News

ROHM Establishes Global Application Center in India

June 17, 2022 by Gary Elinoff

The company is expanding its state-of-the-art lab to cater to power applications of more than 10kW, and will hire dozens of local power electronics engineers.

Looking to further its vision to both “design in India” for customers worldwide and to then “make in India,” ROHM last week announced the establishment of its Global Application Center (GAC) at Bagmane Tech Park in Bengaluru, India.

 

A building in the Bagmane Tech Park in Bengaluru, India. Image used courtesy of Bagmane Group

 

The center, which was originally established in mid-2021, is purposed to the development of reference designs and to the provision of Indian-based support for the company’s worldwide operations.It houses divisions for LSI development, application engineering, power transistor R&D, and a division for sales and marketing, ROHM said in its announcement release.

Moving forward, the company plans to invest further in the GAC by hiring local Indian power electronics engineers, in addition to expanding its lab to cater to applications of more than 10 kW.

 

What Are Reference Designs?

Think of reference designs like health kits for OEMs. With them, you can enjoy comprehensive instruction on how to build a complex electronic product. 

Of course, reference designs also come complete with a parts list specifying components that, naturally, are built or sold by the company supplying said design. 

 

GAC-produced reference designs. Image used courtesy of ROHM

 

It should be noted that, once complete, products may or may not be ready for sale to an OEM’s customers, even when expertly assembled using only authorized parts. 

 

Reference Designs are a Win-Win Proposition

Design risk, engineering workload and time-to-market can all be reduced by adopting or referring to reference designs. Teams engineering new products from a reference design receive invaluable insight into those products’ operation, as they are able to study them and make measurements literally from the ground up. 

Undoubtedly, engineers utilizing reference designs will also be privy to communication with providers. ROHM, for example, provides robust application support that complements its extensive design details, both of which designers can rely upon in intensive application evaluation. What’s more, when thousands of copies or near copies of the design are in demand, a provider like ROHM will not only sell those parts, but might also offer some additional consulting service.

 

The GAC — Portfolio and Future Directions

Presently, ROHM’s GAC has produced reference designs for a 2.5kW DC/DC converter purposed to an EV charger and a 1kW motor driver, both of which are pictured in the image above. 

The industry is moving away from last generation silicon (Si) transistors and replacing them with silicon carbide (SiC) power devices, which switch at higher speeds and have lower drain-source resistances (RDS(ON)s) for greater efficiencies and faster switching speeds. The latter attribute enables passive filtering components to be both smaller and lighter. 

The GAC has reference designs that will ease the transition to these new semiconductors for experienced and rookie engineers alike. Also on tap are power supply reference designs for data centers and base stations, as well as EV on-board chargers and charging stations.

 

An Engineer’s Take

In choosing India for the location of its GAC, ROHM has made a wise choice. 

As anyone with a LinkedIn account knows, India is filled to the brim with highly educated, highly capable, and highly motivated electrical engineers. Unfortunately, many of them are struggling to find jobs, so ROHM will undoubtedly enjoy a fantastic selection of candidates.

 

Feature image used courtesy of Bagmane Group