Compact power
18 June 2010
Compact power electronics systems for vehicles offers power density of 20kVA/litre.
Semikron has introduced SKAI 2; a compact power electronic systems for hybrid and electric vehicles for use in the agricultural industry, construction industry, materials handling and battery-powered vehicles of any kind.
The systems are designed to operate with supply voltages between 24V and 850V and with output power ratings of between 10kVA and 250kVA.
SKAI systems have been developed with the latest automotive standards and system qualification standards, allowing short time-to-market and lower development costs. The systems are supplied as standard modules with low-voltage MOSFETS or high-voltage IGBTs and in single, dual or multiple-inverter topologies.
Semikron is a single-source supplier that covers everything from feasibility and proof-of-principle studies, to the development of optimum system architecture, to electrical and mechanical simulations, end qualification and complete-system series production. All SKAI 2 modules are fully qualified using analysis such as highly-accelerated life testing (HALT) and end of component-life testing, with full failure-mode effect analysis studies conducted at all critical points of the design cycle, to ensure that they meet relevant automotive standards.
The high-voltage SKAI 2 is available as a water-cooled 600/1200V IGBT inverter system, and has been optimised for use in applications such as full-electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars and electric buses. It is based on the SKiM93 IGBT modules, features a polypropylene film DC-link capacitor, driver electronics, a latest-generation DSP controller, EMC filters, and current, voltage and temperature sensors, and comes in an IP67 module case. Communication with the vehicle master controller is via a CANbus. These systems are designed for outputs of up to 250kVA.
The low-voltage SKAI 2 is available as an air-cooled or water-cooled 50/100/150/200V MOSFET single and dual inverter system that is used mainly in forklift trucks and other materials-handling applications. These systems are suitable for a motor output of up to 55k VA. They incorporate many of the same features as the IGBT-based systems and use the same core control system and I/O connections, and the same system structure.
The third type of SKAI 2 platform is a multi-converter box. These are also housed in water-cooled, IP67-protected cases and communicate with the vehicle master controller via CANbus. The signal interface features analogue and digital I/Os to allow for the connection of a wide variety of sensors, such as temperature sensors and resolver inputs. A typical multi-converter system would include a three-phase 40k VA active front-end converter, a three-phase 20k VA drive inverter, a three-phase 10k VA drive inverter, and a 14V/300A or 28V/165A DC/DC converter.
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