New Industry Products

SEMIKRON and Silicon Mobility Collaborate on a 24V to 96V Inverter Platform

May 17, 2021 by Gary Elinoff

The combined inverter platform delivers up to 50kW for automotive battery powered vehicles and for industrial off-road vehicles.

The new collaboration is based on SEMIKRON’s SKAI 3 LV inverter and Silicon Mobility’s OLEA inverter and electric motor control solution. 


Top to bottom: housing, controller and inverter. Image courtesy of SEMIKRON
Top to bottom: housing, controller and inverter. Image courtesy of SEMIKRON
 

SEMIKRON’s SKAI 3 LV Inverter

As described by SEMIKRON’s Dr. Lutz Görgens, most motor controllers are typically “black boxes”, with little scope for modification, while SKAI 3 LV was designed with flexibility in mind.  Indeed, what is provided is simply the power element, the housing and power routing. 

The compact MOSFET inverter system is itself a ready-made power section for a 3-phase motor-drive. The unit is so designed that the user’s choice of controller board can be added within the protection of the housing. Delivering between 8 and 66 kW, the unit is appropriate for everything from golf carts, forklifts, motor bikes up to small EVs. 

 

Silicon Mobility’s OLEA COMPOSER – T222 Starter Kit for the SKAI3 LV 

Silicon Mobility’s  OLEA COMPOSER – T222 Starter Kit for the SKAI3 LV, an intuitive, highly configurable control solution, comprises the digital control and software aspects of the combined platform. The kit includes a reference control board that utilizes the OLEA T222 FPCU, a powerful control chip. It also features the OLEA APP INVERTER, which is a control software application specifically adapted for the SKAI 3 LV inverter power module. 

The starter kit can support a range of 3-phase permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) and wound rotor synchronous motor (WRSM) electric motor position sensors. It provides speed and torque management through field oriented control (FoC) and variable space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) algorithms operating from 2kHz up to 100kHz. Safety measures such as OCP, OVP and OTP are configurable and both calibration and validation are enabled.

Most importantly,  the starter kit also includes vehicle dependent software demo code with GUI based software for post-build measurement, configuration, calibration, as well as for firmware updates.

 

Getting Started Faster

The new inverter platform offered by SEMIKRON and Silicon Mobility opens a “jump start” to successful system development and critically offers easy customization. In the announcement SEMIKRON stresses that this is a “white box” solution. Users will be able to work with SEMIKRON for customization of the power module packaging and casing. Additionally, OLEA APP INVERTER’s object code is accessible from Silicon Mobility through licensing.

As per Karl-Heinz Gaubatz, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of SEMIKRON, “With Silicon Mobility, a technology leader in ultra-fast control schemes, a perfect match is formed for high quality, high-performance solutions for low-voltage vehicle applications.” He goes on to state that “With this platform, we give low-voltage vehicle manufacturers access to technologies and solutions far above today's state of the art implementations, providing them the extra edge for their designs.” 

 

Combining Control Technology with Power Electronics

Rainer Kallenbach, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Silicon Mobility sees the great utility obtained through the combination of their control technology with SEMIKRON’s vast experience in power electronics. He states that, “Together with SEMIKRON, a recognized world leader in power module, we combined control technology and power electronics system to deliver a unique platform highly adaptable and customizable with no compromise on performance and quality." He further declares that “By choosing this platform, vehicle manufacturers can accelerate the electrification of their vehicles and offer themselves the possibility of future differentiation”.