As electric vehicles become more affordable, their market acceptance is also increasing. High efficiency, safe power management schemes, and other key factors are bringing a steady flow of power to both electric vehicles and the market. On-board chargers (OBC) for electric vehicles and related solutions are introduced herein.
Market demand for on-board chargers remains high
Electric vehicles have become one of the most popular applications. Regarding the key factors affecting the development of electric vehicles, in addition to the necessity to reduce their prices to a level close to that of fuel vehicles, one of the key factors is to solve the problem of "range anxiety", namely, driving anxiety caused by the sudden power failure of electric vehicles on the road. To solve this problem, we need to be able to easily and quickly find a charging pile/on-board charger for electric vehicles. This widely available charger allows drivers to recharge their batteries through an AC power socket at home or from a socket in a private or public charging station.
In the future, on-board chargers will be gradually popularized to each household, and charging stations similar to gas stations will be set up in public or private shopping centers, restaurants, and parking lots, making it possible to charge electric vehicles conveniently and quickly. The driver can make full use of the charging time of electric vehicles to go to restaurants or stores for meals, shopping, or rest. During this period, the electric vehicle can be fully charged and then be available for driving, eliminating the driver's "range anxiety".
LLC full-bridge converter demonstration board accelerates the development of on-board chargers
The demand for on-board chargers will increase with the development of the electric vehicle market. In this connection, Arrow Electronics has launched an evaluation board for on-board chargers to help customers speed up the product development. The 10kW x2 LLC full-bridge converter demonstration board with full-bridge LLC topology introduced by Arrow Electronics can be applied to high-power charging systems such as electric vehicle chargers and UPS charging systems. With the demonstration board, users can easily develop and design high-power products with a Silicon Carbide MOSFET and diodes, and the evaluation board can be used as a reference for customers to help them shorten the product development cycle.
The 10kW x2 LLC full-bridge converter demonstration board from Arrow Electronics supports DC to DC converters for inputs of 650VDC to 750VDC (nominal 700VDC) and outputs of 300VDC to 550VDC (nominal 500VDC). With an output power of up to 10kW x2, an output current of up to 17.5A x2, and an efficiency of up to 98.4%, it can be applied to 20kW high-power products/chargers.
C3M0065100K SI8261ACD-C-IS
The core chip of the 10kW x2 LLC full-bridge converter demonstration board adopts the NCP1395B PWM controller from ON Semiconductor. The main MOSFET consists of 4 CREE C3M0065100K SiC MOSFETs per bridge (two bridges in total), while the auxiliary MOSFET uses a CREE C2M1000170D SiC MOSFET and 8 CREE C5D50065D SiC diodes as O/P diodes.
The isolated gate driver Si8261ACD-C-IS from Silicon Labs, the IXDN609SI gate driver from IXYS Integrated Circuits Division, and the R12P209D isolated DC/DC converter from RECOM Power.
The mainly purpose of the evaluation board is to demonstrate the performance of SiC MOSFETs and SiC diodes in the full-bridge LLC circuit. SiC MOSFET and SiC diodes can provide very high system efficiency and power density in high power system. Customer can compare SiC system efficiency with traditional power supply easily.
Arrow Electronics provides Schematic and Gerber files for customer evaluation. PCB layouts and schematic diagrams can show the current flow layout method, isolation solution, SiC MOSFET control method, PCB creepage clearance method, magnetic design, etc. The board is designed to assist users in using a SiC MOSFET in a full-bridge resonant LLC circuit demonstration, evaluate the converter level efficiency and power density gain, check the waveforms such as Vgs, Vds, and Id for ringing, evaluate thermal performance, and integrate the SiC-based isolated DC/DC level in larger multi-stage prototype systems for evaluation. It is used as an example of PCB layouts for driving a SiC MOSFET through a Kelvin source pin and for parallel operation of a SiC MOSFET in an LLC circuit.
Modular multi-level topology solution extends battery life
In order to prolong the battery life of electric vehicles, it is necessary to use a modular multi-level topology solution to maximize the useable battery capacity, extend the service life of the overall system, maximize the system availability, decrease the lower voltage maintenance cost and operation cost, and enhance the efficiency. As long as active battery management at the module level is implemented, discarded electric vehicle batteries can be reused independently of the state of charge (SOC).
To assist in the development of vehicle battery systems, Infineon has launched the OptiMOS™ MOSFET, a fundamental component of the inverter system. Thanks to its excellent performance, lowest RDS(on), and outstanding cooling properties, it achieves optimal thermal performance and maximizes product stability.
In addition, Arrow Electronics has also planned to develop lower output voltage bi-directional power supply platform for battery formation, burn-in equipment and CAV (Commercial/ Agricultural Vehicle) applications.
Conclusion
The power management capabilities of batteries is key to the success of electric vehicles. With a safe and fast battery charging ability, extended battery life and reduced design and maintenance costs of electric vehicles, users' willingness to adopt electric vehicles can be enhanced, and the power management capability will bring great power for the development of electric vehicles.
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