Technical Features

November 2022
CoolSiC™ MOSFET 750 V G1 from Infineon Make Onboard Chargers Smaller, Lighter and More Efficient

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Figure 1: Electric vehicle stock by mode in the Announced Pledges Scenario, 2022-2030 IEA Global EV Outlook 2023

­The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that by 2030, 60 percent of the automobile market will consist of electric vehicles (EV), resulting in over 200 million electric powertrains on the road (Figure 1). In addition to this rapid growth, the automotive industry must integrate various other trends, su
Date:
02/29/2024
Optimizing Drive-Cycle Simulations for Automotive Applications

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Figure 1. EAB450M12XM3 automotive qualified 1200 V, 450 A all-Silicon Carbide conduction-optimized, half-bridge module by Wolfspeed®

­Silicon Carbide (SiC) has transformed power delivery and management in a number of industries, especially electric vehicle (EV) charging and on-board power conversion. This is due to its superior thermal characteristics, low losses, and power density, which result in higher efficiency and reliability when com
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Date:
11/30/2022
Advancements in Energy Storage System Capabilities

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Figure 1: Residential application

­Energy storage systems are used in a variety of renewable energy sources to store power and stabilize electrical performance. With the growth of interconnected systems as well as an increased focus on clean energy at both commercial and residential levels, these systems require increasingly rugged and capable
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Date:
11/09/2022
Bring Your Next Battery Charger Project to Life with Minimum Design Risks

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Figure 1. Infineon offering cover key components in chargers (colored in green)

­Every day more and more of the devices and equipment used in our daily life are powered by batteries. For example, we can find electronic equipment with batteries around the house, such as cordless power tools, drones, and other domestic robots (e.g., robotic vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers, etc.). At the same time, due to rising fuel prices, government incentives, and rising awareness about air pollution, common modes of transportation such as bicycles, scooters, and mopeds have now also turned into electrical vehicles. All of these applications are
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Date:
11/01/2022
Adhesion Control Protects Inspection Robot Investment

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Figure 1: a) Gripper foot prototype in bottom view with four equally distanced SENM3Dx sensors on PCBs and the electro permanent magnet (EPM). The magnetic axis definition is shown for one sensor. b) Sensor PCB bottom view with SENIS SENM3Dx

­Robotic solutions are well recognized for their potential in the field of inspection and maintenance, especially for ferrous (steel) structures, such as complex bridge structures and towers. In practice, this means that industrial climbing robots equipped with electro permanent magnet (EPM) grippers are used wh
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Date:
11/01/2022
Keeping Track of Position Even After Power Loss

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Figure 1. The multiturn principle of the operation

­Position sensors and encoders are ubiquitous in automotive and industrial applications where it is vital that the position of the system is known at all times. However, incumbent position sensors and encoders can only provide a single turn or 360° TPO position information. Systems that require TPO position in
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Date:
11/01/2022
Time to Kill the Deadtime

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Figure 1: Deadtime in a synchronous buck converter

­Deadtime is the delay needed between the turn OFF and turn ON of two devices when an overlap in ON times would result in cross conduction currents. A typical example for a synchronous buck converter where the simultaneous conduction of Q1 and Q2 would result in a short on the input voltage (VIN), which can lea
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Date:
11/01/2022
Brushless DC Motors and Their Drives - Design Considerations and Challenges

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Figure 1: Comparison of motor performance for the same frame size (source: Groschopp)

­From their simple beginnings in the 18th century, motors have become ubiquitous, consuming more than half of current global energy production, according to ‘4E Electric Motor Systems Annex’ (EMSA). It’s also stated by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that typically 95% of a motor’s lifecycle cost is
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Date:
11/01/2022
How to Create an I2C to UART Converter

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Figure 1. A block diagram of the connections between the I2C master, UART, and the SLG46855

­The SLG46855V is a small package GreenPAK with a huge amount of digital logic and a wide supply range from 2.3 V to 5.5 V. There are a lot of flip-flops, lookup tables, and counter/delay blocks that can be configured to different functions. Flip-flops will be used to create a shift register, lookup tables as
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Date:
11/01/2022
Maximizing Power Density in Next-Gen USB Chargers

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Figure 1: Design specifications for a next generation USB charger

­As part of an initiative to reduce the amount of electronic waste, the European Union has created a requirement for the development of a compact, universal charging device based on the USB-C standard, suitable for all types of portable devices like E-bikes, mobile devices and ever more powerful portable computers, al
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Date:
11/01/2022
Who Needs Avalanche?

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Figure 1. Silicon MOSFET avalanche breakdown effect

­Traditional Silicon high voltage power MOSFETs have maximum voltage ratings that include maximum allowable avalanche energy levels. Avalanche breakdown limits the robustness and reliability of the power MOSFET due to the rapid and uncontrolled increase in current and the absorption of the transient or surge en
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Date:
11/01/2022
Enhancing Angular Position Sensing in Modern Automobile Systems

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Figure 1: x-by-wire interprets the driver’s steering, gear-selection and pedal commands using electrical position sensors - thereby reducing the amount of mechanical parts

Over the past three to four decades, formerly mechanically actuated and regulated systems in the automotive world have been replaced with electrical and electronic equivalents that deliver numerous advantages. In addition to saving weight and bill-of-materials costs, the electrical systems are typically smaller a
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Date:
11/01/2022
High-Density Power Modules Boost Performance for a New Generation of Mobile Robots

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Figure 1: Dusty eliminates the conventional, labor-intensive process of physically transferring building plans onto the floor with a robot programmed at the job site to automate the same task.

­Innovations in power conversion technology are enabling a transformation in robotics design. Today’s integrated power modules address the demanding size, weight, power budgets and cost efficiencies required to move robots from factory, residential and commercial applications into a vast new landscape bounded onl
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Date:
11/01/2022
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