, the move marks Amantys’
increasing progress in the global power industry since its 2010
launch. The established presence in China follows a list of recent
agreements with Fuji Electric, Hitachi Europe Limited and Dynex
Semiconductor (part of Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric), as part of the
Power Drive Partnership Programme announced at PCIM Europe in
May.
www.amantys.com
Opening of China Sales Office on Debut at PCIM Asia
The detailed Conference Program of the 28th European Photovoltaic
Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) is available,
featuring more than 1,600 Keynote, Plenary, Oral and Visual Presen-
tations. The EU PVSEC 2013 will take place from 30 September to
04 October 2013 at Parc des Expositions Paris Nord Villepinte in
Paris, France. The five-day Conference is combined with the three-
day PV Industry Exhibition, held from 01 to 03 October 2013.
Globally installed cumulative PV capacity has surpassed the 100 GW
mark in 2012 and will triple by 2018 according to the new Medium-
Term Renewable Energy Market Report of the International Energy
Agency - IEA. Reflecting that PV solar energy is now becoming a
major and mature electricity source, the Conference Program of the
EU PVSEC 2013 extends it focus on application and policy-oriented
topics with the inclusion of the related players. New materials, PV
system aspects including reliability, dispatchability and grid integra-
tion issues and the role of PV as building material are examples of
key topics addressed in Paris.
Dr. Arnulf Jäger-Waldau, European Commission, DG JRC and EU
PVSEC Technical Programme Chairman: ‘The world PV community
meets at the EU PVSEC 2013 to present and discuss the most
recent innovations and developments along the entire PV value
chain.
www.photovoltaic-exhibition.com
www.photovoltaic-conference.com
EU PVSEC 2013: Comprehensive Conference Program
Capacitors for Power Electronics
IGBT Snubbers
RF Mica Capacitors
AC Output Harmonic Filter Capacitors
www.cde.com/bodo
DC Link Capacitors
-High Current, High Voltage Film
-High Capacitance Aluminum Electrolytic
8
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
NEWS
Europe's recently launched industrial strate-
gy to reinforce micro- and nanoelectronics
manufacturing is more than just a vision --
it's a major opportunity for equipment and
material suppliers to participate to large-
scale investment projects, increase their
holding in key technologies and reach out to
new customers and markets. Implementation
is already underway: the first EU funding
calls for projects will start at the latest in
early 2014 and discussions are already underway on investment pri-
orities. The recent launch of 5 EU projects, worth over €700 Million
and bringing together over 120 partners, around 30 percent of which
are small and medium enterprises, is proof that Europe can put its
"money where its mouth is." So what should you be doing to join the
10/100/20 momentum?
www.pvgroup.org
www.semi.org/europe
Europe's Manufacturing Initiative is Underway
At Intersolar conference in San Francisco,
imomec, imec’s associated lab at the Has-
selt University, and Solliance, the European
R&D consortium that focuses on thin-film
photovoltaic solar energy (PV), has present-
ed a CZTSe (Cu2ZnSnSe4)-based solar cell
with 9.7 percent efficiency (1x1cm2,
AM1.5G). This promising result is an impor-
tant step bringing the solar industry closer to
a sustainable alternative for the highest effi-
ciency thin-film solar cells in production,
based on CIGS (Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2).
CZTSe is an emerging alternative solar cell
absorber in thin-film solar cells, similar to
CZTS (Cu2ZnSnS4). Unlike CIGS, CZTS
and CZTSe do not suffer from abundancy
issues. At 1.5-1.6eV for CZTS, and 0.9eV for
CZTSe, their bandgaps make a combined
material system ideal for a multi-junction,
thin-film solar cell that rivals the efficiency of
CIGS cells (about 20 percent). Imomec,
imec and Solliance have defined a path
towards further improving the layers and cell
structures of CZTSe and CZTS absorbers
aiming at developing a multi junction
CZTS/CZTSe solar cell with 20 percent cell
efficiency. The presented CZTSe solar cell is
an important step forward to reach this goal.
www.imec.be
Achieve 9.7% Efficiency with Thin-Film CZTSe Solar Cell
PCIM Asia 2013 from 18 - 20 June closes with excellent results. With
75 exhibitors on 4,600 square meters in the Shanghai World Expo
Exhibition Center, it has grown again this year. The number of visitors
has increased to ca. 4,200.
Leading companies like Semikron, Mitsubishi, Infineon and Vincotech
were exhibiting and presented their latest products and services. As
well as longstanding exhibitors there were also many national and
international companies exhibiting for the first time: European compa-
nies such as Norwe or Electrum from Russia. Leading Chinese com-
panies such as Nanjing SilverMicro Electronics, Starpower and
Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric were again exhibiting at PCIM Asia this
year.
Next PCIM Asia 2014 will take place from 17 – 19 June 2014 in
Shanghai.
http://www.mesago.de/de/PCC/home.htm
PCIM Asia Continues to Grow
The EPE Conference Committee invites you
to come to EPE'13-ECCE Europe, the 15th
European Conference on Power Electronics
and Applications (and Exhibition), to be held
in Lille, France, a city located at the cross-
roads of Paris, Brussels and London, in an
area renowned for its industrial background,
its university life and the warm welcome of
its inhabitants.
Special days are scheduled on the main
topic of the conference and also on "Power
electronics and future transport systems"
"Smart Grids". Industrial keynotes, special
sessions and discussion panels are organ-
ized to highlight the challenges and the
future developments on these topics.
.
www.epe2013.com
European Conference on Power Electronics
Chip 1 Exchange, a global distributor of
electronic components, has become fully
franchised with several electronic component
manufacturers. Chip 1's headquarters and
main distribution center is located in Ger-
many. Chip-1 Europe, Dubai, Philippines,
Asia and North America have all been com-
missioned in the franchise agreements in
their respective markets.
The nine manufacturers that have signed
Chip 1 as their franchised factory direct dis-
tributor include the following: Nemco Elec-
tronics, Tantalum Capacitors; Y.S Tech,
AC/DC fans and accessories; Para Light,
LEDs; Meritek Electronics, wide variety of
discrete components; Emerging Display
Technologies Corp, LCD panel displays;
Mag Layers, varieties of discrete magnetic
components; Xmultiple, connectors and
other components; TGS, crystal oscillators
and SAW devices; and Comchip, diode and
transistor products.
www.chip-1.com
Franchise Deal for Nine Manufacturers
GvA Leistungselektronik GmbH | Boehringer Straße 10 - 12 | D-68307 Mannheim
Phone +49 (0) 621/7 89 92-0 | www.gva-leistungselektronik.de | info@gva-leistungselektronik.de
Welcome to the House of Competence.
THE SOLUTION: heat sinks by MeccAL
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DETAIL!
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Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
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NEWS
At the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy
Systems ISE in Freiburg, scientists devel-
oped a highly efficient system to inductively
charge electric vehicles. The wireless energy
transfer to the car battery is carried out by
means of an electromagnetic field between
two coils: one installed in the car and a sec-
ond, stationary coil integrated into the street
or the parking place. A cable connecting the
charging station and the electric vehicle is
no longer necessary with this system. The
first prototypes of the wireless charging sys-
tem prove to be very efficient: An efficiency
of 97.4 percent was achieved for the induc-
tive power transmission at a coil distance of
13 cm. The transmitted power reaches up to
22 kW. All of the necessary power electron-
ics for wireless energy transfer, the coil sys-
tem and the control technology were devel-
oped and constructed at Fraunhofer ISE
within the framework of the Fraunhofer proj-
ect “Shared use of e-mobility: vehicles, data
and infrastructure“, or GeMo for short in Ger-
man. Among other things, the scientists in
Freiburg have developed a resonant power
converter. With a resonance circuit and a
stationary coil, this device creates a high fre-
quency magnetic field which transfers the
power to the mobile coil located in the elec-
tric vehicle. Another converter reshapes the
high frequency current of the coil into direct
current for charging the battery. The focus
was to optimize all sequences in the induc-
tive charging process chain. By employing
new semiconductor devices made from sili-
con carbide (SiC), the efficiency of the vari-
ous power converters used in the charging
system could be increased greatly.
www.ise.fraunhofer.de
www.ise.fraunhofer.de
High Efficiency Inductive Charger for Electric Vehicles
Having just staged its’ ninth event, and following the great success
achieved in 2012, Power Fortronic, promoted by Assodel (Italian
Association of Electronics Suppliers), is now acknowledged as the
Italian point of reference in the power electronics market.
The 2013 event will represent an important opportunity for meeting
manufacturers, suppliers and customers and to contact engineers,
designers and buyers, all in a single day, with maximum efficiency in
terms of time and investment.
A day of meetings and conferences focused on contents and techno-
logical updates, corporate events (workshops and tutorials), business
and relationships amongst companies. All this is in order to provide
technology upgrades and product news and, above all, to create
business partnerships.
Conferences, coordinated by Franco Musiari, Technical Director of
Assodel, will focus on the important theme of efficiency, which repre-
sents nowadays a key word in electronics market:
• Very High Power: high power systems as inverter, industrial UPS,
industrial control
• New Technologies: analysis and comparison of new solutions’ ben-
efits in order to consider potential applications
• Power Management: smart applications’ evolution
In the afternoon, there will take place hi-tech seminars dedicated
both to the depth required by a single company as well as to transfer
the practical-didactic skills to participants. Furthermore a community
and solutions area, will create a meeting point for people from both
the supply and design communities.
www.fortronic.it
POWER FORTRONIC Bologna, 19th of September 2013
Alpha, the world leader in the production of electronic soldering
materials, will attend SMTA Philadelphia and present a technical
paper covering the compatibility of conformal coating with no-clean
fluxes. Alpha is the sponsor of the Technical Conference at this
event.
"Conformal coating has been an area of high interest in high reliabili-
ty applications including automotive, aerospace, medical and military
electronics. The Philadelphia SMTA has a high number of members
specializing in these areas, so hopefully the data will be valuable to
those who attend,” said Mitch Holtzer, Alpha’s Director of Assembly
Materials R&D.
All SMTA Philadelphia attendees should also plan to visit the Alpha
booth where they can learn about the latest Alpha assembly materi-
als product technologies, and Alpha’s new technologies for the LED
and Power Electronics markets.
www.smta.org
www.alpha.alent.com
Alpha to Attend SMTA Philadelphia Expo & Tech Forum,
August 15th, 2013
Vincotech is extending its reach in Japan and reinforcing the Asian
sales team with an additional Manager FAE for Japan. This move,
aimed to more effectively tap the potential of the fast growing Japan-
ese photovoltaic market, will further enhance Vincotech’s strong posi-
tion as a global market leader for power modules designed for solar
inverter applications.
"Expanding the Asian sales force by employing Mr. Toru Matsuoka as
our new Manager FAE for Japan is another major stride in Vin-
cotech’s resolute campaign to penetrate the Japanese market. With a
world-class offering, several new products on the horizon, and excel-
lent new staff joining our team, we are well prepared to better pin-
point and capitalize on the tremendous new business opportunities in
the Japanese photovoltaic market," notes Eckart Seitter, Senior Vice
President Global Sales & Marketing at Vincotech.
www.vincotech.com
Representative has Set Shop in Fukuoka, Japan
www.infineon.com/econopack-d-series
EconoPACK™ + ‚Best in class‘ for wind
Highest Power Density tailor-made for Wind Inverter Applications
The new FS500R17OE4DP completes the state-of-the-art, compact package EconoPACK™ +
D-Series in 1700 V with IGBT4.
The FS500R17OE4DP combines with the rugged package design, the high power cycle capa-
bility of IGBT4, the reinforced diode and the excellent thermal behavior of the pre-applied
Infineon Thermal Interface Material (TIM) the features to fulfill the wind application lifetime
requirements.
The main features of the FS500R17OE4DP:
■ Highest power density in this package
■ Rugged package design of EconoPACK™ + D-series
■ State-of-the-art IGBT4
■ Reinforced diode for generator operation
■ Pre-applied Infineon TIM
The EconoPACK™ + key benefits:
■ Improved lifetime
■ High reliability and rugged design
■ Reliable and solderless PressFIT contacts
■ Long-term and stable thermal performance
■ Compact inverter design
■ Fit for the future and ready for next chip generations
Power Electronic Measurements (PEM) has launched its latest gen-
eration of Rogowski coils for non-contact current measurement,
designed specifically for monitoring today’s most advanced power
systems and semiconductors. The new CWT Ultra-mini probe offers
higher maximum frequency and increased stability over a wider oper-
ating temperature range.
The CWT Ultra-mini current transducer is a powerful development or
diagnostic instrument for examining switching waveforms, ripple cur-
rents, transients or harmonics. The extended temperature range of
-40°C to +125°C and improved temperature coefficient of 50ppm/°C
allow accurate measurement of semiconductors operating at
increased temperatures. In addition, the wider 3dB bandwidth of
30MHz enables engineers to analyse high-order harmonics in sys-
tems operating at high switching frequencies, or accurately monitor
switching waveforms with rapid rise-times.
The coil has a cross section of 1.6mm, allowing users to take meas-
urements at locations that are difficult to access. It can be positioned
between the pins of MOSFETs or IGBTs in packages such as TO-220
or TO-247.
The complete CWT Ultra-mini range comprises several variants suit-
able for measurements from as low as 1A to a maximum full-scale
current of 6000A. The new family also has enhanced transient
response, and can measure fast-changing currents up to 80kA/μs
and has a typical measurement accuracy: ±2%.
PEM has special expertise in wide-band Rogowski current probes,
which allow alternating current to be measured accurately by inte-
grating voltages induced in the coil when looped around a current-
carrying conductor. Since no electrical contact is required, this pro-
vides a convenient means of measuring current without effecting cir-
cuit performance. PEM’s clip-around coil design allows fast and easy
positioning, and provides accurate results without needing to be cen-
tralised around the conductor.
Further information can be found at:
www.pemuk.com/improved-cwt-ultra-mini.aspx
BLUE PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
Non-Contact Current Probes
Target Advanced Power Designs
Power Your Recognition Instantly
Based in Munich, Germany, ITPR Information-Travels Public Relations is a full-service consultancy
with over a decade of experience in the electronics sector.
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Tel ++49 (89) 898687-20, Fax ++49 (89) 898687-21,
electronics@information-travels.com
www.information-travels.com
12
Drive happy while staying cool
Reliable power density for
tomorrow’s vehicles
MAKING MODERN LIVING POSSIBLE
It cannot be stressed enough: efficient cooling is the
most important feature in power modules. Danfoss
Silicon Power’s cutting-edge ShowerPower® solution
is designed to secure an even cooling across base
plates. In addition, our modules can be customized to
meet your automation requirements in detail, offering
low weight, compact design, extended life and
very low lifecycle costs. In short, when you choose
Danfoss Silicon Power as your supplier you choose a
thoroughly tested solution with unsurpassed power
density.
Please go to powermodules.danfoss.com for more
information.
powermodules.danfoss.com
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
Focusing on improving output efficiencies for Class D “switching”
amplifiers used to drive brush-type motors, Apex Microtechnology,
Inc, has introduced the SA160DP.
Designed as a complete H-bridge solution, the SA160DP features a
very low RDS(ON) of 140mÙ (typical) over the full operating temper-
ature range of -40°C to +85°C. This results in nearly 50 percent less
heat dissipation in comparison to the closest competition – also an
Apex PWM amplifier, the SA60.
“The SA160DP raises the performance level for single-packaged,
small-foot print amplifier solutions capable of driving brushless
motors in the 1-2HP range, “explains Jens
Eltze, Technical Marketing Engineer. “The
SA160DP sends up to 800 watts of power to
the load with 97 percent output efficiency
using its combination of 80 volt supply oper-
ation and 10 amps of output current. An
even higher 1.2 kilo watt of power is possible
with the 14 amp rated A Grade model.”
The PWM switching signal for both the
SA160DP and SA160DPA can be internally
generated, and is programmable up to
125kHz using an external integrator capaci-
tor. Both devices can also be controlled by
external switching signals up to 250kHz.
Smart low-side and high-side drive circuitry
is self-contained.
For current users of the Apex SA60 who choose to upgrade their
next generation design to the SA160DP/SA160DPA, both devices are
drop-in, pin compatible replacements busing the same 12-pin Power-
SIP “DP” style package. This Power SIP is isolated to allow direct
heat sinking and offers space-efficient vertical mounting possibilities
to provide a footprint measuring less than 0.3 inches square. An
alternative “EE” package style features 90° bent leads for mounting
situations where the PCB and heatsink are in parallel.
Pricing, Availability and Evaluation Tools
Both the SA160DP and SA160DPA are available in sample quantities
for evaluation and prototyping, as well as volume production. Per unit
pricing for the SA160DP is $120.80 in 1,000 quantities and $172.56
for the SA160DPA. EK-SA160DP is the new microcontroller-based
evaluation kit currently in development for the SA160DP/SA160DPA
and it includes a demonstration board, heatsink and all necessary
hardware to provide out-of-the-box functionality for quick and immedi-
ate evaluation. Contact Complete product information is online at
www.apexanalog.com. For technical support, contact Apex applica-
tions engineering at 800-546-2739, or
apex.support@apexanalog.com.
Apex Microtechnology is an industry leader in high power analog
components, designed to meet the performance and cost design tar-
gets of our customers’ precision control applications. Apex Microtech-
nology is headquartered in Tucson, AZ, USA. More information about
Apex Microtechnology is available at:
www.apexanalog.com
PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
14
Class D Amplifier Improves
Power Delivery Efficiencies
Two-Fold For Driving Brush-
Type Motors
Provides Lowest RDS(ON) While Increasing Output Efficiencies For
Next Generation Designs
COMPARISONS
are always
interesting!
Welcome to the House of Competence.
MODIS – the modular inverter system
Thanks to its modular and flexible design, MODIS offers compelling benefits.
The desired power can be easily achieved via parallel connection of the
modules. You are also free to choose your preferred cooling type. And the use
of standard components makes MODIS both cost-efficient and sustainable.
Talk to the House of Competence, because MODIS fears no comparison.
Even with your current inverter systems, right?
•
IGBT classes: 1200V or 1700V, up to 1500A
•
Capacitance:
up to 8000μF per module
•
Parallel connection
•
Air- or water-cooling
engineered by
GvA Leistungselektronik GmbH | Boehringer Straße 10 - 12 | D-68307 Mannheim
Phone +49 (0) 621/7 89 92-0 | www.gva-leistungselektronik.de | info@gva-leistungselektronik.de
o-f.de
16
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
With MODIS, the new
Modular
Inverter
System, GvA Leistungselek-
tronik GmbH focuses on sustainable solutions with standardized and
cost-efficient inverters. The modular approach also provides the flexi-
bility required for diverse applications.
The company providing development and manufacture of customer-
specific power electronics based in Mannheim is marketing the new
state-of-the-art inverter system as an alternative to the standard vari-
ants available. The new system allows for the flexible configuration of
individual components within a modular system. Depending on the
total power requirements, the individual half-bridge modules are con-
nected in parallel thus ensuring scalability of MODIS in various rated
classes. Air or water cooling can be optionally selected. The use of
widely available standard components offers utmost sustainability -
future replacement of individual components is easy to implement. In
addition, the standardized components improve the economic effi-
ciency of the MODIS system.
MODIS technical data at a glance:
• IGBT module in PrimePACKTM housing
• IGBT voltage classes: 1200V or 1700V
• IGBT current classes: up to 1500A
• Capacitors: up to 8000μF per module
(expandable by an external capacitor bank)
• Modules offer parallel connectivity
• Air or water cooling
• Plug-and-play drivers (also available with Amantys
“Power InsightTM“; transmission and analysis of
IGBT operating data in real time)
Werner Bresch, Managing Director of GvA, is enthusiastic about
MODIS: “We presented MODIS at the PCIM in Nuremberg for the
first time and the feedback was overwhelming. Apparently, the modu-
lar concept meets expectations. Customers simply don’t want to buy
a black box but request flexibility and the possibility for the future
exchange of components. I am absolutely positive that MODIS will
become firmly established in the marketplace.”
Please find further information on MODIS under
www.gva-leistungselektronik.de
GREEN PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
Modular Inverter System
Scalability through parallel connection – one of the conceptual
approaches of MODIS.
Picture 2: The individual half-bridge modules of MODIS are optionally
available with air or water cooling.
18
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
If you condense the time that has gone by since the Earth was creat-
ed into a typical 24-hour day, man has only been around for about
the last 5 minutes. Sixty seconds ago, we stopped roaming through
forests and savannas as savage hordes and began cultivating crops
and breeding livestock. And for the last few seconds, we have been
driving cars. The world in which we now feel at home – holding a
smartphone in one hand and a latte macchiato in the other – has
existed for a mere fraction of a second since someone once said "Let
there be light".
And yet, the Earth has been shaped more in the last couple of sec-
onds than in the millions of years when dinosaurs were the dominat-
ing force – because only man is capable of changing the Earth
through the power of his intellect. And even he preferred to dwell in
caves for many millennia before the full power of the gray matter
behind his eyes was unleashed. Until then, cerebral activity was in a
deep slumber. Everything we currently know, however, could also be
learned by a baby transported from the Stone Age to the present day.
"Baby Flintstone" would have no problems at all growing up in Man-
hattan and would develop and progress every bit as well as Brad Pitt
and Angelina Jolie's children.
Acquiring all of this knowledge took time, though. Agricultural activi-
ties led to the first cities and the first written language, the Greeks
founded the first nation-state, and the Romans perfected public
administration before the world – at least as far as Europe was con-
cerned – was cast into the dark Middle Ages. But then, all of a sud-
den, at the dawn of the Renaissance period, as science started to
replace religion as a means of explaining worldly events, man trans-
formed like a phoenix rising from the ashes. From the arts and scien-
tific studies to philosophy and social systems, great achievements
were made in all disciplines, the effects of which are still present
today. How can this monumental transition be explained? Why is it
that after centuries of intellectual regress, the Age of Enlightenment
continued to gain momentum? Printing no doubt played a significant
role here. Whereas the majority of knowledge had been recorded by
monastic scribes well protected by thick monastery walls, information
was now readily accessible. The rising number of universities also
further drove the need to know "what holds the world together at its
innermost folds".
American author Steve Johnson, who delves into the correlations
between technical advancement and social development, puts forth
the charming theory that man entered a new era during this time
because coffee houses and cafés started becoming very popular in
Europe. There were several reasons for this. The boiled water used
to make coffee counteracted the dizzying effects of alcohol, which
had by then reached all ages and levels of society. Using plain water
to quench one's thirst was far too dangerous, since the high level of
bacteria it contained presented too much of a risk. Instead, people
preferred to simply keep sipping what was safe to drink and wait for
the synaptic gaps to close. Boiled water and the ritual of making
good coffee eventually went much further by virtually replacing a
depressant with a stimulant. The drunken ramblings of medieval tav-
erns became a thing of the past as coffee houses promoted the con-
cept of friendly socializing. Such formality was, of course, nothing
entirely new, since Roman senators and medieval dignitaries of the
church often spoke this way. The fact that this demeanor had pene-
trated so many disciplines and acted as a catalyst for instilling the
Renaissance spirit was groundbreaking, however. A culture formed
that gave rise to ideas and allowed them to spread and develop fur-
ther through conversation.
And conversation is, of course, the perfect greenhouse for new
ideas. People are social beings; solitary "Eureka!" moments are few
and far between. If we want to aspire to new heights, communication
is the key! Talking is not a waste of time, but an inspiration. We
"modern" people are in search of such dialog more than ever. As we
continually expand our use of multimedia communication tools to net-
work, we become more aware of the fact that the most rewarding
and efficient form of communicating is the one-on-one discussion.
I am, therefore, very pleased and excited to invite you to SPS IPC
Drives 2013 in Nuremberg. Although November is a few months
away, preparations are already in full swing while the companies that
will be exhibiting are busy refining their latest ideas. On the comput-
er, on the work bench, and in expert discussion panels. Travel
arrangements are being coordinated and the finishing touches added
to presentations and exhibits. All of this time and effort are being
expended so that visitors, of whom well over 50,000 are anticipated,
will have the opportunity to interface directly with suppliers. Quantity
is not the focus, however, but personal interaction.
If you use the time comparison introduced earlier and view one year
of working as a single hour, visiting SPS IPC Drives takes no more
than a few seconds. What a difference such minimal investment can
make here, too!
I look forward to seeing you in Nuremberg!
www.mesago.de
GUEST EDITORIAL
It All Started in a Coffee Shop
By Johann Thoma, President, Mesago Messe Frankfurt
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
20
SEMICONDUCTORS
Semiconductor makers’
inventory in the first
quarter declined to $
37.6 billion, down 4.6
percent from $ 38.4 bil-
lion in the fourth quarter
of 2012, so IHS. The
decline in inventory paralleled the contrac-
tion in semiconductor revenues, which fell
5.1 percent sequentially, following the normal
seasonal demand pattern.
EURIPIDES² has been awarded the EURE-
KA label in Ankara during the EUREKA High
Level Group which closes the one year Turk-
ish Chairmanship of this initiative. 18 EURE-
KA member countries have given their
approval of this new program dedicated to
smart electronic systems. EURIPIDES² will
run until 2020 for an estimated total cost
worth € 800 M. This outstanding support is
50 percent more than the initial label
achieved in 2007. The new strategy will
highlight heterogeneous electronic products
integration, advanced smart sensors and
power electronics but also on the promising
enmeshed and implanted systems. The
EURIPIDES² cluster aims to support cooper-
ative industrial R&D from design to process
and manufacturing in the crucial domain of
smart electronic systems integration in aero-
space, automotive, energy, health care,
transport, and in all new domains like smart
cities, mobility and security.
The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP)
announced that Intel has joined the A4WP
with a board of director’s seat. Intel joins
existing A4WP board member companies
including Broadcom, Gill Industries, IDT,
Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, and Sam-
sung Electro-Mechanics.
A4WP technology, which uses near-field
magnetic resonance technology, is capable
of enabling the simultaneous charging of
multiple devices. The Alliance for Wireless
Power is an international industry associa-
tion whose purpose is to create a wireless
power transfer (WPT) ecosystem that deliv-
ers spatial freedom in the user experience
and industrial design of wireless battery
charging of portable consumer electronics
devices, including smartphones, tablets, net-
books, laptops and more.
Texas Instruments outlined its long-term
strategy for manufacturing facilities in
Chengdu, China. Future plans include a new
assembly/test operation and the expansion
of its existing wafer fabrication factory. TI's
investments in these operations could total
up to $ 1.69 billion over the next 15 years
and potentially include facilities, manufactur-
ing equipment and land. TI has opened its
fab in Chengdu in 2010. This investment
plan does not change TI's 2013 capital
spending forecast. The company continues
to expect its capital spending levels to
remain about 4 percent of revenue until rev-
enue exceeds $ 18 billion.
Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing
equipment billings reached $ 7.31 billion in
the first quarter of 2013, so SEMI. The
billings figure is 8 percent higher than the
fourth quarter of 2012 and 32 percent lower
than the same quarter a year ago. In
Europe, semiconductor manufacturing equip-
ment billings reached $ 380 M, down 26 per-
cent from the previous quarter and down 54
percent from Q112. Worldwide semiconduc-
tor equipment bookings were $ 7.78 billion in
the first quarter of 2013.
The figure is 23 percent lower than the same
quarter a year ago and 14 percent higher
than the bookings figure for the fourth quar-
ter of 2012.
Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing
equipment spending is projected to total $
35.8 billion in 2013, a 5.5 percent decline
from 2012 spending, and total capital spend-
ing for equipment and new facilities will
decrease 3.5 percent to $ 56.7 billion, so
Gartner. The foundry segment will see an
increase in spending of about 14.3 percent
this year, while both integrated device manu-
facturers, and semiconductor assembly and
test services providers will show spending
declines.
PASSIVE COMPONENTS
Alps Electric has made an investment in
Qualtré, a USbased company founded in
2008. ALPS and Qualtré have engaged in
joint development of inertial sensors, used to
detect various kinds of motion, since 2008.
The $ 3 M strategic investment by the
Japanese group is intended to facilitate
Qualtré’s development and sales of these
sensors and to further enhance the range of
sensor products supplied by ALPS. Qualtré
uses bulk acoustic wave (BAW) MEMS sen-
sor technology to develop its inertial sen-
sors.
OTHER COMPONENTS
Zeiss, a German leader in the fields of optics
and optoelectronics, announced the planned
acquisition of Xradia, a US-based company
providing 3D X-ray microscopes for industrial
and academic research applications. After
closing, Xradia will operate under the new
name Carl Zeiss X-ray Microscopy. The
Microscopy business group at Zeiss has
around 2,800 employees and generates rev-
enue of € 650 M.
Robert Bosch and the Japanese companies
GS Yuasa International, an established man-
ufacturer of automotive and non-automotive
lithium-ion battery cells, and Mitsubishi have
agreed to work together on the next genera-
tion of high-performance lithium-ion batter-
ies. These batteries are fundamental for
future forms of mobility, such as plug-in
hybrid or all-electric vehicles. The three com-
panies intend to set up a joint venture for
joint research and development, and to sup-
port their mother companies in sales and
marketing activities. Operations are planned
to start in the beginning of 2014.
The headquarters will be Stuttgart/Germany.
Bosch intends to hold a 50 percent stake in
the joint venture, with GS Yuasa and Mit-
subishi Corporation each holding 25 percent.
DISTRIBUTION
Conrad, a German electronics distributor,
has increased its focus and service offering
to the Italian market with the opening of a
new headquarters close to Milan and the
launch of a dedicated Italian website.
This is the comprehensive power related
extract from the «Electronics Industry
Digest», the successor of The Lennox
Report. For a full subscription of the report
contact: eid@europartners.eu.com
or by fax 44/1494 563503.
www.europartners.eu.com
MARKET
ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY DIGEST
By Aubrey Dunford, Europartners
messe münchen
november 12 – 15, 2013
www.productronica.com
20th international trade fair for
innovative electronics production
for electronic manufacturing
more information
www.productronica.com/en/2013
The first-annual Darnell’s Energy Summit (DES ’13) will be a com-
bined event featuring the Tenth Darnell Power Forum (DPF '13, for-
merly called the Digital Power Forum) + the Fifth Green Building
Power Forum (GBPF '13) + the Fourth Smart Grid Electronics Forum
(SGEF '13). To be hosted in Richardson, Texas, September 9-13,
DES ’13 will bring together thought leaders from all areas of power
electronics to discuss leading-edge technologies and future trends.
http://energysummit.darnell.com
"With a single registration, you can attend any sessions of interest
during these simultaneous leading-edge events," stated Jeff Shepard,
President of Darnell Group. "Plus you'll have access to the combined
Exhibit Hall and will have an opportunity to network with an outstand-
ing group of international experts in a wide range of power electron-
ics, DC building power, and smart grid technologies," Shepard con-
cluded.
For example, in the area of advanced semiconductor materials,
Bodo‘s Power Systems will chair multiple sessions including the fol-
lowing papers: “GaAs-based PowerStage Module Enables Disruptive
Power Densities,” presented by Greg Miller with Sarda Technologies.
“Silicon Carbide MOSFETs Provide Simple, Rugged, Low Cost Solu-
tions to High Voltage Auxiliary Power Supplies,” presented by Paul
Kierstead with Cree, Inc. “Improving eGaN® FET Performance
through PCB Layout Optimization,” presented by David Reusch with
Efficient Power Corp. “The Impact of GaN FETs on the Future of
Energy and Power Conversion” presented by, Eric Persson with
International Rectifier. Plus several more papers by industry experts
in GaN and SiC, and a Roundtable Discussion Panel.
DES ’13 will start off with an aspirational and inspirational Keynote
Address by Scott Barbour, Executive Vice President, Emerson and
Business Leader, Emerson Network Power. Mr. Barbour will present
his vision of: “The Evolution of Energy Management.”
“We demand all information on every device we own, everywhere we
go. Fast. To accommodate, industries are not only demanding more
power than ever, but they are seeking new levels of efficiency in the
power chain and new, more environmentally responsible sources of
generation,” Mr. Barbour observed. “Once disparate industries from
IT to telecommunications to content delivery, are converging at
record pace. Energy delivery and management, too, has become a
melting pot. Both AC and DC power are viable options in facilities of
all types and are bringing new energy-saving possibilities to micro
grids. And the intelligence to see and control that energy use doesn’t
stop at the outlet. Smart Grid innovations are magnifying the energy
savings made possible by the visibility and control now possible with-
in a building’s walls. This Keynote will look at today’s rapidly chang-
ing energy management landscape and provide a glimpse into what
may come next,” Barbour concluded.
Directly following the Keynote, the Plenary Session will feature these
outstanding presentations:
• “Enernet - The Big Picture,” Brian Patterson, Chairman, EMerge
Alliance and General Manager, Armstrong World Industries. This
presentation will describe the progress toward the creation of a
true energy network or "Enernet." The network is envisioned to be
the electric power corollary to the Internet. Made up of intercon-
nected layers of grids and micro-grids, it will do for power what the
Internet did for data, this is, making it a true "distributed system" by
giving every node in the power network the capability of being both
a source and/or a load in power terms. The presentation will give
insight as to the overall topology of the network as well as key
changes to the existing grid and building level distribution of elec-
tric power necessary to accomplish this undertaking, including the
dramatic expansion of the use of dc power therein.
• “IEEE's DC in the Home Investigation Project Accomplishments
and Future Goals,” Doug Houseman, EnerNex, VP of Technical
Innovation, Vice Chair of the IEEE PES - Intelligent Grid Coordi-
nating Committee, and Founding Member of the IEEE DC in the
Home initiative. In June 2013 the IEEE Standards Association
(IEEE-SA) approved a research project into the future of DC in the
Home and what the IEEE collectively needs to do to support this
effort from new standards, to guidelines, building code support,
research initiatives, and encouragement to change/add new majors
to major research universities. This presentation will bring people
up to speed on the activities, the timelines, work to date, and how
to become involved in this project.
• “DC Microgrids - Challenges and Opportunities,” Kurt Yeager, Vice
Chairman of the Galvin Project, Inc. The term “microgrid” reflects a
new way of thinking about designing and building smart grids. The
microgrid approach focuses on creating a design and plan for local
energy delivery that meets the exact needs of the constituents
being served, whether a city, university, neighborhood, business
park, or major mixed use development. At the local level, smart
microgrids most efficiently and economically integrate consumers
and buildings with electricity distribution and generation. Through
smart microgrids, the economic and environmental benefits to con-
sumers of the smart grid transformation can be maximized.
• “GaN: Crushing Silicon One Application at a Time,” Alix Lidow,
CEO, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation. Enhancement mode
gallium-nitride transistors have been commercially available for
over four years and have infiltrated many applications previously
monopolized by the aging silicon power MOSFET. In this presen-
tation we will show the benefits derived from the latest generation
eGaN® FETs in new emerging applications such as Class – D
audio, LiDAR, wireless power transmission, and RF envelope
MARKET
22
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
Darnell’s Energy Summit =
GaN/SiC/GaAs + DC Micro Grids +
Digital Power + Smart Grid + More
By Richard Ruiz, Analyst, Darnell Group
tracking. We will also discuss the state-of-the-art and the expected
progress of the technology over the next few years. All cases sup-
port the rapidly evolving trend of conversion from power MOSFETs
to gallium-nitride transistors.
• “Future Opportunities for Maximizing Efficiencies through
Advanced Digital Power Control and Management,” Randy Malik,
IBM Distinguished Inventor, IBM. The use of digital power manage-
ment can provide significant energy savings in facilities such as
data centers. Using a combination of digitally-controlled power con-
verters from the uninterruptible power supplies that provide back-
up power to the board-mounted dc-dc converters that power indi-
vidual subsystems in each server, and integrating digital control of
the local cooling infrastructure, it is possible to reduce costs and
improve the performance of data centers. Future implementations
will provide increased intelligence and increased granularity of
real-time digital control that will both enhance the availability of
these facilities and reduce operating costs even more.
Of course, the DPF component at DES ‘13 will include many papers
with practical, leading-edge information for digital power implementa-
tions. Some examples of the digital power papers that will be pre-
sented include: “High-Performance Isolated DC-DC Converter Imple-
mentation Using Digital Control,” “Short-Cutting the Digital Converter
Design Process with Advanced Control Methods,” “Digital Control: An
Essential Ingredient for Solid State Lighting,” “I2C™ Physical Layer,
the Basis for SMBus and PMBus™,” “Implementing Adaptive Algo-
rithms for Enhanced Efficiency in Fully Digital-Controlled AC-DC
Power Supplies,” “Advanced Components and Digital Power,”
“Dynamic Performances Comparison of Digital Feed-forward Controls
for Input Voltage Transience,” and more!
Each of the individual constituent events, DPF ’13, GBPF ’13, and
SGEF ’13, will maintain its unique identity and will continue to serve
different groups of stakeholders. These co-located events will bring
together thought leaders across the areas of advanced power elec-
tronics, energy management, micro grids, the smart grid, and related
topics of global importance. DES ’13 will leverage the successful
track records of the separate events to create powerful opportunities
for synergy.
DPF '13 will again be an exciting international event that focuses on
"advanced power conversion technologies" needed for the successful
development of next-generation power systems. There is tremendous
synergy possible from discussions broadly focused on power man-
agement, energy efficiency, advanced components, energy storage,
new power architectures, and more. DPF is a solutions-oriented
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24
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
In this article we highlight the features making the IGCT so attractive
for high power applications and we discuss the developments that
will further strengthen the IGCT’s advantages in high power applica-
tions.
IGCT Features
The IGCT design offers a number of outstanding features. Some of
the product features, their impact on the equipment design and the
resulting customer benefits are discussed in the following.
Available as asymmetric and reverse conducting
(with integrated diode)
ABB offers two different types of IGCTs: the asymmetric and the
reverse conducting (RC).
The asymmetric IGCT offers highest power levels. It is available as
standard asymmetric IGCT and as the newer HPT-IGCT with
improved turn-off capability. Applying asymmetric IGCTs allows
choosing optimized free-wheel diodes as for instances ABBs new
IGCT diodes as presented in Bodo’s Power Systems, issue May
2012.
The RC-IGCT features a monolithically integrated free-wheel diode
and therefore enables very compact stack designs. The RC-IGCT
has been designed aiming for good performance in drive applica-
tions with moderate regeneration to the grid.
Voltage ratings 4,500 up to 6,500 V with current ratings
of 520 up to 5,000 A of peak turn-off current
ABB’s IGCTs are available with different voltage ratings. The 4,500 V
and 5,500 V devices are perfectly well suited for 3-level inverters tar-
geting the standard line voltages 3,300 V and 4,160 V (Table 1). The
availability of different IGCT sizes allows drive manufacturers to offer
inverter families covering a certain power range just by choosing the
corresponding IGCT.
Inverter output powers of up to 8 MW can be realized with 2-level
inverters utilizing the large asymmetric 4.5 kV HPT-IGCT (91 millime-
ter wafer diameter) as shown in Figure 2. The flattening of the curves
for the non-HPT devices towards lower frequencies is due to save
operating area (SOA) limitations. 3-level inverters even achieve
power levels that are about twice the power of 2-level inverters.
Accordingly, converters rated 10 MW and beyond can be realized
without the need of paralleling and/or series connection of devices.
Integrated gate unit - critical to device performance
The gate driving circuit, commonly called gate unit, is critical for the
device performance and is therefore an integral part of the IGCT.
There is no need to externally source a gate unit which even might
compromise the device performance. The IGCT only needs a power
supply and two optical fibers for the control and can be considered
plug-and-play, although it may be a bit unusual to describe a MW-
device in this way.
COVER STORY
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
IGCTs: Benchmark
Performance with Developments
on Many Fronts
The Integrated Gate-Commutated Thyristor (IGCT) was introduced about 15 years ago
and has established itself as a preferred solution for a number of high power electronics
applications. These applications have in common that the rated power level is in the
megawatts (MW) and they range from industrial drives and track-side supplies to power
quality and high-current breakers.
By Martin Arnold, Björn Backlund, Munaf Rahimo and Tobias Wikström
ABB Switzerland Ltd, Semiconductors.
Figure 1: The IGCT product family
Table 1 — Preferred blocking voltage ratings for high power semicon-
ductors used in 3-level voltage source inverters (VSIs).
Low on-state losses
Due to its design the unirradiated IGCT has a very low on-state volt-
age drop and therefore very low on-state losses. This makes the
IGCT very well suited for a number of static and hybrid breaker appli-
cations as well as an interesting alternative for high power multi-level
converters. Traditional applications, however, require a trade-off
between on-state losses and turn-off losses. The relationship
between on-state and turn-off losses is determined by irradiation of
the GCT wafer. ABB offers IGCTs with low on-state losses, with low
turn-off losses as well as with a good trade-off between the two.
Press-pack design for efficient double sided cooling
The press-pack design of the IGCT has the advantage that the
device can be mounted directly between two heat-sinks and therefore
be efficiently cooled from both sides simultaneously. Further, there is
no need for thick layers of thermal compounds thus allowing for very
low thermal resistances in the cooling system. This directly translates
into very high power densities for the assembly and reduces the
space required for a converter of a given rating when compared with
assemblies using isolated power components.
Press-pack design for high load cycling capability
The hermetically sealed press-pack design of the IGCT has proven
its extraordinary load cycling capability and reliability in numerous
applications for years in the field. Consisting of only a few layers of
well-designed materials there are no issues with solder voids or bond
liftoffs as apparent in other packaging technologies. Proper coatings
and the used materials themselves assure that the mechanical wear
of the device due to temperature excursions when operating at inter-
mittent load are kept within reasonable limits. This makes the IGCT
well suited also in applications with severe conditions as experienced
in steel mills, mine hoists, marine drives and others.
Technology Outlook
To improve the IGCT performance in existing applications and to bring
about further opportunities a number of developments are in progress.
We will take a closer look at some of these development activities and
see what the benefits of these new developments will be.
Increased junction temperature
A possible way to increase the output power of an existing converter
design is to increase the temperature rating of the used power semi-
conductors. For continuous operation the cooling system may set a
limit for the additional losses that result from the increased tempera-
ture. For intermittent operation though, the temperature increase is a
valid option. This since the increase in average power, and through
that the requirements on the cooling system, is limited. Important is
that the semiconductor can handle a high load for a limited amount of
time and by this avoids to step up in converter size.
To achieve such a high load capability, a number of improvements to
the HPT-IGCT are being implemented with a targeted operating tem-
perature increase from 125 °C to 140 °C. In the silicon the corru-
gated p-base doping profiles introduced in the HPT-IGCT have been
optimized to allow for full SOA exploitation over the whole tempera-
ture range from 0 °C to 140 °C. Further, also internal interfaces like
the metallization on the wafer have been improved to achieve a high-
er thermo-mechanical wear resistance. These measures allow for the
higher temperature excursions of the device under intermittent opera-
tion at 140 °C. The verification of these improvements has started
and the first results look very promising.
The reverse blocking IGCT
Certain AC applications and current source inverters (CSIs) require a
switching device that is symmetrically blocking. Although this could
be realized by using an asymmetric IGCT connected in series with a
fast diode, the preferred solution is a symmetric IGCT. Since the per-
formance requirements and some modes of operation of symmetric
IGCTs considerably differ from asymmetric IGCTs, there is quite
much learning needed for their realization. ABB has taken the chal-
lenge and realized the first symmetric IGCTs that are undergoing
extensive testing. A new product lineup is planned with a voltage rat-
ing of 6,500 V, ideally suited for a 2,300 V line voltage as per table 2.
The 150 mm IGCT
The quest for ever-growing power ratings makes the option of
expanding into larger silicon diameters viable. The ABB HPT-technol-
ogy’s improved scalability combined with the advances in bipolar
technology towards larger silicon wafer sizes enables the design of
devices beyond the standard 91 mm wafer sizes. Phase control
thyristors with a wafer size of 150 millimeters have been around for
some time and based on their manufacturing capabilities first 150
mm reverse conducting 4,500 V HPT-IGCT prototypes have recently
been manufactured and a prototype with gate unit is shown in figure 3.
First 4,500 V samples have been tested and show good turn-off
capabilities (Figure 4) which gives a strong indication that the wafer,
housing and gate unit have the targeted performance in respect to
uniformity and absolute inductance.
COVER STORY
25
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
Figure 2: Achievable output powers of a 2-level inverter using ABB
IGCTs
Table 2: Preferred blocking voltage ratings for high power semicon-
ductors used in current source inverters (CSIs)
Figure 3: 150mm 4,500 V RC-IGCT (Prototype)
26
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
With this RC-IGCT, it will be possible to realize 3-level inverters of up
to about 20 MW without the need for series or parallel connection of
power semiconductors. There is though still some work to be done
before the device will be released. The final package design and the
gate unit are still to be finished and the best IGCT versus diode area
ratio to be determined. And finally, prior to sampling, extensive elec-
trical and environmental qualifications lie ahead.
The 1 V initiative
Today, there is a clear trend towards multi-level topologies in many
power electronics applications. Multi-level converters are operating at
fairly low switching frequencies but at the same time they require
high current carrying capabilities and/or high efficiency. Due to the
IGCT’s inherent low conduction loss thyristor properties and the hard
switched functionality the IGCT is predestined for such applications.
Figure 5 shows how a 4,500 V, 91 mm IGCT can be tuned to differ-
ent application requirements and compares with a corresponding
state-of-the-art IGBT press-pack module.
Since there is a certain amount of freedom in selecting the device
voltage for a multilevel system a number of simulations and experi-
ments have been performed to see what performance can be
achieved with the goal of approaching an on-state voltage drop of
1 V. The results are summarized in figure 6 and show designers how
multi-level converters can be optimized with respect to minimum total
inverter losses for a given topology, system voltage and current level.
Increased voltage ratings
From table 1 it can be seen that 3-level inverters for line voltages of 6
to 7.2 kV without series connected IGCTs would be possible if IGCT
voltage ratings of up to 10 kV were available.
A 10 kV IGCT prototype has been produced to prove that IGCTs with
higher voltage ratings are possi-ble and its turn-off wave form is
shown in figure 7. Since the high blocking voltage requires quite thick
silicon which translates into fairly high switching and conduction loss-
es, these devices target applications as drives for machines with
moderate speeds.
www.abb.com/semiconductors
COVER STORY
Figure 4: Turn-off wave form for the 150 mm 4.5kV RC-IGCT at IT =
7.2 kA and VDC = 2.8 kV
Figure 5 — Trade-off between conduction losses and turn-off losses
for differently tuned 91 mm IGCTs compared with a press-pack IGBT
module at IT = 2 kA, VDC = 2.8 kV, Tj = 125 °C.
Figure 6 — Simulated technology curves for different IGCT voltage
ratings approaching the 1 V on-state voltage drop goal.
Figure 7 — Turn-off wave form of a 91 mm 10 kV asymmetric IGCT
at IT = 3.3 kA and VDC = 6 kV.
28
Fairly unusually this summer, the sun shone on the 22nd edition of
the Intersolar trade show that took place in Munich from 19th to 21st
of June, 2013. With about 35 °C this was one of the hottest shows
ever held. However, the bright sun could not hide the fact that the
industry is suffering, especially in Europe. Some 50,000 visitors from
more than 150 countries flocked to Intersolar Europe 2013 at Messe
München. A total of 1,330 exhibitors (2012: 1.870) from 47 different
nations (2012: 48) presented technologies and services in the fields
of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage sys-
tems and solar thermal technologies in 12 exhibition halls and an out-
door exhibition area, together 121,000 m² (2012: 171.600 m²) of exhi-
bition space. This year, 53% of Intersolar Europe’s exhibitors came
from abroad. With 608 exhibitors present (2012: 870), Germany was
the best represented country, followed by China with 242 (2012:
385), Italy with 59 (2012: 78), Austria with 40 (2012: 46) and Spain
with 29 (2012: 45) companies. In terms of visitors, 44% made the
journey to Munich from outside Germany, beating last year’s figure.
In 2013, Intersolar Europe had a dedicated exhibition segment for
energy storage systems in hall B5, which attracted a lot of visitors. A
total of more than 200 exhibitors had registered for the area of ener-
gy storage systems, making Intersolar Europe the largest platform for
the combination of photovoltaics and energy storage systems world-
wide. The role of storage systems for on-site consumption and for the
grid integration of solar power was one of the exhibition’s, and the
conference’s core topics. This year, some 400 speakers and 2,000
attendees from all over the world participated in the Intersolar Europe
Conference and Side Events.
Finding new markets
On the way to find new markets, the industry is moving to a new
direction. Although the economic crisis and some excessive cuts in
funding have currently brought about a downward trend in the Euro-
pean solar market, and many manufacturers of solar cells and mod-
ules in particular are facing great challenges due to tough competi-
tion, demand is up in Asia and America. Some examples: In 2013,
experts are forecasting growth of around 30% relative to the previous
year for newly installed photovoltaic capacity in the USA, and over
50% for China, while in Japan the photovoltaic market is expected to
at least triple compared to 2012. The solar industry expects the newly
installed annual solar power capacity to increase from 31 GWp in the
year 2012 to around 50 GWp by 2015. This would mean more than a
doubling of the installed photovoltaic capacity around the world within
three years, to over 200GWp. In Germany, solar power already cov-
ers 5% of the electricity demand. The solar industry has set the tar-
get of increasing that share in Germany to at least 10% by 2020 and
at least 20% by 2030.
"More and more countries are recognizing the fact that there is no
alternative to a rapid expansion of solar power, and that this is signifi-
cantly less expensive than holding onto fossil and nuclear energy
sources. All around the world, the skyrocketing costs of climate
change and the costs of importing fossil fuels are driving this realiza-
tion home”, explains Carsten Körnig, Managing Director of BSW-
Solar, the German Solar Industry Association. The export quota of
German companies grew from 50% in the year 2010 to 60% in the
year 2012, and the industry association expects that it will continue to
grow within the next years.
Despite struggling companies: Germany is still strong…
One in ten people in Germany already produce solar power, and
more and more people are taking the “Energiewende”, Germany’s
energy turnaround, into their own hands. Today, already 8.5 million
people live in buildings that use their own solar power systems to
generate electricity or heat. The active use of solar power provides
greater independence from rising energy prices and additionally pre-
vents large amounts of carbon dioxide from being released into the
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Moving to a New Direction
The Photovoltaic market suffers in Europe but fares better in the
MENA region
What will the future bring for the solar industry? Definitely severe changes. Photovoltaic
will be an important pillar of our future energy supply, but on the way to this, the industry
has to face lots of challenges, especially in Europe. The trade show Intersolar Europe
2013 reflected the turbulences of the industry with fewer exhibitors and a smaller exhibi-
tion area.
By Marisa Robles Consée, Corresponding Editor; Bodo’s Power Systems
Figure 1: Revenue forecast is for PV systems installed with energy
storage only. Source: IHS/Solar Promotion
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
29
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
environment. In the year 2013 alone, solar power systems installed in
Germany will achieve savings of around 24 million metric tons of car-
bon dioxide emissions.
In the past two years, solar power has played the leading role among
all other technologies in the German Energiewende. The past five
years have seen a virtual doubling of the number of people in Ger-
many who live in buildings supplied with heat or electricity from solar
power. "People support the Energiewende, and they are increasingly
taking it into their own hands. It’s now up to the politicians to res-
olutely move the Energiewende forward and to utilize the significant
readiness of citizens and entrepreneurs to invest in the transforma-
tion of the energy supply system," explains Carsten Körnig.
Focussing on Germany, Carsten Körnig is convinced that a “strong
domestic market is indispensable for a successful solar industry. Fol-
lowing federal elections, political stakeholders must therefore ensure
that renewable energy sources form the core of the energy supply
system, that their rapid expansion is once again given priority, and
that citizens and the industry have solid investment security."
…but MENA is getting stronger (soon)
The solar industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is
geared up for growth: By 2015, the regional market for photovoltaic
and solar thermal power plants is expected to grow to a total output
of 3.5 GW. Saudi Arabia in particular is planning to move away from
generating electricity using crude oil in favour of photovoltaic and
solar thermal technologies. A study conducted by GTM Research,
Boston, USA, puts this development down to high solar irradiation,
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rising electricity prices and requirements that arise from an increasing
population size. By 2017, the expansion of solar energy is expected
to exceed a combined output of 10GW in the MENA region. With a
share of 70%, the majority is set to be implemented in Saudi Arabia
and Turkey.
The sun also ranks among the most valuable resources in North
African countries. Egypt benefitted from crude oil exports in the
1990s; however, current reductions in yields produced by oil fields
and increasing energy subsidies are forcing the Egyptian government
to take action. In the financial year 2012/2013, subsidies reportedly
account for a quarter of the entire Egyptian state budget. As the
largest energy resource in the country, the sun offers an ideal alter-
native to dwindling oil and gas. Every year, each square meter in
Egypt receives more than 2,200kWh of solar energy. The Egyptian
Solar Energy Development Association (SEDA) in Cairo sees poten-
tial application areas for solar energy in the form of solar installations
for producing drinking water and intelligent lighting concepts for
hotels. In Morocco, solar plants with a combined output of 2GW are
set to be installed by 2020, which means that the share of renewable
energy in the Moroccan power grid could reach a total of 42%. Along-
side solar energy, wind energy and hydropower are also expected to
form part of this share. Under the supervision of MASEN (Moroccan
Agency for Solar Energy), the construction of a large, impressive
project has already begun in the Moroccan province of Ouarzazate,
which will be the world’s largest solar thermal power plant. A capacity
of 160MW will be installed in the initial expansion phase alone. Once
completed, the power plant will reach an output of 500MW.
Giants war
Solon, Q-Cells and now Conergy are insolvent, big companies like
Bosch or Siemens are closing their solar divisions. Last year Ger-
many installed more than 7,600MW photovoltaic output. This year
this will shrink to about 5,000MW of new installations. Germany will
remain as a big solar market with high potential growth, states
VDMA, the German Engineering Federation. But the turnover of man-
ufacturers of photovoltaic components, equipment and plants in Ger-
many has decreased by almost 50% in 2012 compared to the previ-
ous year reports VDMA. This means that times of rapid increase in
photovoltaic production capacities are definitely over. Already since
the end of 2011, the PV equipment industry has suffered from large
over capacities. This development continuously got worse in the
course of 2012.
"In addition to market turbulences we have to cope with continuing
trade conflicts in the solar sector. We clearly feel the uncertainty
which this development means for our clients. The willingness to
invest in newest machinery and production technology in order to
thus maintain their own competitiveness has considerably
decreased", explains Dr. Peter Fath, CEO of RCT Solutions and
Chairman of the Board of VDMA Photovoltaic Equipment.
The benchmark with their international market partners, however,
remains positive. With a share of 55% of the world market, German
companies could consequently expand their competitive position in
2012. "German PV manufacturers and technology suppliers continue
to benefit from being innovative, solution oriented and close to their
customers. When it comes to competitive capacities as well as to
replacement and upgrade of existing production capacities, top per-
formers choose "Made in Germany" relying on competitive cost struc-
tures and top quality", stresses Dr. Florian Wessendorf, Managing
Director of VDMA Photovoltaic Equipment.
That may be the reason why the PV-machinery industry is strongly
against anti-dumping measures. The European Commission has
decided to impose punitive tariffs of almost 12% on imported Chinese
solar modules and their core components (i. e. wafer and solar cells).
In the first instance these protective duties will be valid for two
months. During that time negotiations with China are intended in
order to find a solution. If that does not lead to satisfying results, then
import tariffs of 47.2% will come into effect in August 2013. This has
been passed although several member states, especially Germany
and Great Britain, have expressed serious concerns.
The manufacturers of components, machines and equipment of PV in
Germany strongly disapprove of these measures and fear an escala-
tion of the current trade conflicts. "We want to avoid a useless trade
conflict with one of the most important target markets of the machin-
ery industry and we have been supporting a more diplomatic solution
in Brussels until the very last minute", says Dr. Hannes Hesse, Exec-
utive Director of VDMA.
However, this is one of the most important decisions in the history of
the solar industry. Some say it will bring salvation, others fear it will
decimate the European solar market. Ironically, EU tariffs may help
some segments of China’s PV industry even in the short run. But
without cheap Chinese modules, European developers and installers
will be forced to look for new ways to cutting costs, and some may
turn to Chinese inverter makers – which have struggled in the EU,
and would not be covered by the tariffs – as part of the solution.
China will not stand by idly and watch while the Europeans are plan-
ning to impose anti-dumping duties on imported PV cells, wafers and
modules. The “Middle Kingdom” is also investigating countermea-
sures against polysilicon imports from the EU, US and South Korea.
China filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization charging the
European Union with violating rules governing subsidies to its solar-
components industry, in the latest move in a global spat over the
solar industry. China is complaining that power generated in Europe
using solar-energy components made in the EU receives a subsidy.
www.intersolar.de
RENEWABLE ENERGY
30
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
Figure 2: For the first time Intersolar 2013 had a dedicated exhibition
segment in hall B5 for energy storage systems, which attracted a lot
of visitors. Picture: Solar Promotion/Thorsten Jochim
32
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
The influence of a low inductive and symmetric concept on clean
switching is already shown in several publications [1] [2]. The design
of the internal conductors, the arrangement of the chips and the con-
nection of the internal conductors, either to the insulation ceramics or
to the external bus bar system, is highly contributing to the stray
inductance and to the symmetry of the module.
The best concept for a low inductive design is the use of half bridge
IGBT modules. They offer the possibility to keep the commutation
path between upper and lower switch very short by implementing
both switches on insulation ceramics with only internal, low inductive
connections.
Strip line design
The internal conductors from the outside terminals of the DC termi-
nals to the IGBTs and diodes are preferably designed as strip lines.
The inductance of two strip line conductors carries the same current
in opposite directions as shown in figure 1.
From the formula in figure 1 it seems to be very easy to generate a
low inductance design: keep the connectors short, make them very
wide and reduce the distance as much as possible. But there are
some constraints to be covered.
IGBT module size determines design layout
The stray inductance is mainly a function of the dimension of the
used conductor sheets. So the outside dimensions of the module
mainly determine the design of these parts. For ideal switching
behavior it is favorable to arrange all chips in a single row. In this
case the number of chips defines the width of the module. But in
reality this would lead to a very long narrow construction that will not
fit all requirements for a minimized system size. So the width of the
internal strip line is limited by the size of the paralleled dies.
For this study a chip layout was chosen, where a nominal current of
700 Amps for upper and lower system can be implemented. The
width of the module is approximately 80mm. If we take into account
that we need additional space for housing and clearance for assem-
bling, the maximum possible usable width is smaller than the module
width.
Especially with higher blocking voltages, e.g. 3300V and above, the
IGBT package has to fulfill the standards for clearance and creepage
distances. Within the IEC 60664-1 the required distances for insula-
tion coordination are described.
Minimum distances are depending on the voltage classification and
the housing material. A way to fulfill the creepage distances and mini-
mize the clearance between the terminals is the implementation of
grooves and a housing material with a high CTI. In this example a
minimum required creepage distance of 28mm leads to spacing
between the terminals of 14mm.
In our study we consider feeding the DC current into the middle of
the IGBT module. Driver mounting directly on the module offers the
possibility for a low inductive connection to the driver. For half
bridges with auxiliary collector contacts there are three different volt-
age levels on the driver board that require certain spacing. For maxi-
mizing the area for a driver board, it is favorable to move the DC ter-
minals to the edge of the power module and utilize the space in the
middle. Unfortunately this will increase the length of the internal con-
ductor. A possible solution is a sloped design. The length of the con-
ductors can be reduced compared to a solution with perpendicular
bends.
Distance between the conductors
To separate the potential between DC + and DC – conductors, an
insulation layer in between is needed. In order to achieve a low
inductance the thickness of this material has to be kept thin. One
possibility is the use of very thin heat resistant foils. With Polyimide
or Teflon foils a thickness of 0.2mm and less could be possible on
the basis of the insulation stability. The difficulty of using foils is the
manual assembly and the need to keep it safe in place. This is possi-
ble with insertion into an injection mold and embedding the conduc-
tors with plastic. The disadvantage is a costly process and possible
delamination in thermal cycling conditions.
IGBT MODULES
Implementation of Low
Inductive Strip Line Concept
in a IGBT Module
The low inductive strip line concept offers several benefits regarding the switching behav-
ior of IGBT modules. But for the implementation in real packages a lot of boundary con-
ditions have to be considered. The article describes a possible implementation of low
inductive strip line concept for symmetric switching in a new high power module
By Georg Borghoff, Infineon Technologies AG, Germany
Figure 1: Strip line concept, 2 metal sheets with opposite current flow
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IGBT MODULES
With conventional injection molded spacers a typical thickness of the
plastic material without having the risk of pin holes or other defects is
~1mm. In the overall design the effect of the thickness of the insula-
tion layer was calculated in simulations of different variants. The
result is shown figure 2.
For a 0.1mm foil the inductance could be as low as 5nH. Based on
the above described boundary conditions, the use of a plastic spacer
is preferred and leads to a stray inductance of approximately 7nH.
Connection to the chip
If we take a closer look to the connection of the conductors to the
ceramic substrates, unfortunately there is no way to connect in a
“line”. With a placement of the leads in between high side and low
side IGBTs there has to be a separate potential for the commutating
current. In figure 3 possible points for connections are shown.
Instead of using one single point, several connections as wide as
possible to the outside were made. Figure 3 shows on the left side
the IGBTs and diodes of the upper switch, on the right side the lower
switch. The red areas show the connections to the DC + conductor,
the blue areas determine the position of the DC – potential. The
white arrows describe the area where the commutation current is
flowing. The green areas show possible positions of the AC terminal.
Connection to the external bus bar system
Another important interface of the IGBT module is the connection to
the DC bus bar. The bus bar itself is an ideal strip line concept with
wide conducting plates and a thin insulation sheet. This concept has
to be given up at the connection points, especially when screw termi-
nals are used. These short interruptions of the strip line have a big
input on the overall outcome. For low and medium power devices the
connection to the DC link can be realized with press fit pins and a
PCB with reinforced copper layers. Paralleling with multiple connec-
tion points reduces inductance in this area.
In high current and high voltage applications the contacting of the
IGBT module to an external bus bar system is usually realized with
screws connections. The bus bar system is made of laminated metal
sheets of copper or aluminum. To realize a reliable connection with
little losses, screws are the most common connectors. They offer
high contact forces that reduce contact resistance. Furthermore, they
are easily available and can be assembled with standard equipment.
As shown above with press fit pins, also with screws the use of multi-
ple, paralleled connections reduce the negative effect of interruptions
to the stray inductance.
Conclusion
Also for high power modules with high blocking voltages and high
output currents a low inductive design with the strip line concept is
possible. Legal regulations and standards create several constraints
that do not allow the implementation of an ideal solution. But never-
theless, an IGBT study with a stray inductance of approximately 7nH
at a nominal current of 700A was realized. For future applications this
will enable the use of fast switching devices. With reduced switching
losses higher switching frequencies could be implemented.
The concept also allows an easy way to connect several IGBT mod-
ules in parallel with the use of one common DC bus bar (Figure 4). In
a 3-module parallel configuration this will lead to 2nH for a configura-
tion with a nominal output current of 2100A per system.
References
[1] R. Bayerer, D.Domes: Power circuit design for clean switching,
CIPS, 2010
[2] R. Bayerer, D.Domes: Power circuit design for clean switching,
ECPE, 2011
www.infineon.com
Figure 4: Triple paralleling of IGBT modules or possible
3 phase inverter design
Figure 2:
Module stray inductance as a function of insulation thickness
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
1,2
Ls [nH]
d [mm]
Figure 3: Half bridge layout with sketched up connection points
for the DC +/DC- terminals
36
Bodo´s Power Systems®
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AUTOMOTIVE POWER
With increasing electrification of major vehi-
cle functions such as electric power steering
(EPS), integrated starter/alternator (ISA)
and other high-power loads both in internal
combustion engine and hybrid-electric vehi-
cles, demand is growing for efficient and
durable semiconductor power switches for
loads above 10A. The electromagnetic relay
retains some advantages when used with
higher loads, due to its inherently low resist-
ance when turned on. This helps avoid
unwanted conduction losses that otherwise
would waste energy and cause internal
heating which compromises reliability.
In order to replace electromechanical relays
in high-current applications, a combination of
discrete low on-resistance MOSFETs and
separate driver IC can provide a better,
lower-power solution a fully integrated con-
troller.
Relay Replacement for High-Current loads
Ideally, a MOSFET with on-resistance
(RDS(ON)) of only a few milliohms, at logic-
level gate drive, is required. An even lower
overall resistance can be achieved by con-
necting two MOSFETs in parallel using a
control IC capable of driving a pair of MOS-
FET gates. The AUIRLS3034 and
AUIRLS3034-7P are 40V MOSFETs are
designed for high efficiency when controlling
heavy loads. They are packaged as D2Pak
or 7-pin D2Pak-7P surface-mount power
devices. The D2Pak-7P package enables
lower RDS(ON) by providing five pins for
connection to the source, complementing the
large exposed tab for connecting the drain. A
single pin is provided for the gate connec-
tion. The standard D2Pak has one pin for
connection to the source. Both devices use
IR’s latest trench HEXFET® semiconductor
technology. The package-limited maximum
drain current is 195A for D2Pak or 240A for
the AUIRLS3034-7P in D2Pak-7P.
Effective use of either of these devices for
relay replacement, or in battery switch appli-
cations, is dependent on a suitable con-
troller/driver providing the necessary protec-
tion and diagnostic capabilities. The
AUIR3200S automotive-qualified MOSFET
driver IC can drive two power MOSFETs
such as the AUIRLS3034-7P, thereby
enabling a protected high-side switch to
achieve RDS(ON) as low as 0.75mΩ.
Figure 1 shows the schematic of a high-side
switch configured with a single MOSFET.
Most of the circuitry needed for protection
and diagnostics is integrated in the controller,
which reduces external components to a
small number of bias resistors, a gate-drive
resistor, two capacitors, and a PTC (Positive
Temperature Coefficient) temperature sensor,
as shown.
Building a Protected High-Side Switch
Figure 2 shows the major functional blocks of
the control IC, highlighting the current-source
reference used for short-circuit protection.
Short-circuit Protection
Short-circuit protection is one of the most
important functions in a protected high-side
switch or battery switch. Usually this kind of
Designing-Out High-Power
Automotive Relays
The Last Frontier for Advanced Vehicle Electrification
The electromechanical relay – at one time the power switch of choice for all automotive
electrical systems – is progressively becoming replaced throughout the vehicle by lighter,
smaller, more reliable and longer lasting semiconductor switches. Advanced fabrication
processes such as BCDMOS, allowing power and logic circuitry to coexist on the same
chip, enable manufacturers to deliver controllers comprising one or more MOSFET
switches with an integrated driver as a single chip. These have already proved successful
in a variety of low-power applications.
By David Jacquinod, International Rectifier
Figure 1: Driver and discrete MOSFET for high-power automotive load switching.
37
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protection requires sensing of the load cur-
rent using a shunt resistor, which not only
produces undesirable power dissipation but
also requires an additional operational ampli-
fier. Technically, a current-sensing MOSFET
may be considered as an alternative, but this
also would impose power losses and in any
case no suitable devices are currently avail-
able in the market.
To overcome this, the AUIR3200S imple-
ments smart monitoring of the MOSFET
drain-source voltage. Since smart Vds moni-
toring is integrated in the controller, design-
ers have freedom to select the best MOS-
FET for their application. With smart Vds
monitoring, the controller is able to switch
off the MOSFET when Vds increases above
a threshold determined by the resistor Rvds
shown in figure 1. In order to maintain a
consistent over-current shutdown level over
the temperature range, the AUIR3200S fea-
tures an internal current-source reference,
highlighted in figure 2, which is designed to
have a temperature coefficient similar to the
RDS(ON) of a MOSFET. The programming
resistor Rvds allows the Vds protection
threshold to be adjusted according the appli-
cation requirement.
The short-circuit protection based on Vds
monitoring works only when the MOSFET is
turned fully on such that VDS = RDS(ON) x
IDS. During MOSFET turn on the Vds protec-
tion is blanked in order to avoid an unwanted
shutdown. The AUIR3200S has an integrated
bootstrap regulator, which maintains a fixed
voltage of 6V on the bootstrap capacitor
regardless of the battery voltage, to ensure
the MOSFET turn on can be completed
before the blanking time expires. As a rule
the bootstrap capacitor, Cboot in figure 1,
should be 10 times the MOSFET gate capac-
itance.
Over-Temperature Protection
In a typical application using a protected
switch, over-temperature protection is also
required. The AUIR3200S simplifies over-
temperature protection by providing a dedi-
cated pin as shown in figure 1 for connecting
an external PTC sensor. The PTC sensor
displays rapidly increasing resistance within
a few degrees of its nominal temperature,
allowing fast and accurate temperature pro-
tection.
Figure 3 shows how the PTC is implemented
in a practical circuit. It is mounted as close
as possible to the tab of the MOSFET to
ensure accurate sensing of the junction tem-
perature. Due to the low RDS(ON) of the
MOSFET, the junction temperature will
increase relatively slowly during an overload
condition. Hence the PTC temperature is
able to follow accurately with minimal lag.
The over-temperature protection can be
adjusted by selecting a PTC sensor having a
different temperature characteristic.
Diagnostic Reporting
In a protected switch application, the host
system must be informed whether the load
condition is normal, short circuit, or over-tem-
perature. The AUIR3200S provides a diag-
nostic indication by shorting the input pin to
ground during a fault condition. This allows
the system to detect abnormal load condi-
tions by monitoring the input pin voltage. The
fault condition is latched until the AUIR3200S
is deactivated allowing the device to enter
sleep mode.
Repetitive Short-Circuit Ruggedness
A high-side protected switch comprising the
AUIR3200S controller and AUIRL3034S
MOSFET has been tested under short-circuit
conditions according to AEC Q100-12, which
requires the MOSFET case temperature to
be fixed at 125°C by adjusting the activation
frequency. The switch was able to sustain 10
million cycles without failure.
Conclusion
Electrification of automotive systems such as
power steering can be enhanced by replac-
ing bulky and less reliable electromechanical
relays with alternative semiconductor switch-
es. Low RDS(ON) MOSFETs can be used to
overcome the last remaining barrier to relay
replacement by significantly reducing power
dissipation when the switch is turned on.
To use such devices successfully, designers
need an automotive-qualified driver that
integrates the necessary protection features
and diagnostic capability. The AUIR3200S is
a highly integrated driver capable of control-
ling two MOSFETs such as the
AUIRLS30304-7P connected in parallel, to
create a protected high-side switch of
extremely low resistance enabling efficient
and reliable control of high-power loads.
www.irf.com
Figure 2: Major internal functions of driver for protected high-side switch applications.
Figure 3:
Sample board showing position of the PTC
sensor for over-temperature protection.
AUTOMOTIVE POWER
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Today, engineers demand dc power supplies with output characteris-
tics that can be programmed for their ever-changing applications.
Functional relationships between voltage and current, time depend-
ent profiling, computer interfacing, higher bandwidth performance,
safe remote sensing, and a host of programmable
features, that were virtually impossible to imple-
ment without the programmability of today’s digital
devices, are needed to meet today’s demands.
Emphasis has changed from providing dc power
with control to providing control with dc power.
The physical properties of dc power supplies have
changed along with its features. Improvement in
electronic switch technology and resulting increas-
ing power processing speeds have allowed power
supplies to become smaller and more responsive to
load and line variations. New applications place power
supplies in abusive environments: tighter packaging in equipment
racks, utility trailers with poor air quality or with only water to remove
semiconductor power losses, or in other locations where power sup-
plies of the past could not effectively function.
Modulation to the Control Loop
About a decade ago, Magna-Power Electronics introduced a very
basic feature in its transition from analog to embedded microproces-
sor-based control: modulation [1]. Modulation allows a set point
adjustment of voltage or current by another input. Modulation signals
can be derived from an external device, such as a thermistor, or from
sampling output current or voltage. When used with software contain-
ing advanced numerical methods, feeding output voltage or current to
adjust set point current or voltage allows user defined output profiles.
Systems, incorporating this feature, introduce another negative feed-
back path with gain controlled by a user programmed attenuator.
Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of a power supply using voltage
control regulation with output current fed into the modulation input.
The closed loop system is configured to regulate output voltage
according to the output voltage of the D to A converter, Vx. Two
inputs are fed into the A to D converter, Vref and VMOD, and the
microprocessor can be programmed to produce an output voltage
dependent of these two inputs. Vref is a voltage reference input and
VMOD is the modulation input.
Modulation can be introduced into the control loop by adding a vari-
able to the set point or by multiplying a variable to the set point. Addi-
tive functions are useful for introducing series and parallel imped-
ances and multiplier functions are useful for adjusting voltage or cur-
rent sources. Table 1 describes the four alternatives: Control Input 1
and 2 for voltage and current control and Function Type 0 and 1 for
multiplier and additive functions, respectively.
SENSORS
Control Loop Modulation
Applied to Programmable DC
Power Supplies
Characteristics of laboratory quality, dc power supplies have changed greatly over the
past two decades. Application demands have moved from the ideal voltage source with
no series impedance or the ideal current source with infinite parallel impedance to user
programmable output characteristics; these new applications allow for power source
emulation with higher bandwidth and better response times. Box shaped voltage current
profiles controlled with two knobs, fold back limiting, crowbars, and over current tripping
are accepted as the most minimum requirements or they are now not needed at all.
By Ira J. Pitel and Adam Pitel, Magna-Power Electronics
Figure 1: Block Diagram of Power Supply Incorporating Modulation
Table 1: Modulation function types
Notes:
1) Vo is the adjusted output voltage as a function of the modulation operator
2) Io is the adjusted output current as a function of the modulation operator
3) Vref is the input voltage set point reference
4) Iref is the input current set point reference
5) VMOD is the input modulation set point voltage
6) Gv is the system gain as define by the full scale output voltage, Vofs,
divided by the maximum input voltage set point reference, Vrefm
7) Gi is the system gain as define by the full scale output current, Iofs,
divided by the maximum input current set point reference, Irefm
Control
Input
Function Type
0
1
1
2
Mod(VMOD), modulation, can be an expression, constant, or other
numerical operator. A user-friendly method chosen by Magna-Power
Electronics is a table-based algorithm using piecewise linear approxi-
mation. This numerical method allows linear or nonlinear modulation
to be introduced by defining constants in a table.
Table 2 and resulting curve Figure 2 illustrate a simple example of
Function Type 0 modulation as applied to a 100 V, 150 A power sup-
ply. In this example and the one illustrated in Figure 1, the power
supply is programmed to produce a constant power output. Current,
Io, is used as the programming operator for Mod. The method
requires Io to be monitored and applied to the programming or modu-
lation input, VMOD. As illustrated, VMOD is set to linearly respond to
current.
Multiply both sides of equation 1 by Io yields
where:
Vrefm: full scale input voltage set point reference,
Rx: transresistance of the current transducer.
5:
4:
3:
2:
1:
39
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SENSORS
Figure 2: Curve defined in Table 2
Table 2: Example modulation table (function type 0)
Row
VMOD
(Vdc)
Mod
Vo
(Vdc)
Io
(Adc)
Po
(W)
1
2
3
4
5
6
2.50
2.94
3.57
4.55
6.25
10.00
1.000
0.850
0.700
0.550
0.400
0.250
100.00
85.00
70.00
55.00
40.00
25.00
37.50
44.12
53.57
68.18
93.75
150.00
3750.00
3750.00
3750.00
3750.00
3750.00
3750.00
Piecewise linear approximation makes a continuous curve by interpo-
lating points on the curve between those programmed. For example,
Vo is 77.5 Vdc if the operating current is 48.85 Adc. Accuracy of the
approximation improves with more data points.
Challenges of Control Loop Modulation
Hardware Constraints
Modulation, as described above or by other similar means, allows
emulation of power sources such as photovoltaic cells, batteries, and
fuel cells. The dynamics of these applications require a frequency
response beyond that needed by conventional power supplies. Fur-
thermore, the embedded firmware must be capable of handling the
speed of the application. Together, a power supply designed to per-
form with high speed modulation will have different characteristics
than conventional power supplies.
A power supply designed to utilize modulation must have higher
bandwidths and tolerate higher slew rates; such power supplies must
incorporate higher bandwidth output filters. Output filters are required
to filter unwanted ac components produced in the power conversion
process, but with modulation or with other superimposed ac source
generation, signals beyond dc must be allowed to pass through the
output terminals of the power supply. Higher bandpass filters are
required for such applications and they must be designed to separate
wanted and unwanted power components. Higher bandwidth power
supplies generally have increased output voltage ripple. Increasing
the switching frequency of the power supply helps accomplish both
goals, but at the cost of increased switching loss.
In conventional applications, high-capacitance, low ESR, aluminum
electrolytic capacitors are the conventional components used at the
output terminals; these components provide a shunt path for high-fre-
quency harmonic currents. In higher bandwidth and high slew rate
applications, these components are subjected to greater voltage devi-
ations requiring higher power processing demands during charge and
discharge periods. Furthermore, the reliability of aluminum electrolytic
capacitors is greatly influenced by subjected ac currents. Lower
capacitance, high-performance film capacitors must be deployed to
circumvent these issues.
Higher bandwidth and high-slew rate operation also place higher
demands on protection of power semiconductor components. Simple
over current trip protection circuits are not suitable for this application
because the power supply must tolerate these rapid output changes.
To the power processing semiconductors, the load is both internal
and external to the power supply. The current required to charge and
discharge the output filter and external load capacitors must be taken
into consideration. Slew-rate must be limited to protect power pro-
cessing semiconductors.
Software Constraints
Introduction of modulation complicates the power supply’s control loop.
Normally, one parameter, output voltage or output current, is compared
against a reference and is adjusted to maintain an operating point
close to the reference. As shown in Figure 1, the system requires an
error amplifier and circuitry for closed loop compensation. If the gain of
the amplifier is too high or if the compensation is not properly
designed, the power supply will become unstable and oscillate.
Modulation adds a second parameter and an inherent lagging
response. At a specific operating point, the programming parameters
need to be analyzed digitally and applied to the modulation input.
Using fast digital signal processors, DSP’s, is required to minimize
delays and make calculations of these devices transparent.
Modulation can be programmed with gains of different magnitudes.
The gain for modulation can be defined as the change in Mod
between two rows of a table and will have stability issues similar to
the closed loop error amplifier. Forcing the power supply output to
make large changes between two operating points can cause an
unstable response. Slew rate limiting is an effective means for getting
around these constraints, but slew rating limiting has a negative
effect on the speed of response or the bandwidth of the system.
Leadless Remote Sensing
Positive Slope, Leadless Remote Sensing
Remote sensing is used to improve the degradation of regulation
which will occur at the load when the voltage drop in the connecting
wires is appreciable. Normally, this feature is accomplished through
the connection of sense leads connected directly to the load rather
than to the output terminals of the power supply. With these connec-
tions, the leads between the source and load are placed within the
control loop and the resulting voltage drop will be corrected along
with other parameters. The power supply must have sufficient output
voltage to support the output voltage plus the lead voltage within
specified tolerance.
Sometimes sensing the load voltage is not practical or possible. Long
tethers, requiring heavy cables, are hard to fabricate with sense lead
cables. Sensing output current and raising the power supply’s output
voltage can be an effective alternative to adding remote sense leads.
While this might seem trivial for relatively short lead lengths, it is not for
applications of distant load points such as ocean tethers to vehicles.
Figure 3 illustrates a dc power supply with lead and load resistance.
The load voltage, Vload, can be expressed as
where:
Vo: power supply output voltage,
Io: power supply output current,
Rlead: lead resistance between the power supply and load.
Applying the control scheme illustrated in Figure 1, where output cur-
rent is applied to the modulation input, and substituting Vo in (6) with
Control Input 1, Function Type 1 modulation (see Table 1), Vload
becomes:
if
7:
6:
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SENSORS
Figure 3: Leadless Remote Sensing
In this example, the power supply’s output voltage adjusts in
response to output current compensating for the voltage drop caused
in the connecting leads to the load.
Negative Slope, Leadless Current Sharing
There are many schemes for sharing current when multiple power
supplies are connected in parallel. Most of them require some form of
communications between the multiple power supplies to share output
current information. Generally, this is done by designating one power
supply as the master and the others as slaves. The master power
supply is operated in voltage mode control and the slave power sup-
plies are operated in current mode control. The set point current for
the slave power supplies is provided by the master. The drawback of
this approach is that the system is totally dependent upon operation
of the master and malfunction of the master power supply means
malfunction of the system.
For systems requiring N+1 redundancy, or systems requiring excess
capacity of one power supply in the event of one failure, master/slave
parallel operation is not well suited. For these applications, all parallel
connected power supplies must be totally independent. Connecting
power supplies in parallel and allowing automatic crossover between
voltage mode and current mode control will work, but current sharing
will not be equal. A preferred approach, as illustrated in Figure 4, is to
introduce a small series resistance on each of the parallel connected
power supplies to ballast the load between the other supplies. The
resistance, or in this case pseudo resistance, can be introduced with-
out additional losses by utilizing Control Input 1, Function Type 1
modulation (see Table 1). Ideally, programming both of the paralleled
connected power supplies the same, the output voltage, Vload, can
be made to represent:
or equating to output current
where:
Vo1, Vo2: power supply output voltage without source resistance,
Io1, Io2: power supply output current,
Ro: output source resistance.
For this application, the source resistance requires a negative slope.
11:
10:
9:
8:
SENSORS
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Figure 4: Paralleling method incorporating source resistance
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Power Source Emulation
Battery Emulation
The impedance and cell voltage of batteries and battery packs vary
according to a number of factors, such as, but not limited to, chem-
istry, mechanical construction, the number of charge/discharge
cycles, temperature, and depth of discharge. These variables can be
defined with voltage and current profiles and applied to the modula-
tion input of a dc power supply. One modulation table cannot com-
pletely emulate a battery since the profile changes with multiple vari-
ables: primarily with depth of discharge and temperature of operation.
Therefore, multiple tables are required to address the different vari-
ables and need to be integrated into the control algorithm. Detection
of both voltage and current over a period of time provides the param-
eters needed to calculate depth of discharge. Further tables are
required to adjust these profiles with temperature. At specific incre-
ments of time and temperature, modulation tables need to be
replaced. Control Input 1, Function Type 0 modulation is best suited
for this application.
Quickly loading tables in anticipation of the next operating point pres-
ents itself as a software challenge. Magna-Power Electronics uses
cache tables embedded in storage to quickly move from one table to
another.
Solar Emulation
Photovoltaic arrays produce non-linear voltage and current character-
istics that are a function of temperature, irradiance, and several other
technology-dependent variables. Devices interfacing to photovoltaic
arrays, such as inverters and DC-DC converters, set an operating
point near the array’s maximum power output: a process called maxi-
mum power point tracking. A DC power supply capable of emulating
these non-linear characteristics provides user defined methods for
development and evaluation of photovoltaic connected devices.
Magna-Power Electronics’ modulation feature can be used to define
a 50-point photovoltaic profile at distinct temperature and irradiance
values within the memory of the power supply. The power supply per-
forms piece-wise-linear approximation between points to ensure high
resolution operation. Data is loaded into the power supply’s memory
using an external program, Photovoltaic Power Profile Emulation,
PPPE, that was developed specifically for the application. It defines
more points near the curve’s most non-linear region—the curve’s
knee—for the highest fidelity. PPPE software uses an EN50530
model to define a continuous voltage-current profile with temperature
and irradiance dependencies. The model enables emulation of thin-
film, poly-crystalline, mono-crystalline, or custom user-defined photo-
voltaic technologies. Timing constraints for
updating voltage and current profiles are
minimized by sequentially and continuously
sending data to the power supply’s cache
table and swapping data when needed for
the next update.
Both Control Input 1, Function Type 0 (volt-
age control) or Control Input 2, Function
Type 0 (current control) modulation are
applicable for this application. The load’s
control mode and method of operation
determine the best method of modulation.
Table 3 provides an example of an emulated
photovoltaic array profile for a 1000 Vdc, 45
Adc, Magna-Power Electronics TSD1000-45
power supply. For simplicity, the example is
reduced to only 10 points. The correspon-
ding curve, implemented with PPPE soft-
ware, is shown in Figure 5
References
1.Operating and Service Manual TS Series
IV DC Power Supplies, Magna-Power
Electronics, Flemington, NJ, May. 2013.
www.magna-power.com
SENSORS
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August 2013
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Figure 5: Magna-Power Electronics Photovoltaic Power Profile Emulation
Software demonstration solar emulation using modulation
Table 3: Example Control Input 2, Function Type 0 calculated modu-
lation data for solar array emulation using a Magna-Power Electron-
ics TSD1000-45
Entry
Voltage
(Vdc)
Current
(Adc)
VMOD
Mod
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0.00
293.00
574.30
689.20
794.50
840.10
892.40
907.80
977.10
1000.00
45.00
44.99
44.94
44.63
43.11
41.17
36.39
34.06
13.03
0.00
9.992
9.903
9.697
9.531
9.273
9.078
8.640
8.401
5.010
0.000
0.050
0.128
0.366
0.510
0.671
0.757
0.877
0.915
1.000
1.000
2013
35th International
Telecommunications
Energy Conference
SMART POWER AND EFFICIENCY
www.intelec2013.org
13 – 17 October 2013
• Hamburg, Germany
in cooperation with
ITG
organized by
/
>
Registration is open!
>
Programme is online!
>
Registration is open!
>
Programme is online!
44
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
Take, for example, photovoltaic cells used in solar panels. As this
market grows and matures there is an increasing demand for more
compact and more efficient electronics so that every possible milli-
Watt of energy harvested from the sun reaches the load. Inverters
are an essential part of every solar energy generation system. Pho-
tovoltaic inverters convert the DC current produced by an array of
photovoltaic cells to AC at local line voltage and frequency, ready to
be fed into the grid or used to power an off-grid network. Micro-invert-
ers that connect to just one panel each are also available – ensuring
that reduced output from any panel (perhaps because of shade or
snow) doesn’t disproportionately affect the output of the total array.
Inverter designers often face the seemingly conflicting requirements
of improving performance and minimising losses whilst compacting
form factor and ensuring reliability. Careful selection of the appropri-
ate MOSFET technologies can deliver significant advantages in all
these areas. MOSFETs and recovery diodes are also important for
telecom and server power supplies with full bridge or zero voltage
switching/phase shift topologies; full bridge motor control systems;
uninterruptible power supplies; and ballasts for high intensity dis-
charge (HID) lamps.
Power switches
Power MOSFETs are typically the preferred switching technology for
all of these designs because they offer a simple-to-drive option that
can be switched efficiently at high voltages and at high frequencies.
And in most of these applications a rating of 600V is typically used to
ensure enough ‘headroom’ for the safe handling of high voltage tran-
sients.
MOSFETs can contribute to overall efficiency by minimising losses,
broadly split into conduction losses and switching losses. A low MOS-
FET on-resistance (RDS(ON)) minimises conduction losses. On-
resistance-area (RDS(ON)*A) is one of the figures of merit for MOS-
FETs; if RDS(ON)*A can be reduced, it means a smaller RDS(ON)
device can be fitted into the same package size, improving efficiency.
A MOSFET’s switching losses are mainly related to its parasitic
capacitances, so minimising these will make switching more efficient.
Even small increases in overall efficiency may mean a smaller invert-
er can be selected for a given application.
Another important factor to consider is the MOSFET’s gate charge,
QG, which indicates the energy required to switch the device. If QG
is low, higher switching frequencies can be used, minimising the size
of some of the external filtering components. Losses are also
reduced in the gate-driver circuitry. However, low QG devices tend to
have higher RDS(ON); for this reason, the figure of merit
RDS(ON)*QG is often quoted.
MOSFET reliability is also a very important consideration in a system
that is expected to last for much longer than the typical lifetime of a
consumer product. Photovoltaic inverters or industrial motor control
systems, for example, may be expected to last for 10, 15, or 20 years
(or more). Furthermore, there may be requirements for the devices to
maintain good performance at extreme temperatures – for example
in harsh industrial environments or to address the need to maintain a
stable output in all weather conditions.
Companion devices
One thing that the applications mentioned above have in common is
the need for companion diodes to be used in conjunction with the
MOSFET. Each power MOSFET in an inverter, for example, requires
a diode to protect it from being damaged by the reverse current from
an inductive load. Because the MOSFETs switch at high frequency,
fast recovery diodes (FRDs) are used; their properties can also help
increase efficiency. Faster FRD reverse recovery times (trr) help to
minimise switching losses. In addition, choosing devices in which the
FRD is integrated into the body of the MOSFET can help to reduce
component count, save space, simplify design and streamline inven-
tory.
MOSFETS
Optimising Power Design
Through MOSFET Efficiency
and Integration
Choosing advanced MOSFET technologies for enhanced efficiency
through improved performance of intrinsic Diode
MOSFETs and fast recovery diodes are fundamental elements of power switching applica-
tions ranging from photovoltaic inverters to HID lamp ballasts and power supplies for
telecoms and servers. Designers of these applications are under pressure to continually
improve performance at the same time as reducing board real estate and ensuring reliable
operation.
By Michael Piela, Toshiba Electronics Europe
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
MOSFETS
A variety of MOSFETs with integrated FRDs are now available, in a
range of different package options (Figure 1). As an example, Toshi-
ba’s TK16A60W5 15.8A-rated power MOSFET integrates MOSFET
and FRD in a TO-220SIS package. The trr of the device is just 100ns
(compared to 280ns of a standard version) and RDS(ON) is just
0.23Ω. Other examples include the high current TK31N60W5 and
TK39N60W5 MOSFETs in TO-247 packaging. These are rated for
maximum currents of 30.8A and 38.8A respectively. Maximum
respective RDS(ON) ratings (at VGS = 10V) are 0.099Ω and 0.074Ω,
with trr characteristics of 135ns and 150ns.
In addition to the improvements in conduction losses and switching
losses, integration has also meant that the devices can maintain a
good trr at high temperatures. Figure 2 shows test results for the
TK16A60W5 device compared with a typical competing device with
the same trr at a channel temperature of 25°C.
At 150°C, trr for the TK16A60W5 increased by 40%, whereas trr for
the competing device increased by 60%.
Fourth generation
So, how has this integration been achieved, and why does this result
in improved specifications?
The underlying technology used in these devices is DTMOS IV,
Toshiba’s fourth generation superjunction technology. In a superjunc-
tion MOSFET, the N-region is heavily doped so that its resistivity can
be taken beyond the silicon limit. This N-region is bounded by two pil-
lars of P-type material to allow a very high breakdown voltage, as
shown in Figure 3.
This combination of very low RDS(ON)*A and high breakdown volt-
age makes the technology ideally suited to power MOSFETs since
space savings can be implemented without power loss penalties.
DTMOS IV uses a process called deep trench filling, which allows the
pitch of the columns to be narrowed and their aspect ratio to be
increased. Further, deep trench filling allows the P-type material to be
deposited into etched trenches in a single epitaxial process. Previ-
ously, multiple epitaxial layers were required to form pillars that were
this tall and thin. Using just one epitaxial process can produce a bet-
ter, more uniform pillar shape (as seen in Figure 3), shorten produc-
tion lead times, save cost, and allow for easier geometry shrinking in
the future. What’s more, the more uniform pillar shape helps the
device maintain its RDS(ON) and trr characteristics at temperatures
up to 150°C.
The narrow trench pitch produced by DTMOS IV reduces
RDS(ON)*A by 30% compared to DTMOS III. Devices with the same
die area can therefore reduce their RDS(ON) by 30%. Alternatively, if
similar RDS(ON) characteristics are acceptable, the MOSFET’s die
area can be reduced by 30%. A compromise between the two has
seen RDS(ON) decrease while freeing up space for a fast recovery
diode to be included in the same overall package size. Integrating the
diode into the MOSFET package means the trr of the MOSFET-diode
combination device is reduced significantly.
Narrowing the pitch of the P-type pillars also reduces QG. Low QG
allows the devices to operate at high switching frequencies and
reduces losses in the gate-drive circuitry. However, along with the
RDS(ON) tradeoff mentioned above, if QG is too low, very high
dVDS/dt can encourage ringing, along with its undesirable side effect,
electromagnetic interference (EMI). Toshiba’s devices are therefore
carefully optimised to maintain the same performance and
RDS(ON)*QG figures as the previous generation of MOSFETs.
Reducing the physical size of the MOSFET die as outlined above has
a positive effect on output capacitance (COSS), which helps reduce
switching losses and maintain efficiency even in partial load situa-
tions. COSS has actually been reduced by 12% in the latest family of
devices. Again, this contributes to the devices’ ability to be switched
at high frequencies.
www.toshiba-components.com/power
45
Figure 1 – MOSFET package options using FRD
Figure 3 – DTMOS IV superjunction process
Figure 2 – Reverse recovery time versus temperature
46
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
The tool contains a vast amount of information about individual com-
ponents and their application. With the aid of integrated intelligence,
engineers can access this extensive knowledge and use it to design
an application-specific power supply in a matter of minutes. The cor-
responding circuit diagram together with a parts list and summary of
the design can either be stored in the "cloud" or downloaded to the
local computer.
Background
In the last ten years, the Internet has become the most important
resource in the day-to-day processing of technical tasks. Everyone
can quickly find background information on a wide range of topics on
the Internet, or get access to important standards and regulations.
When working on new design tasks, an information resource such as
datasheets.com is practically indispensable for many development
engineers when it comes to searching for modules or integrated cir-
cuits.
Despite the huge array of information that is available, one major
challenge remains: retaining an overview and using this large volume
of information effectively. Arrow Electronics has used its position as
one of the leading providers of electronic components to develop a
unique solution to this problem. The solution allows users to access
comprehensive sources of information via online design tools. These
applications use modern cloud-based technologies to present infor-
mation from hundreds of data sheets and technical help documents
in an interactive environment. Engineers can quickly navigate
through complex design challenges while ensuring sufficient flexibility
for the application. The current version of the Embedded Systems
Power Designer illustrates this solution.
Scalable online support
Due to their high level of flexibility and relatively low cost, program-
mable logic modules such as FPGAs are an attractive solution for
applications in automation and control technology. However, the suc-
cessful use of such modules is subject to stringent requirements
regarding the power supply. The power requirement depends on the
module programming, and individual supply voltages must meet
exacting specifications relating to the AC component. Development
engineers are therefore faced with tasks that are, to some extent,
well outside their core competencies. The online design environment
simplifies the overall design process by dividing tasks into separate
steps. The specifications of the FPGA manufacturer, which otherwise
can only be ascertained from data sheets that are several pages
long, are integrated automatically at every step.
Access to this development environment is available via the Arrow
Electronic Components website. First-time users receive their access
data following registration. This means that information from complet-
ed development steps can be stored at any time on the server for
subsequent use. Multiple users can even exchange circuit diagrams
and other content with each other directly within this environment. It
is therefore also a valuable tool for application engineers in providing
support for their customers.
When the user opens the program, the Embedded Systems Power
Designer displays a blank circuit diagram editor as shown in Figure
1. The circuit diagram editor allows the user to visualize the supply
plan for the FPGA with high-level abstraction. Individual converters
are synthesized, simulated, and can even be modified by the user at
component level in a deeper hierarchical level. The requirements of
the central module (e.g. the Altera Stratix IV FPGA) are passed down
through the hierarchy so that design objectives for the individual con-
verters meet the system requirements.
The design process is started by selecting an FPGA and placing it in
the circuit diagram editor as a module. Several FPGAs from Altera
DESIGN AND SIMULATION
Create Embedded Power
Designs Online
Online development environments are becoming increasingly sophisticated. This article
describes the operation and use of a new tool, Embedded Systems Power Designer, that
enables web-based design of the power supply for Embedded microcontrollers and
FPGAs. The application uses the processing power of cloud-based servers and an intu-
itive user interface based on the latest HTML 5 capabilities to implement an interactive
environment for design directly in the web browser.
By Devin Crawford, senior application engineer, Transim Technology Corporation
Figure 1: Circuit diagram editor for designing the circuit diagram.
INTERNATIONAL VDI CONFERENCE 2013
DRIVE TRAINS
OF WIND TURBINES
This conference covers all aspects of drive trains of wind turbines
and will present first-hand experience with a special focus on:
• Optimized design and integration of drive trains with gearings
• Reliability and lifecycle improvement
• Challenges and solutions for bearings and gearboxes
• Condition monitoring, reliability and successful maintenance approaches
• Innovative new drive train concepts
Benefit from the experience of the following renown companies:
aerodyn Energiesysteme • Bosch Rexroth • GE Wind Energy • MECAL Wind
Turbine Design • Moventas Gears Oy • RENK • REpower Systems • Romax •
SKF • Schaeffler Technologies • Siemens Wind Power • ThyssenKrupp Rothe
Erde • Vestas Wind Systems • Voith Turbo Wind • Winergy Siemens
Date and venue:
September 17–18, 2013
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Chairmen:
Prof. dr.ir. Daniel J. Rixen, Technische
Universität München, Germany
Dipl.-Ing. Jörg Litzba, ZF Wind Power
Antwerpen NV, Belgium
An event organized by VDI Wissensforum GmbH
www.vdi-international.com/drivetrains
VDI
THE ASSOCIATION OF
GERMAN ENGINEERS
OFFICAL PARTNER
48
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
can currently be selected. FPGAs from other manufacturers as well
as microcontrollers will be available in the near future. Voltage speci-
fications and tolerances for the individual power supply networks are
automatically implemented as properties of the FPGA module. The
power requirement for individual networks can either be entered
manually, or, in the case of Altera FPGAs, values can be read in from
the Altera "Early Power Estimator" (EPE) as shown in Figure 2.
The EPE provides estimated upper limits for the power requirement
based on the programming of the FPGAs selected by the user. This
ensures that the resulting converters are optimized for the relevant
application. This link to the Altera design environment saves time and
minimizes the probability of errors occurring early on in the design
phase. After the FPGA has been placed in the circuit diagram and
the supply specifications have been defined, a concept for the power
supply is automatically created in the circuit diagram editor. An exam-
ple of the power supply plan for the Stratix IV E FPGA is shown in
Figure 3. In this screen, individual converters are defined as place-
holders, which, thanks to forwarding the requirements for current,
voltage and their tolerances, act as templates for designing the indi-
vidual converters.
Design of the individual converters is started by opening the corre-
sponding module in the power supply plan. Double-clicking on one of
the modules opens a configuration screen, as shown in
Figure 4. The connections at the higher hierarchy level in the circuit
diagram between converter and FPGA act as the interface for trans-
mitting supply requirements from the FPGA to this design screen.
This information is then used to prioritize the available controller ICs
in the selection list. This means that from a list containing several
hundred ICs, those which best suit the specific electrical specifica-
tions for the design are displayed with highest priority. To do this, the
filter algorithm accesses a wide range of data sheets and application
notes and saves the engineer, who does not have detailed knowl-
edge of the converter design, many hours if not days of work. In
addition to the numerous ICs listed, there is also an item called
"Design It". This is linked to an interactive design tool which creates
the entire circuit around the converter ICs. The circuit is presented
schematically, and in many cases there is the option to check the
transient and stationary behaviour of the circuit using a simulation. In
this step, it is also possible to modify component values, and the
effects of any change are checked in real-time with the simulation.
There is no increased computing effort associated with the simula-
tion, as resource-intensive processes are run on the server. Figure 5
shows the circuit diagram for a converter and the results of the simu-
lation. The results are displayed in a window together with numerous
functions such as marker, zoom on/off, and display options for indi-
vidual curves. The variety of functions and fast response time expect-
ed of desktop applications are available together here in the same
online environment.
The parts list for the circuit can be displayed in the next step. The
design is finished off by defining price information using a parts list
specified by the user. The availability and price are displayed and the
parts list can be downloaded as a table. If individual components are
to be replaced or swapped out according to defined criteria, there is
a useful filter function that can be used. Figure 6 shows how a
capacitor can be selected according to c-value, housing, manufactur-
er or maximum operating voltage.
The steps described here integrate specifications and application
expertise from a variety of modules in order to implement an opti-
mized topology for the power supply of a FPGA. The algorithms sup-
Figure 2: Current and voltage specifications for the FPGA. The power
requirement can be loaded manually or from the Altera "Early Power
Estimator".
Figure 3: The topology of the FPGA circuit diagram is created auto-
matically with placeholders for individual converters.
Figure 4: Input screen for designing a converter.
DESIGN AND SIMULATION
port a fast online design process that can be adapted to the specifi-
cations of each individual design.
Following completion of the individual converter circuits, a check is
always carried out to make sure that the specifications for the power
supply have been met from the point of view of the FPGA. This
check can then be carried out manually by selecting "Check Design"
at the top of the circuit diagram. A summary of the complete supply,
including all converters, simulation results and parts lists is then pro-
vided on the "Summary" page. The parts list can also be downloaded
or adjusted at this stage, as shown in Figure 6.
Summary
The "Embedded Systems Power Designer" online application can be
used to implement complex power supplies for embedded modules.
This application combines a wealth of application expertise in an intu-
itive user interface that guides engineers through the complexity of
the task in just a few simple steps. Based on the specifications of the
FPGA, circuits are adapted for converters and their components. At
the end of the process, engineers get all the design information such
as the circuit diagram, parts list, topology of the supply, and simula-
tion results as a download.
http://arrow.transim.com/designweb/
Figure 5: View of the circuit diagram and results of the simulation for
a converter circuit. A circuit diagram and parts list simplify the step
into production.
Figure 6: A selection filter provides help in selecting individual com-
ponents from the parts list according to additional criteria.
DESIGN AND SIMULATION
Electric Automation
Systems and Components
International Exhibition and Conference
Nuremberg, Germany, 26 – 28 November 2013
More information at
+49 711 61946-828 or
sps@mesago.com
Answers for automation
Experience at Europe's #1 platform for electric automation:
• 1,450 exhibitors
• all key players of the industry
• products and solutions
• innovations and trends
Your free entry ticket
www.mesago.com/sps/tickets
50
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
Definition and Overview
Mersen circular busbar is a 100% custom
electrical interconnection part for motors and
generators that substitutes the stator main
windings, generally made of a set of cables
or coppers bars, by a single customized
device. Indeed, the stator windings in rotat-
ing machines can be either wire-wound (also
called random-wound) or bar-wound (also
called form-wound). Thus, the stator main
windings also tend to use one of these two
options often leading to costly, complex
assembly processes with several parts to
manage and requiring a large amount of
space at the stator end.
The circular busbar system provides a set of
benefits targeted to reach an overall lower
cost of the rotating machine through the
decrease of the assembly time, the avoid-
ance of wiring errors, the stock management
of fewer parts, the ability to save space and
the improvement of the electrical perform-
ances such as low inductance and low volt-
age drop.
Application field
Taking into account the previous benefits,
this results in saying that the more complex
the stator main winding system is, the more
interesting gains the circular busbar will
achieve. That is why this system is the most
widely used in three phase induction and
synchronous machines present in wind,
industrial or transportation applications, with
a power starting from a few kVA to several
MVA. Indeed, in this case the main winding
system will have to ensure at least the con-
nection of all the stator coils for each one of
the three phases in order to make the three
output phases (U, V, W). Thus, the complexi-
ty is directly function of the number of coils
to connect per phase. Moreover, the main
winding system may have to consider an
additional neutral (N) output or to double the
three output phases (U1,U2 ; V1,V2 ;
W1,W2). This last point depends on the
electrical specifications and the requirement
to have a star, a delta configuration or to
keep the configuration flexible at the terminal
box level. Finally, internal coil connections
without associated outputs can also be con-
sidered and integrated in the circular busbar.
Whether the three phase machine is syn-
chronous or asynchronous does not influ-
ence the conception of the circular busbar
since the stator remains the same for both of
these types, the difference being in the rotor
construction. It may be useful to mention
that the circular busbar can also fit for DC or
single phase machines.
Circular Busbar Characteristics
The circular busbar custom design is based
on several electrical standards such as IEC
60950-1, EN 50124-1 and UL840. It is also
UL94V0 approved and RoHS compliant.
The choice of the conducting materials
depends on the stator design requirements.
Most of the time, copper will be chosen for
its outstanding electrical and thermal con-
ductivity. However, aluminium conductors
can sometimes be preferred because they
can offer larger cost savings especially when
current is high and gets closer to 1000A. But
on the other hand, aluminium is approxi-
mately 60% as conductive as copper accord-
ing to the IACS, requiring larger conductors
to carry the same amount of current as cop-
per conductors, and thus taking more space
in the stator.
The insulation materials are sized to satisfy
most of the rotating machines insulation
classes, such as Y, A, E, B, F and H. These
classes determine the maximum admissible
temperature on the rotating machine wind-
ings, and thus on the busbar. For instance,
an H insulation class means that the circular
busbar should be able to withstand a maxi-
mum operating temperature of 180°C. More-
over, information on the rotating machine
TECHNOLOGY
Innovative Solution to Connect
Stator Main Windings in
Rotating Machines via Circular
Laminated Busbars.
To cope with the global challenges of competition, the growing needs of electricity and
the strengthening of energy efficiency reglementations, rotating machines manufacturers
need to optimize their designs and production processes in order to both improve the
energy efficiency of their motors and generators and reduce their costs. A major axis to
get such competitive advantages lies on the optimization of the stator main windings con-
nection. Since no real industrial alternative has been proposed throughout time to
improve this connection, most companies have been still relying on the same historical
constructions as their old models of rotating machines. This is to fill this gap and make a
technological breakthrough that Mersen has developed a cutting edge solution to connect
the stator main windings by integrating a circular laminated busbar.
By Remy Roulier and Björn Asmussen, Mersen
www.bodospower.com
TECHNOLOGY
www.bodospower.com
environment is important for the best choice
of the insulation material. So, the pollution
degree or the percentage of humidity will
also impact the selection of insulation among
a wide range such as PET (polyethylene
terephthalate), aramid paper, PEN (polyeth-
ylene naphtalate), PVF (polyvinyl fluoride) or
PI (polyimide). Epoxy glass or resin can also
be used to close the busbar edges. Indeed,
these solutions may be preferred in some
circumstances, for instance when the avail-
able space inside the stator is insufficient to
allow an overlap of the insulation material in
order to take into account the creepage dis-
tance.
Different shapes can be proposed for the cir-
cular busbar to answer at best the rotating
machine specifications, in particular for sav-
ing the biggest amount of space according
to the available space inside the stator.
Thus, the optimized busbar can adopt either
a planar shape, a rolled shape or also a
polygonal one.
The connection between the busbar and the
stator is also a critical point in the simplifica-
tion of the assembly process. Thus, depend-
ing on a sharp analysis of the stator parame-
ters such as the section and number of coils,
the available space, the stator diameter or
the existing assembly process, the coils will
be connected to the circular busbar using
various ways. Among these solutions we can
find tin soldering, silver brazing, special
crimping processes or also screwing.
Conclusion:
As world competition and energy efficiency
requirements continue to increase, rotating
machines manufacturers need to find solu-
tions to decrease their production costs and
improve the performance of their motors and
generators. Mersen circular laminated bus-
bar is a smart way to achieve this goal, by
optimizing the connection of the stator main
windings using a single customized device.
Such a solution provides the opportunity of a
technical breakthrough compared to cables
or copper bars solutions, which often require
a large amount of space at the stator
extremity and rely on costly, time-consuming
assembly processes. Indeed, for instance in
the case of a three-phase machine of multi-
hundreds of kVA, many manufacturing oper-
ations are required to achieve a cable-
wound stator main connection system.
Depending on the manufacturing process,
the output leads of the coils that compose
the stator will have to be stripped, combined
together, soldered or crimped, wrapped with
plastic sheaths and eventually with addition-
al tape insulation. Thus,
the assembly process
rapidly becomes com-
plex and the amount of
material such as insula-
tion contributes to the
space consumption at
the stator end.
Thanks to its optimized shape, the circular
busbar is aimed to reach significant cost
savings through the simplification of the
manufacturing process and the stock man-
agement, the improvement of electrical per-
formances, the reduction of the stator space
and thus the size of the rotating machine.
Contact for Germany, Austria and Switzer-
land Area: bjoern.asmussen@mersen.com
Contact for other Countries:
remy.roulier@mersen.com
www.mersen.com
Figure 1: Overview the circular busbar various shapes
Planar Shape
Rolled Shape
Polygonal Shape
Planar Shape
Rolled Shape
Polygonal Shape
One less hat to wear.
Let us be your power expert. We understand that you don’t
have the time to master every aspect of electronic design.
As a leading manufacturer of power supplies we are here to
collaborate with you to ensure your next project is a success.
Novum®
Advanced Power
Ac-Dc
Power Supplies
Dc-Dc
Converters
www.cui.com/PowerExpert
51
These ambitious projections will only become a reality, however, if
proliferation of fuel cell technology starts to gain more momentum in
a broader cross section of everyday applications and the supporting
hardware utilised has the ability to make fuel cell powered systems
as cost-effective, energy efficient and easy to implement as possible.
Shipping is one of the areas where the use of fuel cells could have a
major impact, as this currently represents nearly 10% of the UK’s
total carbon emissions. So far relatively little traction has been made
here, but developments down in the West Country might help to
change all that. Keen to move to cleaner energy, Bristol City Council
has recently funded a £225,000 project that provides the city’s inhabi-
tants with the UK’s first ever fuel cell powered ferry service. The proj-
ect is part of the council’s Green Capital initiative.
The 36 foot long, steel hulled ferry Hydrogenesis, which has a two
man crew, traverses Bristol Harbour. It can carry up to twelve pas-
sengers and has a maximum speed of 10 knots. While diesel pow-
ered craft have a heavy impact on the environment through air and
water pollution, the electro-chemical process employed this vessel
produces no harmful by products. As fuel cell implementations have
no moving parts, their working lifespans are much longer than diesel
engines. In addition, they offer far less noisy operation.
Bristol-based Auriga Energy was given the task of designing and
developing the fuel cell system that would power the Hydrogenesis.
Established in 2007, the company specialises in creating of highly
efficient carbon free energy solutions by employing the latest innova-
tions in fuel cell technology. It relies on the talents a small, highly
experienced team of engineers who previously plied their trade in the
avionics and defence industries (working for the likes of Marconi,
BAE Systems and Thales). This team takes fuel cell stacks then
develops highly sophisticated, application specific systems (consist-
ing of both hardware and software) around them that will deliver max-
imum operational performance.
“It was decided that ferries would be a good starting point,” says Jas
Singh, Managing Director of Auriga Energy. “This could show Auri-
ga’s technology in action and prove that fuel cell operation can be
commercial viable as well as deriving ecological benefits.” “Though
the initial implementation outlay is quite high, once this is dealt with
operational costs being highly competitive” he continues “If you look
at the whole of life costs, then moving to fuel cells becomes more
favourable, even before you take into account their green creden-
tials.” Bristol, through the work of Brunel, can boast a long and event-
ful history when it comes to maritime innovation. It is perhaps apt
then that where the Hydrogenesis is moored lies almost in the shad-
ow of Brunel’s ocean liner the SS Great Britain.
“Every element of the power system needs to be working at the high-
est possible levels of operational efficiency,” Singh explains. “This
means that the amount of hydrogen that the ferry uses each day can
be kept to a minimum to lower the running costs, thereby making the
project even more economical.” The system, which is deployed in the
ferry’s stern, consists of four fuel cells delivering up to 12kW to power
the ferry. The fuel cells are supplied with hydrogen from a 350Bar
tank. Two DC-DC modules are needed; the first is at 24V and looks
after the control system; the second is at 12V and sees to the supple-
mental electricity needs (such as the boats lighting system, etc.).
POWER SUPPLY
52
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
Optimizing of Power Sources for
Use with Fuel Cell Technology
With energy demands ever increasing, fossil fuels being depleted and concerns about cli-
mate change continuing to rise, the ways in which modern society is being powered are
now under close scrutiny. International legislation is being passed to curb carbon emis-
sions and greater emphasis is being put on the utilisation of renewable energy resources.
Driven by such circumstances, the global market for hydrogen fuel cells is expected to
witness a compound annual growth rate of more than 15% between now and 2017
(according to RNCOS).
By Rob Hill, Director of Sales & Marketing, Powerstax
Figure 2: Jas Singh of Auriga Energy, next to Brunel’s SS Great
Britain
53
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
The DC-DC converter modules have a key role to play in the success
of this application and so the specifying process needed to be given
a great deal of consideration. These modules have to take care of
regulating the voltage output.
It was essential that they possessed a very wide voltage range, in
order to cope with the variation of the fuel cell output. In addition,
high levels of efficiency and compact dimensions were both very
important factors.
“I had previously used Powerstax modules in our fuel cell powered
fork lift development and the performance levels they achieved were
highly favourable. As a result when it came to specifying power mod-
ules for the ferry project, it products seemed like the best choice,”
states Singh. “In addition the technical support that the Powerstax
team were able to offer and their ability to make adjustments to the
product proved will be invaluable in the future.”
Based on its industry-proven brick technology and strong power engi-
neering expertise, Powerstax has introduced a series of high per-
formance DC-DC converter modules that are targeted specifically at
serving the rapidly growing fuel cell market. These high density mod-
ules in this series can provide engineering teams looking to imple-
ment fuel cell based power systems with a highly optimised off-the-
shelf solution, rather than having to look into expensive custom
designs. They accept 40V to 120V input direct from many popular
fuel cells models and deliver a stabilised output of up to 500W.
Power efficiency levels reach 91%. The modules in Powerstax FC
series are offered in an industry standard full brick (11.68cm x
6.10cm x 1.27cm) format, with power densities of up to 5.53W/cm3.-
so that system performance can be maximised while taking up mini-
mal space.
To increase flexibility, the FC series is available with output voltages
of 12VDC, 24VDC, 28VDC and 48VDC. Over-voltage, under-voltage
and short-circuit protection mechanisms have been integrated into
each module. In addition, a proprietary monitoring feature safeguards
against system failure conditions arising. Active load sharing means
that the output from an array of multiple modules can be maximised.
The FC series has an operational temperature range of -20°C to
+100°C, with a MTBF value of 1.1 million hours assuring continued
system reliability.
The highly reliability power systems offered by Powerstax are very
well suited to performance-demanding applications. The company
has off-the-shelf solutions like the FC series, as well as full custom,
intelligent power solutions tailored for individual customer needs.
The implementation of an environmentally-friendly ferry via a highly
integrated hydrogen fuel cell-based power solution will be the catalyst
that helps to eventually make Bristol Harbour a low emission zone.
Auriga is now in discussions concerning further nautical applications -
on the Norfolk Broads and in Venice. The company is also talking to
a major UK-based ferry operator about the possibility a larger project
being undertaken in the future.
www.powerstaxplc.com
POWER SUPPLY
Figure 1: The Hydrogenesis - the UK’s first fuel cell powered ferry
For all the latest info
check the website
The latest
innovation from
Syfer Technology
This new revolutionary design
prevents flashover in high
voltage applications such
as power supplies, lighting
ballasts and inverters. The
range increases the voltage
capability of Multilayer Chip
Capacitors and provides the
highest working voltages in
the industry for each case size,
allowing significant downsizing
with no loss of performance.
t t
ProtectiCap
PASSIVE INNOVATIONS
The
range
removes the need to apply
a conformal coating after
soldering as it has its own built-in
protective coating. Available in
sizes 1206 to 2220 with rated
voltages in the range 2kV to 5kV.
ProtectiCap
The la
innov
S fyer
This new
preven
volta
as p
balla
rang
capabi
Capacito
highest w
Th l
Figure 3: Schematic of the power system used in the Hydrogenesis
54
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
NEW PRODUCTS
Under harsh climatic conditions, secondary damages caused by
moisture rank among the most common causes of failure of power
electronics modules. Therefore, a classification of a module for a
higher pollution degree implies a significant increase in the lifetime of
that module. The IGBT module SKiiPX is designed for extreme cli-
matic conditions and allows condensation during operation. It meets
the requirements specifically for wind turbines in a power range of 1-
6 MW in an outstanding way.
The internal construction of the SKiiPX is based on the SKiN-Tech-
nology. The SKiN-Technology enables a doubling of the power densi-
ty within the module. Consequently, the total volume of the inverter
can be decreased by up to 50%, inverter costs may be reduced by
up to 15%. SKiiPX allows for the first time the integration of a 3MW
wind inverter into a single cabinet. Due to the high integration level,
the probability of an inverter failure - expressed by the Failure-In-
Time (FIT) rate – is reduced by 30%.
The newly designed integrated liquid cooling system allows for a con-
stant operating temperature of the coolant of up to 70° C. This her-
metically sealed system requires less numbers of gaskets as com-
pared to conventional systems ensuring higher reliability. As a result,
the SKiiPX is the most reliable module in the market to be operated
under extreme climatic conditions.
The SKiiPX is supplied as a fully tested subsystem (IPM) with inte-
grated gate driver electronics, cooling and protection functions, thus
reducing the design and integration effort for the complete system for
the customer.
www.semikron.com
Benchmark in Reliability for Operation in Wind Turbines
ROHM has announced the development of compact, high efficiency
power supplies designed to drive DDR memory, microcontrollers, and
other components in car applications. The BD905xx series integrates
a phase compensation circuit and feedback resistor, reducing the
number of external parts considerably compared with conventional
power supply ICs. This simplifies design load and contributes to end-
product miniaturization.
In recent years the increasing popularity of electric and hybrid vehi-
cles has led to more sophisticated electronic systems and a greater
demand for microcontrollers and memory. Conventional LDO regula-
tors are commonly used, but they feature poor efficiency and cannot
meet higher current demands. As a result, DC/DC converters, which
provide greater efficiency and higher current-handling capability, are
becoming the preferred solution. However, they are not without their
drawbacks, which include more external parts and consequently a
larger mounting area, increasing circuit design complexity significant-
ly. With the trend towards improved performance and decreasing
model cycles in the automotive industry comes a need for easier-to-
use, high efficiency power supply ICs that lighten the design load and
minimize mounting area.
A primary factor in the number of external components used with
power supply ICs is the phase compensation circuit required to main-
tain a stable output voltage. Normally external capacitors and resis-
tors are used to set the desired characteristics. However, ROHM was
able to successfully optimize the phase compensation circuit internal-
ly, reducing parts count by 80% and contributing to more compact
automotive systems. In addition, phase compensation adjustment,
which is a common problem with power supply designs, is no longer
required, shortening design time significantly.
ROHM power supplies utilize synchronous rectification for high effi-
ciency operation, in combination with Light Load Mode, ensuring
superior performance with low current consumption under all load
conditions.
www.rohm.com/eu
Compact High Efficiency Power Supplies for Automotive
8–10 October
Messe Dresden, Germany
www.plastic-electronics.org
Co-located with:
The Power of [
x]
The Power of [Europe]
Connect to the trends, technologies and people driving the
European Semiconductor Industry forward.
SEMICON Europa is the place to see
the leading companies, technologies,
and people driving the future of
micro- and nanoelectronics design and
manufacturing.
SEMICON Europa exhibitors are the
suppliers to and partners of Europe’s
leading microelectronics companies.
From silicon to system − and everything
in between and beyond − SEMICON
Europa showcases the biggest and
brightest names in microelectronics
manufacturing.
SEMICON Europa Programs:
sth European Manufacturing Test Conference (EMTC)
s
sth Fab Managers Forum
s
sth Executive Summit
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
Improvements
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Plan now to be part of
SEMICON Europa 2013
www.semiconeuropa.org
EUV
LED/SSL
450mm
More than Moore
3D IC
MEMS
Fab Automation
Equipment
5th International Trade Fair for Electric- & Hybrid-Mobility
eCarTec 2013
www.ecartec.de
October, 15 - 17, 2013, Munich Trade Fair Centre
Connecting Mobility Markets!
With accompanying conferences:
2. International Hybrid-, eBus & eTruck conference
3. International Battery conference
5. International conference for Electric- & Hybrid-Mobility
9. International Composites conference
Patent protection, protection against forgery and data protection conference
WORLDWIDE
largest Trade Fair
for
Electric- & Hybrid-
Mobility
Topics:
Electric Vehicles
Powertrain & Elektronics
Energy Storage
Energy & Infrastructure
Energie & Infrastruktur
Mobility Concepts & Finance
Maintenance & Spareparts
MATERIALICA - Lightweight Design for New Mobility
sMove360° - CarIT
www.bodospower.com
July 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
NEW PRODUCTS
www.bodospower.com
July 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
57
Indium Corporation’s Indium8.9HFA Solder Paste is a versatile, halo-
gen-free, Pb-free, solder paste with leading print performance on
miniaturized components. Assemblers and OEMs are adopting this
remarkable new product at an accelerating pace.
Print performance is especially critical for manufacturers of mobile
phones and other personal electronics devices as they struggle to
contend with sub-8 mil challenges associated with continuing minia-
turization in the electronics assembly industry.
Indium8.9HFA Solder Paste provides: Low
Cost of Ownership & High Print Yields;
Unsurpassed transfer efficiency for consis-
tent, full volume print deposits (8 mil) results
in reduced frequency of insufficients and
high first-pass print yields; Low print pres-
sure and excellent response-to-pause saves
time and money on stencils and line
changes; Solvent-free dry-wiping reduces
costs; Increased throughput; Higher print
speed and reduced wipe frequency enables
short cycle time, high up-time, and high throughput printing
“Indium8.9HFA represents the culmination of years of research into
optimizing rheological properties to obtain the industry’s best printing
solder paste.” Dr. Ning-Cheng Lee, Vice President of Technology for
Indium Corporation’s Research and Development
www.indium.com/indium8.9series
Solder Paste for Miniaturized Assemblies
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LOW OHMIC PRECISION AND POWER RESISTORS
58
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
Distribution Automation Europe
Overcoming the impact of renewables growth and improving communication system
architecture to increase the reliability and efficiency of future networks
Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th October 2013, Marriott Hotel Regents Park, London
SMi presents their 3rd Annual Conference...
• Uwe Fisher, Global Head of Asset Information Systems,
E.ON Climate & Renewables
• Jean-Baptiste Galland, Director of Strategy & Smart-Grids,
ERDF
• Stefan Rebner, Head of Development, Network Operations,
Fortum Distribution
• Johan Söderbom, Head of Department, Distribution and Sales R&D,
Vattenfall AB
• Robin Hagemans, Senior Consultant Technical Automation & Telecom,
Alliander
• Prof. Goran Strbac, Chair, Electrical Energy Systems, Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering,
Imperial College London
• Prof. Furong Li, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering,
University of Bath
• Dr. Gavin Shaddick, Department of Mathematical Sciences,
University of Bath
• Paul Turner, C2C Technical Manager,
Electricity North West
• Geoff Murphy, Lead Engineer, Network Development,
Scottish Power
• Paul Jewell, Policy Manager,
Western Power Distribution
• Alistair Steele, Project Manager, Future Networks and Policy,
SSE Power Distribution
KEY SPEAKERS INCLUDE
Sponsored by
Quote
U021POWER
and save £300
Darryl Moxon on +44 20 7827 6066
dmoxon@smi-online.co.uk
Register online at www.distribution-automation.net
NEW PRODUCTS
As specialists in power conversion, RECOM Electronic brings you yet
another innovation in low power AC/DC converters. All models in the
RAC01 to RAC10 families (1 to 10 watt) now accept AC input volt-
ages down to 80VAC. Thus the wide-range 80-265VAC input or ultra-
wide-range 80-305VAC input converters are compatible with all
mains voltages worldwide, from the Japanese 100VAC, through the
European 230VAC to the American 120/208/277VAC networks.
The ultra-wide input voltage range guarantees a stable, isolated DC
output even if the AC power supply varies widely or is temporarily out
of range, as may be the case for example when the voltage is sup-
plied from a generator set. Therefore the RAC series are especially
suitable for countries where voltage fluctuations far outside normal
tolerances are not uncommon. The converters can also be used with
any mains input frequency from 0Hz (DC) up to 440Hz (aircraft elec-
trical systems).
The AC/DC modules operate with a stable efficiency down to 10%
load, so only one converter type is needed for many different applica-
tions, so reducing logistics costs and giving economies of scale. The
compact mini power supplies have a built-in EN55022 Class B input
filter that does not require any external components, also reducing
end-user costs. The converters feature 3kVAC isolation (3.75kVAC
for RAC04/277 & RAC10/277) between input and output and are CE,
EN and UL certified. RECOM offers a 3-year warranty as standard on
all of its products.
www.recom-electronic.com
1 to 10 Watt AC/DC with Ultra-Wide Input Voltage Range
NEW PRODUCTS
59
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
Texas Instruments introduced the industry’s smallest and most accu-
rate Li-Ion battery fuel gauge integrated circuit, the bq27421, which
boosts battery run-time in portable medical devices, such as wear-
able health monitors, and industrial devices like inventory scanners
and portable emergency lights and other consumer electronics.
Leveraging TI’s proven Impedance Track™ advanced battery tech-
nology typically used in tablets and smartphones, the bq27421 sys-
tem-side fuel gauge in a 9-ball chipscale (WCSP) package accurately
reports remaining battery capacity, state-of-charge and battery volt-
age, allowing portable devices to extend run-time by 50 percent or
higher. For samples and development kit module, visit:
http://www.ti.com/bq27421-pr-eu.
“Users of portable medical and other electronics need an accurate
prediction of remaining battery capacity to better manage their mobile
device and decide when to recharge or replace the battery. Whether
it’s a blood glucose meter, wearable patient monitor bracelet or
portable inventory scanner, you need accurate information to make
good decisions,” said Steve Lambouses, vice president of battery
management. “TI’s fuel gauges give consumers the battery informa-
tion they can depend on, maximizing the level of convenience with
their battery-powered devices and allowing them to get more run-time
out of their batteries.”
Gauge Studio for easier battery gauging design
Designers can use the pre-configured “plug-and-play” bq27421 fuel
gauge with TI’s new Gauge Studio software tool to simplify battery
gauging design. The file size of the Gauge Studio design tool is
about ten times smaller than TI’s previous software, dramatically min-
imizing configuration and system firmware development. The
bq27421EVM-G1A evaluation development kit is available for US$49.
www.ti.com
TI Boosts Battery Run-Time in Portable Devices
Indium Corporation's new SACM™ is a high-reliability solder alloy
that offers drop shock performance far superior to other SAC alloys,
without compromising on thermal cycling – all at a cost below that of
typical SAC solder alloys.
SACM™ meets the electronics assembly market’s demand for a sol-
der alloy that offers the combination of good drop shock perform-
ance, good thermal cycling, lead-free composition, and reduced cost.
The invention of SACM™ offers superior drop shock performance
versus SAC305 and SAC105, with the added benefit of thermal
cycling reliability equivalent to SAC305.
This provides manufacturers with an affordable high-reliability SAC
alloy. This development is especially meaningful for the manufacture
of consumer electronics that normally see frequent handling, such as
mobile devices.
SACM™ is doped with manganese and contains less silver than
other Pb-free alloys. Manganese provides increased strength and the
reduced silver content provides a more stable cost structure, espe-
cially beneficial for cost-sensitive applications.
www.indium.com/SACM
Superior Drop Shock Performance
and Thermal Cycling Reliability
NEW PRODUCTS
60
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
Electric Drives Production
Conference and Exhibition
Nuremberg, 29 – 30 October 2013
Produce optimized electric drives; meet the requirements
of industrial motors and electromobility.
Join at E|DPC and experience the combined technical
knowledge about products, ideas, and concepts all
in one place.
Scientific Partner:
Official Association Partner:
More information at
+49 711 61946-65 or edpc-expo@mesago.com
Get your free entry ticket:
edpc-expo.com/tickets
Suitable for backup power supplies in EVs and HEVs that contribute
to greater system safety
ROHM has recently announced the development of an automotive-
grade leakage detection IC designed specifically for AC inverters and
chargers for AC outlets in electric and hybrid vehicles. The BD9582F-
M features a wide operating temperature range and is AEC-Q100-
certified, ensuring stable, reliable operation in automotive systems. In
addition, industry-low current consumption (330uA) contributes to
longer battery life.
In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake a growing number
of hybrid and electric cars are being equipped with emergency or
backup power systems, which include outlets that can power not only
portable devices such as smartphones, but high power consumption
consumer equipment as well. Safety systems similar to earth leakage
circuit breakers that incorporate leakage detection ICs used in homes
and buildings are currently being considered for cars in order to pre-
vent electric shock or fires when using AC outlets. However, severe
challenges regarding reliability (including temperature protection)
must be overcome before full implementation is possible.
In response, ROHM developed a new leakage detection IC designed
to provide safe, reliable operation of AC outlets in vehicles. The
BD9582F-M expands the temperature range from the conventional -
20°C to 95°C to a more robust -40°C to 105°C and protects against
electromagnetic radiation, providing the necessary level of reliability
for automotive applications. ROHM’s leakage detection IC also com-
plies with semiconductor standard AEC-Q100 for automotive applica-
tions and utilizes proprietary technology combined with a novel circuit
design for improved cutoff (interrupt) performance and greater sys-
tem safety. In addition, further circuit optimization results in the indus-
try’s lowest current consumption of 330uA, prolonging battery life
while maintaining high reliability operation. Also, this IC is compatible
with AC100~240V, ensuring support not only for automotive systems
but consumer devices as well.
www.rohm.com/eu
Leakage Detection IC for Automotive Applications
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
More information at
www.omicron-lab.com/bps
How stable is your
power supply?
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Smart Measurement Solutions
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61
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NAS-
DAQ: TXN), unveils a free, interactive online
simulation tool that enables motor designers
to assess TI’s InstaSPIN™-field-oriented-
control (FOC) technology. This online simu-
lation allows users to fully evaluate TI
InstaSPIN-FOC’s superior software-sensor-
based “sensorless” control for variable
speed and load applications using three-
phase, synchronous or asynchronous
motors. Within the online simulation, evalua-
tors can select from a library of motors, cus-
tomize speed and load profiles and obtain
simulation results within minutes. The simu-
lation viewer enables users to view each
waveform with a variety of zoom and pan
options, perform numerous waveform analy-
ses (e.g., period calculations, RMS, aver-
age) and print results. The entire experience
is intended to give users confidence to pro-
ceed with motor designs using TI InstaSPIN-
FOC motor technology.
Introduced in February, TI’s InstaSPIN-FOC
removes the need for a mechanical motor
rotor sensor, reduces system costs and
improves operation using TI’s new software
encoder (sensorless observer) algorithm,
FAST™ (flux, angle, speed and torque),
embedded in the read-only-memory (ROM)
on TI’s 32-bit C2000™ Piccolo™ microcon-
trollers. InstaSPIN-FOC also eases develop-
ment and complexity for designers — even
those with limited motor control experience
— and enables premium solutions that
improve motor efficiency, performance and
reliability in all variable speed and variable
load motor applications. This motor technolo-
gy joins the previously introduced InstaSPIN-
MOTION and InstaSPIN-BLDC technologies
and will be followed with future InstaSPIN
variations to make motor control develop-
ment easier and more efficient.
www.ti.com
Online Simulation Tool to Evaluate Break-
through Motor Control
Künstler: Matthew Cusick
www.greenpeace.de/helfen
Stoppt den Klimawandel, bevor er unsere Welt verändert.
NEW PRODUCTS
63
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
www.bodospower.com
August 2013
Bodo´s Power Systems®
Cornell Dubilier announced that it has
expanded its Quencharc®, Q/QRL Series of
arc suppressors to include 3 times as many
ratings and values as it had previously
offered.
Dubbed with the trade name Quencharc®,
Type Q/QRL snubber networks are com-
prised of a capacitor and resistor in series.
They are effective at reducing voltage tran-
sients and increasing the operating life of
switching devices such as relays, contactors,
and semiconductor switches.
New values include higher voltage networks,
up to 1600 Vdc/ 660 Vac and more capaci-
tance and resistor values to choose from at
each voltage.
Cornell Dubilier stocks Type Q/QRL at their
key franchised distributor sites for quick turn-
around for prototype and preproduction
quantities.
For inquiries, contact: Mike Rapoza;
mrapoza@cde.com | Product Marketing
Manager, Film Capacitors | (508) 996-8561
ext. 110.
www.cde.com
Expansion of
Quencharc®, Arc
Suppression Series
KEY SPEAKERS INCLUDE
• PricewaterhouseCoopers, Senior Manager,
Edward Hamilton
• Scottish and Southern Energy, ICT Project Manager,
Gordon Hewitt and Project Delivery
Manager,
Nigel Bessant
• EON, Technology & Solutions,
Markus Hofsäß
• Taylor Wessing, Partner,
Tracey Sheehan
• Scottish Power, Industry Relationship Manager,
David Ross Scott
• Western Power Distribution, Senior Project Manager,
Sanna Atherton
• Cisco, Solutions Architect,
Marcus Smith
• Alliander, Telecom Policy Advisor,
Erik Moll
• UK Power Networks, Low Carbon Solutions Design Manager,
Tim Manandhar
• Greenberg Traurig, Counsel, Harvard University, Executive Director of the Electricity
Policy Group,
Ashley C. Brown
• ESB, Head of Smart Energy Technologies,
Denis O'Leary
• Enel, Innovation Manager,
Giovanni Coppola
PLUS AN INTERACTIVE HALF-DAY POST-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP
8.30 - 5.00 | 25TH SEPTEMBER 2013
Get Smart with Business Process Models
Gillian Adens, Director,
Hippo Software &
Gareth Tuckwell, Consultant/Trainer,
Hippo Software
www.telecomsforsmartgrids.com
Aaron Jackson on +44 (0)20 7827 6064
ajackson@smi-online.co.uk
Sponsored by
Event Exhibitors
Supported by
SMi presents their 3rd annual conference on…
Telecoms for
Smart Grids
The future of Smart Grid Connectivity
23rd and 24th September 2013, Marriott Hotel Regents Park, London
SMi pr
The future
Quote
U020 POWER
and Save £300
Isabellenhütte has
added the new BVN
four-terminal resistor to
its measuring resistor
range. It is exceptional
due to its small size of
between 3.3 and 4 mil-
limetres plus its
extremely low tempera-
ture coefficient of less
than 50 ppm/K. “It is difficult to produce low-ohmic resistors with val-
ues of less than 1 mOhm that also have good temperature coeffi-
cients. The BVN has achieved it – together with a size that is 25 per
cent smaller than other resistors with similar performance,” confirmed
Thomas Otto from the Application Management division at Isabellen-
hütte. The BVN can handle continuous loads of up to 100 A with a
resistance value of 0.5 mOhm. Overall, it has excellent stability over
long periods and is suitable for a broad temperature range between -
55 and 170 °C as well as for soldering temperatures of up to 350 °C.
The BVN can also be mounted on a variety of circuit boards and sub-
strates: It can be mounted on the traditional FR4 material used in
most standard applications and on DCB ceramics for high-current
applications.
The BVN is suitable for numerous automobile and industrial applica-
tions: for frequency converters in drive technology and power mod-
ules in inverters, as measuring resistor in power hybrids, and for
high-current applications in automobile technology. The components
are ideally suited to use on ceramic substrates thanks to their excel-
lent thermal-cycling resistance and the minimal footprint in high-cur-
rent applications (control electronics, e.g. power steering). Thomas
Otto explains: “Each square millimetre saved in construction equals
cost savings for the manufacturer.” The BVN combines small
mechanical dimensions with high measuring accuracy and low tem-
perature dependence.
www.isabellenhuette.de
The BVN Precision Resistor Uses 25 Percent Less Space
64
Bodo´s Power Systems®
August 2013
www.bodospower.com
NEW PRODUCTS
A Power USA
59
CUI
51
Danfoss
13
Darnell
17
Distribution Automation
58
eCar Tec
56
ECCE Denver
33
E DPC
60
Electronicon
1
EPE ECCE
35
EU PVSEC
27
Fuji Electric Europe
C3
Greenpeace
62
GVA
C2+9+15
Infineon
11
Intelec
43
International Rectifier
C4
Isabellenhütte
57
ITPR
12
LED professional
31
Lem
5
Magna
29
Omicron
61
PE Moscow
19
PEM UK
29
Powerex
41
Productronica
21
proton
39
Semicon Europe
55
sps ipc drives
49
Syfer
53
Telekom for Smart Grids
63
Texas instruments
3
VDI
47
Würth
23
ADVERTISING INDEX
The A1388 and A1389 linear Hall-effect sensor ICs from Allegro
MicroSystems Europe are factory one-time programmable devices
which eliminate the need for customers to optimise or program the
devices for their finished sensor assemblies.
The sensor ICs are targeted at displacement and angular positioning
sensing in the automotive, industrial and consumer market sectors.
The architecture of the A1388 and A1389 allows them to support
magnetic input sensitivity ranges of 2.0 to 4.0 mV/G and 4.0 to 9.0
mV/G, respectively, but the devices initially being released are facto-
ry-programmed to specific magnetic input sensitivity levels.
The devices that are initially being released are the A1388LLHLX-2-T
with 2.5 mV/G sensitivity, the A1389LLHLX-9-T with 9 mV/G sensitivi-
ty, and the A1389LLHLX-RP9-T with -9 mV/G sensitivity.
The temperature coefficients for both sensitivity and the quiescent
voltage output are programmed over temperature to maximise accu-
racy and minimise distribution tolerances. The A1388 and A1389 pro-
vide low output noise (15 mV p-p at 9.0 mV/G sensitivity for the
A1389) and reduced EMI susceptibility at various frequencies. They
also support a fast refresh rate of 20 kHz for high-bandwidth applica-
tions.
The A1388 and A1389 are supplied in a small LH (SOT-23W) surface
mount package.
www.allegromicro.com
Linear Hall-Effect Sensor ICs are Factory Programmed
Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced two Triac-output
photocouplers* that provide reinforced voltage and electrical noise
insulation in an ultra-miniature SO6 double-mould package.
The TLP265J and TLP266J have a minimum rated isolation voltage
of 3750Vrms and have been designed for use in triac drivers, pro-
grammable controllers, AC output modules and solid-state relays
used in home appliances and white goods.
The TLP265J consists of a non-zero crossing photo triac, while the
TLP266J consists of a zero crossing photo triac. Both are coupled to
a long-life gallium-arsenide infrared emitting diode (LED). In terms of
electrical characteristics, they support up to 7mA of trigger LED cur-
rent, which allows them to control output at a lower input current,
thus contributing to lower power consumption.
The photocouplers are approved for worldwide use, as they have UL,
cUL, and VDE approvals for creepage distance and clearance dis-
tance of min. 5mm. Both devices are compatible with an AC mains
voltage of 240V. They support a peak-off state voltage of min. 600V
and an on-state current of up to 70mA.
The TLP265J and TLP266J are both rated for an operating tempera-
ture range of -40°C to 100°C. Additionally they are easy to use,
because they support reflow mounting in accordance with JEDEC
standards.
www.toshiba-components.com
Increased Voltage Isolation in a Smaller Package
Ultra-fast Switching, Rugged 600V High Frequency IGBTs
Automotive COOLiRIGBT™ Gen 1
COOLiRIGBT™
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 kHz
10 kHz
100 kHz
1000 kHz
Switching Frequency (kHz)
Max Input Current (Arm
s)
CooliRIGBT™
Gen 1
Tj = 175°C
Super Junction
MOSFET
Tj = 150°C
50% Higher current
at 100kHz
Tj max = 175°C
Tj Max
Manufacturability
Switching
Frequency
Losses At
High Currents
150˚C
Super Junction
MOSFET
Complex
High
High
175˚C
COOLiRIGBT™
Gen1
Simple
High
Low
CooliRIGBT™ offers 50% higher current than super junction MOSFETs
COOLiRIGBT™ Gen 1 are designed
to be used in a wide range of fast
switching applications for electric
(EV) and hybrid electric vehicles
(HEV) including on-board DC-DC
converters, and battery chargers.
Features:
U Switching frequencies up to 200kHz
U 600V rated devices with a short circuit
rating of > 5ps
U Low VCE(on)
U Positive VCE(on) temperature coefficient
making the parts suitable for paralleling
U Square Reverse Bias Safe
Operating Area
U Automotive qualified
U Tj max of 175¨C
U Rugged performance
U Designed specifically for automotive
applications and manufactured to
the 0PPM initiative
THE POWER MANAGEMENT LEADER
For more information call +49 (0) 6102 884 311
or visit us at www.irf.com
