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On the road towards becoming a fully electric car maker by 2030, an important focus area for Volvo technology investments and R&D spending is e-motors, inverters and overall electric drivetrain optimisation.
Only by gaining control over electrification technology stack – a process called “vertical integration” – can can a company create pure electric Volvo cars that deliver on everything the customers want: longer range, faster charging and a great Volvo driving experience.
The latest investment by the Volvo Cars Tech Fund, the corporate venture capital arm, reflects those ambitions. Leadrive, a Shanghai-based company founded in 2017, is an exciting new player in power electronics and control units for fully electric cars.
Leadrive is specialising in designing and building power modules that use silicon carbide (SiC) technology. Silicon carbide is a semiconductor base material that promises to unlock highly efficient and flexible electric propulsion systems.
“Leadrive’s technology demonstrates a lot of potential for the development of more efficient electric drivetrains,” said Alexander Petrofski, CEO of the Volvo Cars Tech Fund. “That potential closely aligns with our own focus on electrification, so we’re excited to invest in the company and help it to continue growing its business.”
“Volvo Cars and Leadrive have been working very closely on the development of new generation SiC technologies, which has built a firm stairway towards the strategic collaboration,” said Jie Shen, founder and CEO of Leadrive. “This is a great milestone in Leadrive’s global strategy and demonstrates the huge potential of our cooperation in advanced electrification technology.”
Original – Volvo Car Corporation
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STMicroelectronics has released a new class of IGBTs with an increased breakdown-voltage capability of 1350V and maximum operating temperature of 175°C. The higher ratings ensure greater design margin, robust performance, and extended reliability under all operating conditions.
The new STPOWER IH2 series IGBTs also permit increased power-conversion efficiency. Favorable parameters include low saturation voltage, Vce(sat), which ensures low dissipation when the device is turned on. The freewheeling diode has low voltage drop and optimized turn-off energy that increases the efficiency of single-switch quasi-resonant converters operating at frequencies from 16kHz to 60kHz.
With their ruggedness and high efficiency, these IGBTs are ideal for induction-heating applications including domestic appliances such as kitchen hobs, inverter microwave ovens, and rice cookers. In a 2kW application, ST’s new IGBT devices can reduce power dissipation by up to 11%.
In addition, the Vce(sat) has a positive temperature coefficient and tight parameter distribution between devices helps simplify design and ease connecting multiple IGBTs in parallel to address high-power applications.
The first two devices in the series, the 25A STGWA25IH135DF2 and 35A STGWA35IH135DF2, are in production now and available in a standard TO-247 long-lead power package.
Original – STMicroelectronics
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The new Vincotech 1200 V flowCSPFC S3 SiC module featuring current-synthesizing PFC (CS-PFC) topology based on the constant power control, strikes the best balance between performance and system cost to benefit your business.
The first module of this new product family is well suited for a DC fast charger PFC converter stage up to 35kW power, a “sweet spot” for building scalable DC charger units on a modular approach.
Main benefits
- Current-synthesizing PFC slashes module costs by > 25% with conversion efficiencyranging as high as >99%
- System costs come down with fewer and smaller inductors on the PCB
- No large electrolytic DC-link capacitors for even more system-level savings
- Pinout is ready for bidirectional applications and optimized for easy PCB routing
- High power density for compact designs and fast charging
Applications
- EV fast charger
- UPS
- ESS
Original – Vincotech
