Automotive & Transportation

January 2022
Diodes Extend Battery-Time and Save PCB Space
Nexperia announced a comprehensive range of low current voltage regulator diodes. The 50 µA Zener diode range is available in three different surface-mountable (SMD) package options, in an ultra-small Discretes Flat No-leads (DFN) package and AEC-Q101 qualified parts, providing the ultimate in customer choice an
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Date:
01/28/2022
PSDcast – World's First GaN IC Design Center Dedicated to EVs

Stephen Oliver, the VP of Corporate Marketing & Investor Relations at Navitas

Navitas Semiconductor has opened the world’s first GaN IC design center dedicated to EVs. This is a monumental bit of news with ripples that could spread across the globe, and we’re eager to learn more.
Date:
01/27/2022
PSDcast – The Advantages of Lithium Titanate Batteries

Charlie Welch, the co-founder and CEO of ZapBatt

Lithium titanate batteries have emerged as a serious alternative to lithium-ion batteries, even if the former is actually a modified version of the latter. And here to talk about the…rebirth of lithium titanate batteries is Charlie Welch, the co-founder and CEO of ZapBatt, which has used its proprietary software an
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Date:
01/26/2022
4-Quadrant Silicon PIN Photodiode Delivers Peak Sensitivity of 950 nm
The Optoelectronics group of Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. introduced a new Automotive Grade 4-quadrant silicon PIN photodiode in a standard surface-mount package. Enabling a variety of sensor and control applications for the automotive, consumer, and industrial markets, the Vishay Semiconductors K857PH combines hi
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Date:
01/24/2022
PSDcast – Complying with International Standards for EVs

Mourad Chergui, senior product manager at Delta-Q Technologies

One of the biggest challenges for electric vehicle manufacturers is ensuring compliance with a growing list of global regulations. Delta-Q discussed that and a whole lot more in a recent white paper.
Date:
01/20/2022
PSDcast – Thermal Management for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Ron Dutt, the CEO of Flux Power

Thermal management is one of THE most critical recurring themes in our space, especially on the automotive side where it’s absolutely vital for EV charging. But battery temperature control is no less important in the industrial side....
Date:
01/14/2022
SkyWater Partners Enable Breakthrough Silicon Power MOSFET
SkyWater Technology and Applied Novel Devices, Inc. (AND) announced a major industry breakthrough with new transistor technology that offers significant benefits for fast switching power conversion applications.  The power MOSFETs offer 2x lower output charge, near-zero reverse-recovery and ultra-low Qo
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Date:
01/13/2022
Revolutionizing Distributed Air Gap Cores

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Figure 1. Temperature comparison @ 50 kHz single gap vs. distributed gaps

It is fascinating to learn about successful companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, HP and Harley Davidson that started in their founders’ garages. Each started as a hobby business, innovating upon decades-old technology, expertly tailoring the technology into custom solutions for their customers. Over time, th
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Date:
01/12/2022
Schaffner Introduces FN2220 EMC Filter for EV Fast Charging
Schaffner announces the new FN2220 EMC filter designed to meet the requirements of EV fast charging systems. The fast-growing adoption of electric vehicles (EV) worldwide is being followed by increased demand for charging stations. To top-up EV batteries when travelling, new generations of high-p
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Date:
01/06/2022
Microcontrollers Accelerate Electrification and Digitalization of the Car
The future of mobility will be carbon-neutral, autonomous, fully connected and cyber secure. Microelectronics are at the core of this transformation. Infineon Technologies AG launches a new generation of its AURIX microcontroller family (MCU). The TC4x series fosters the trends of eMobility, adv
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Date:
01/06/2022
High-Resolution 77-GHz Radar Sensor Detects Objects up to 40% Farther Away
In an effort to move autonomous driving and vehicle safety forward, Texas Instruments (TI) announced an expansion of its automotive offerings that can help automakers improve how advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) sense objects. TI’s new AWR2944 radar sensor adds to the compan
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Date:
01/05/2022
PSDcast – Charging EVs Directly from the Circuit Breaker

CEO of Atom Power, Ryan Kennedy

Atom Power announced the launch of an EV charging solution called PURPL, and according to their press release, it “charges vehicles directly from the circuit breaker and incorporates unique energy management technology to keep electricity costs low.”
Date:
01/04/2022
Navitas Opens World's First GaN IC Design Center Dedicated to EVs
Navitas Semiconductor announced the opening of a new electric vehicle (EV) Design Center, further expanding into higher-power GaN markets. GaN-based on-board chargers (OBCs) are estimated to charge 3x faster with up to 70% energy savings compared to legacy silicon solutions. GaN OBCs, DC-DC converters and tr
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Date:
01/04/2022
Reference Design for the Industry's Most Efficient All-Silicon 33W 1C Chargers
Silanna Semiconductor, The Power Density Leader, has launched a new active clamp flyback (ACF)-based reference design that simplifies and speeds the development of 33W 1C fast charger applications built using silicon power FETs. Featuring the company’s latest SZ1131 CO2 Smart Power ACF controller technology, t
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Date:
01/03/2022
The Challenges of EV Infrastructure
2022 could be the year that the electric vehicle makes a real breakthrough. Everything seems to be falling into place with manufacturers all producing new models and the technology being improved considerably. We have ultra-fast charging, models that can drive for 400 miles between charges and both private and pu
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Date:
01/01/2022
What Industry Trend Will Have the Biggest Impact in 2022 and Why?
Well, it’s unanimous – electric vehicles will have a foundational role in 2022, at least if our esteemed panel of experts are anything to go by. I asked select companies what they thought the biggest industry trend would be for the new year, and all five mentioned EVs. Granted, each came at it from a di
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Date:
01/01/2022
How Fast Can We Transition to Electric Transportation?
An estimated 5.5 million electric vehicles were in service in 2020, and by 2025 the expectation is that over 24 million EVs will be on the road. The quest to electrify transportation and have complete zero emission vehicles will need to overcome critical obstacles that will push the limits of how fast it can re
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Date:
01/01/2022
EV Range Extension in Traction Inverters Using SiC

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Figure 1. Power conversion elements in EVs. The traction inverter converts the HV battery’s DC voltage into AC waveforms to drive the motor, which in turn propels the car

There are two major disruptions currently affecting the future of vehicular transport and semiconductor technology. We are embracing a new and exciting means to propel our vehicles cleanly with electrical power, while simultaneously re-engineering the semiconductor materials that underpin electric vehicle (EV) su
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Date:
01/01/2022
Transformerless OBCs With Three- and Single-Phase Operation

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Figure 1: The traction battery of a xEV can be charged via a DC charging station or, via the OBC, from the AC grid (a). This article focuses on AC charging, especially on transformerless OBCs to be operated at (European) three-phase grids (b) and North-American single-phase (“split-phase”) grids (c)

On-board chargers (OBCs) charge the traction batteries of electric- and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (xEVs) from the AC grid. They work at raised power levels (11 kW, 22 kW) and should be able to handle various grid forms - however, the combination of operating from European three-phase grids and North-American si
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Date:
01/01/2022
Using 5G to Grease the Wheels of Edgier, More Intelligent Automobile Domains

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Figure 1. When coupled with 5G, the accelerometer and gyroscope data fusion provide incredibly accurate location data for Vehicle-to-Vehicle systems and infrastructure

Significant developments such as the rollout of multi-gigabit 5G cellular infrastructure, real-world deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) and the deployment of edge/cloud computing have been taking place. In this article we revisit the purpose and functions of vehicle domains bef
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Date:
01/01/2022
Silicon Carbide Technology and Digital Gate Driving Pave Way for Electrification of Heavy Transport Vehicles
Among the most promising technologies in the mission to decarbonize emissions-intensive transportation vehicles are SiC-based power-management solutions supported by configurable digital gate driver technology. The high power and voltage requirements of electric vehicles (EVs) of all types, including electric
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Date:
01/01/2022
From Cold Crank to Load Dump: A Primer on Automotive Transients

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Figure 1: Typical Automotive Electrical System

New vehicles provide infotainment systems with high-resolution displays, an enhanced user interface, and numerous connectivity options. Improved safety features include LiDAR for collision avoidance, as well as multiple cameras and sensors for driver awareness. Many of these electronic modules are connected to 12V
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Date:
01/01/2022
Rapidly Advancing Automotive Technologies Create New Challenges for RF Test and Measurement

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Figure 1. New automotive electronic systems

Automotive electronics technology continues to advance at an astounding rate, taking advantage of many of the technologies developed for aerospace, space systems, and the military. In a short amount of time, the industry has moved from basic gauges that monitor automobile systems such as fuel, speed and temperature to
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Date:
01/01/2022
2022 – The Year of the EV?
Happy new year to all our readers from everyone here at Power Systems Design. I hope everyone had a good break over the festive season and are fresh and ready for a busy new year. Personally, I am really excited about this year. Hopefully the worst of the COVID epidemic is over and we can return to some sense of
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Date:
01/01/2022
Looking (and Hoping) for a Better New Year
It’s the dawn of 2023. We’ve just had a year’s worth of live, in-person shows, masks – excepting the Halloween sort – are a distant memory, and no one needs to get re-vaccinated, because other than the flu, there’s nothing to get vaccinated for. Sounds great, right? You never know…. The da
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Date:
01/01/2022
Shrink the 12V Battery by Half and Maintain Cold Crank?

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Advances in safety features, comfort and infotainment systems in automobiles are escalating power requirements, challenging power systems engineers to meet the growing power demands with restrictions in weight and space. Over the last decade, the typical 12V power requirements have increased from 1.2kW to 4kW co
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Date:
01/01/2022
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