Driving the electrification of commercial vehicles
Currently, the development of electric buses for urban transportation is accelerating and both, smaller delivery vehicles and long-range trucks are following. The all-electric heavy-duty vehicle demands highly efficient semiconductor solutions in a range from some watts to several hundred kilowatts, spanning at least 5 decades of power.
Inside the vehicle, two parallel worlds of electronics coexist. One is the low-voltage domain supplying on-board functions from driver convenience to lighting in a 12 V or 24 V environment. High-voltage batteries, topping off at close to 1000 V, drive the other world. The largest consumer of power remains the drive train, followed by climate control systems for heating and air conditioning. Subsystems that include pumps, fans and compressors are omnipresent and require highly efficient semiconductor solutions. The link between those worlds are DC-DC-converters that replace the classical alternator, which is now obsolete.
Besides driving an electric vehicle, charging the batteries is an important topic. Several potential options for this exist. On-board chargers connected to three-phase supplies pose a potential solution if longer periods for charging are available. Opportunity charging to supply power on dedicated positions is a further option. Either wireless power transfer by inductive coupling is used or an electrical connection is established by pantograph. Charging the vehicle with high-power DC-chargers is the most powerful option. This currently allows charging powers of up to 350 kW. Operation with two chargers in parallel can even double the charging power.
Whitepaper: "The changing face of CAV – how electrification is changing the commercial vehicles business"
Just as private vehicle users are being asked to address their CO2 footprints, so too are Commercial, Construction and Agricultural Vehicle (CAV) operators. This is driving a move toward electrification. There have already been several successes in this space, such as low-emission dump trucks being used in mining enterprises. China has also made significant progress, introducing electric busses to many of its cities. Regardless of the degree of electrification, electronic control systems are also of increasing importance in this revolution. These range from battery switches and power management, to technologies that enable energy-efficient platooning of trucks on highways and reduce blind spots when turning. Many of these capabilities are simply steps to the ultimate goal of fully autonomous operation.
The challenges for vehicle designers are the extreme demands placed on the electronic systems, since CAVs operate for many more hours daily than private vehicles, covering larger distances over their lifetime. Additionally, they operate in some of the harshest environments regarding temperature extremes and shock/vibration while having to maintain the highest safety levels. This white paper reviews the e-CAV market’s applications and takes a look at some of the solutions that Infineon has on offer.
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Below you can find an overview of all relevant components inside an e-bus Infineon provides solutions for. Find out which products Infineon offers in the block diagram below:
Click here to enlarge image Click here to enlarge diagram
- PrimePACK™ for CAV
- CoolSiC™ MOSFETs
- 1200 V EconoDUAL™ 3
- AURIX™
High ruggedness against vibration and shock
The reliability of power semiconductors used in CAV applications must meet the stringent requirements of the traction market but at the lower costs and high power density associated with the automotive market. The rugged construction of the PrimePACK™ modules and its high level of thermal and power cycling capability make it especially suited for heavy and dynamic mission or load cycles. Choose for example 1200 V PrimePACK™ 2.
Power modules for auxiliary drives
Infineon’s unique 1200 V CoolSiC™ MOSFET adds advantages that are key for the demands of all-electric heavy-duty vehicles in the fields of auxiliary drives like air condition or convenient systems. Superior gate oxide reliability enabled by state-of-the-art trench design, best in class switching and conduction losses, highest transconductance level (gain), threshold voltage of Vth = 4 V and short-circuit robustness. In Easy 1B and 2B housing they offer a very good thermal interface, a low stray inductance and robust design as well as PressFIT connections. Choose 1200 V CoolSiC™ MOSFET modules in half-bridge, four-pack or six-pack configuration.
Check out the following related parts:
- FS45MR12W1M1_B11
- FF23MR12W1M1_B11
- FF11MR12W1M1_B11
- FF6MR12W2M1_B11
- FF8MR12W2M1_B11
Power modules for CAV with IGBT4
EconoDUAL™ meets the demand for compact inverter designs, flexibility and optimized electrical performance at the highest levels of reliability. These 17 mm-high modules have screw power terminals and are easy to assemble. Optimized gate driver connection is possible by placing the driver on top of the module. Low parasitic stray inductance and optimized thermal resistance to heat sink support excellent inverter solutions. With integrated shunts the module offers further advantages like cost reduction, reduced space and reduced cabling effort.
AURIX™ is Infineon’s current family of 32-bit microcontrollers combining easy-to-use functional safety support (up to ASIL-D / SIL3), a high real-time performance and a future-proven integrated Hardware Security Solution (HSM) in a highly scalable product family. Its innovative multicore architecture, based on up to three unified (RISC / MCU / DSP) processor cores, has been designed to meet the highest safety standards, while simultaneously increasing performance significantly. Thanks to its special feature set, AURIX™ is the ideal platform for a wide range of CAV and transportation applications.
Infineon: Electric Transportation and Charging Solutions - Keeping Goods and People Moving
Register to experience all-day challenges when operating heavy-duty vehicles, and the technical solutions behind the scenes. Learn about electrified heavy-duty vehicles in drive-trains, auxiliary drives and the ecosystem around commercial vehicles.
Infineon Webinar - Online, ON Demand
Driving the Electrification of Commercial Vehicles
This webinar focuses on all aspects of electric applications in large-scale vehicle linked to the high voltage battery system.
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