News: Microelectronics
16 December 2021
alpitronic uses Infineon’s EasyPACK CoolSiC modules in 50kW hypercharger
Following the launch of the HYC150 and HYC300 in its hypercharger product line, alpitronic recently introduced the HYC50 50kW DC electric vehicle (EV) charger. As the first wall-mounted DC charger in this power range featuring two charging ports that allow fast charging of one vehicle at 50kW or of two vehicles simultaneously at 25kW each, it is enabled by using EasyPACK CoolSiC MOSFET 1B and 2B modules from Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany in combination with the EiceDRIVER X3.
“We are committed to working closely with customers like alpitronic to help them realize unique designs enabling superior system solutions,” says Dr Peter Wawer, president of Infineon’s Industrial Power Control Division. “In addition to comprehensive system expertise and many years of experience, we offer first-class solutions such as our portfolio of EasyPACK 1B and 2B modules with the latest 1200V CoolSiC MOSFET technology to increase the efficiency as well as the power density. The devices can be flexibly combined with suitable drivers to meet the requirements of each customer and their individual project,” he adds.
“With Infineon's CoolSiC EasyPACK modules in combination with a perfect matching driver IC, we were able to significantly improve the efficiency of our new hypercharger,” comments alpitronic’s co-founder & managing director Philipp Senoner.
By using the CoolSiC technology, the HYC50 achieves up to 97% efficiency and enables a bidirectional design. As a result, the hypercharger is suitable for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operation. At the same time, the charger has a compact footprint of 1250mm x 520mm x 220mm and weighs less than 100kg. Its compact size makes the charger suitable for indoor wall mounting, though it can also be mounted flexibly on a pedestal outdoors. The charger supports the charging standards CCS1 and CCS2 with a capacity of 150A, CHAdeMO with a capacity of 125A, as well as GBT.
In this particular design, Infineon's EasyPACK 1B and 2B modules, which include CoolSiC MOSFETs, an NTC temperature sensor and PressFIT contact pins, were able to increase power density by about 50%. In addition, by using CoolSiC technology, the noise level was significantly reduced from 65dB to less than 50dB.
Besides the necessary power devices, Infineon also provided the matching drivers. The X3 driver IC is particularly suitable for the modules in this design, offering advantages through its configurability and active and passive monitoring options. For example, it enables additional sensor points for operational monitoring, with several gate drivers providing additional temperature points as well as gate voltage monitoring. Thus, the temperature and voltage can be adjusted exactly according to the requirements of the SiC MOSFETs, minimizing static conduction losses and avoiding overloads.
Furthermore, the operating points in the field can be optimized by OTA (Over-the-Air) updates – these can also influence the parameters in the gate driver. Systems in different climates can hence be optimized for the corresponding environmental conditions.
The EasyPACK CoolSiC MOSFET modules will be available in first-half 2022. The HYC50 will be available starting in second-quarter 2022.
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