APEC News: Infineon, Danfoss, SBE, and ST Unveil New Products and Technology
The first day of the Applied Power Electronics Conference & Exposition (APEC) 2012 witnessed new product releases from Infineon, Danfoss & SBE, and ST Microelectronics.
Infineon Technologies AG introduced the new OptiMOS™ 40 and 60V power MOSFET families. These devices are optimized for synchronous rectification in Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) such as those deployed in servers and desktop PCs. In addition, they are a perfect choice for a broad range of industrial applications like motor control, solar micro inverter and fast switching dc-dc converter. The new Infineon OptiMOS™ 40 and 60V families support high efficiency and power density with the lowest on-state resistance (R DS(on)) and optimized switching behavior.
Due to constantly growing speed and power requirements of data processing, ac-dc designers face the challenge to improve system efficiency and power density while at the same time having to reduce system costs. Infineon’s new 40V and 60V MOSFETs address this variety of challenges concurrently.
Solar applications also benefit from higher performance levels of semiconductor components. In typical photovoltaic topologies such as buck/boost for power optimizers or resonant full bridge for micro inverters, both R DS(on) and switching characteristics are important. By using the BSC016N06NS device from Infineon’s new 60V family, in a SuperSO8 package that measures 5mm x 6mm, a 1.5% higher efficiency can be achieved at a 20% load condition in a solar micro inverter.
Danfoss Silicon Power GmbH and SBE, Inc. displayed the latest versions of their joint development efforts of new fully integrated capacitor/bus structure/IBGT design solutions for power electronics for transportation and other demanding applications.
As part of these jointly designed solutions, SBE, Inc. is providing what it describes as leading edge film capacitors with the highest performance for electric vehicle and energy conversion inverters and systems. SBE integrated module topology is an innovative approach which offers many benefits such as higher performance in inductance and thermal efficiency, weight reduction, smaller packaging and total system cost savings.
For this demonstrative design, Danfoss utilized its leading edge transfer molded power module technology, which provides best-in-class power density and scalability. The unique ShowerPower® cooler provides efficient thermal management for both the power modules as well as the bus bar in a compact double sided concept.
STMicroelectronics (ST) claims that power units such as laptop adapters, PC power supplies and LED lighting ballasts will become more efficient, cost-effective, reliable and quiet using its new controller.
ST’s controller for LLC resonant voltage converters, the L6699D, is said to be the first of its type to combine anti-capacitive protection, auto-adaptive dead-time and enhanced safe-start operation. These features are implemented using patented techniques, and effectively reduce stress on associated power semiconductors while enabling optimized zero-voltage switching for greater energy efficiency across the power supply’s full load range.
By reducing stress on the power MOSFETs of the converter half-bridge, the L6699D’s anti-capacitive protection and safe start-up allow designers to specify smaller, lower-cost MOSFETs. There is also a patented method for improving burst-mode operation, which reduces audible noise from the converter without requiring a large or expensive filter.
ST’s patented auto-adaptive dead-time adjusts the duration when both power switches in the half-bridge are turned off. This enables optimized zero-voltage switching over the complete load range from light load to full load using a smaller transformer and resonant components, thereby minimizing both solution size and energy loses in the resonant components. By increasing efficiency at light loads, the L6699D can also save the need for a separate standby power supply in equipment such as televisions pr all-in-one PCs thereby further reducing cost and form factor.
The L6699D is used with two companion chips, the L6563H Power-Factor Correction (PFC) controller and SRK2000 synchronous rectifier driver, to create a complete control solution for medium to high-power applications. Compared to other approaches that combine resonant control, PFC control and sometimes also power MOSFETs in the same package, ST’s discrete devices enhance functionality and flexibility for designers. The L6699D is the most feature-rich LLC resonant controller on the market, building on the industry-leading efficiency and performance of previous-generation controllers. Moreover, the three small, low pin-count packages enable small form factors and high power density that cannot be achieved using a bulky, integrated device. The three chips are also competitively priced compared to more expensive integrated devices.
