High Currents Under Control Compact Vehicle Power ... - Semikron

COVER STORY
High Currents Under Control
Compact Vehicle Power Systems
Users of power control equipment have used third-party systems for many years, because
they offer the benefits of reduced development costs, shorter time to market and ease of
meeting qualification standards. As specifications have become more demanding, it has
become necessary to use higher levels of integration, with much tighter control of all the
elements in the system.
By Paul Newman, Managing Director, Semikron UK Ltd
To meet the requirements for the broad automotive electronics market
– ranging from fork-lift trucks, to hybrid and electric vehicles, to
large agricultural and construction vehicles – Semikron has established
its Systems Group, to bring all the necessary expertise into
one organisation. The Group works closely with customers to develop
power systems, which are then marketed under the SKAI brand.
The second generation of fully integrated and tested SKAI systems
are now available.
The Systems Group has been formed to build on Semikron’s many
years of experience in these markets. The company has offered integrated
power electronics to its customers for almost 20 years. Initially
just combining power silicon and drivers in custom-designed enclosures,
these have evolved to become more highly integrated, now
including control electronics designed to be ready to accept software
to produce a complete system.
The SKAI vehicle power systems boast a high level of integration and
offer major advantages over comparable competitor systems. They
are developed in line with the latest automotive standards and system
qualification standards, allowing short time-to-market and lower
development costs. The SKAI systems are supplied as standard platforms
with low-voltage MOSFETS or high-voltage IGBTs as the silicon
base. SKAI systems can also be developed to meet individual
customer specifications. Semikron is a single-source supplier,
encompassing everything from feasibility and proof-of-principle studies,
to the development of optimum system architecture, to electrical
and mechanical simulations, end qualification and complete-system
series production.
Aux. power
CAN comm., external I/O
Enclosure IP67
One system, three types
The high-voltage SKAI 2 is available as a water-cooled 600/1200V
IGBT inverter system, and has been optimised for use in applications
such as full-electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars and electric buses. This
system is based on the established sintered, 100% solder-free
SKiM93 IGBT modules, features a polypropylene film DC-link capacitor,
driver electronics, a latest-generation DSP controller, EMC filters,
and current, voltage and temperature sensors, and is supplied in an
IP67 module case. Communication with the vehicle master controller
is via a CAN bus. These systems are designed for outputs of up to
150kW (Figures 1 and 2).
Figure 2: The high-voltage SKAI system is available as a liquidcooled
600/1200V IGBT inverter system, and has been optimised for
use in applications such as full-electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars and
electric buses.
DSP controller
Power supply
Gate driver
Protection
Power
input
terminals
DC-link
capacitor
V
Power section
• 3-phase IGBT inverter single/dual
• 3-phase MOSFET inverter single/dual
T
I
I
• DC-DC converter
I
• Battery charger
• Sensors I/T
• EMI filter
Current
Voltage
Temperature
Power
output
terminals
Heat sink
(Water inlet)
(Water outlet)
Figure 1: A typical SKAI system architecture
Figure 3: The low-voltage version is available as an air-cooled or liquid-cooled
50/100/150/200V MOSFETsingle and dual inverter system,
which is used in material handling and smaller vehicles.
20 Bodo´s Power Systems ® September 2010 www.bodospower.com