It seems like every month sees new applica-tions for power electronics: from domestic, to industrial and e-mobility on land, sea or in the air. The rate of change impacts the electricity infrastructure too. The relatively relaxed world of “10% reserve capacity” in the grid has changed to one where dynamic grids need to react in milliseconds, as well as needing to accommodate DC alongside AC transmission.
There are many common challenges across the solutions developing to address these applications, most notably the need to operate reliably for many decades, despite difficult conditions in terms of vibration, temperature, and humidity. Another frequent issue is that when it comes to power semiconductor com-ponents – though increasingly established as key elements of many solutions – the standard products cannot always fit well to the requirements of particular applications.
The best-suited semiconductor technology, particularly for applications at or above 1.2 kV, divides between those where silicon, and those where silicon carbide makes most sense. Though the boundaries have yet to be finally set, SiC offers advantages in efficiency – which can be decisive for applications like e-mobility – but also in its higher possible junction temperatures. The latter is important as ambient temperatures increase, by leaving a larger delta before reaching the junction temperature, easing the design, not least of the thermal management.
Hitachi Energy offers one of the most diverse power semiconductor portfolios in the power range of 150 A up to 13500 A and 200 V up to 8500 V. All in all, as power engineers Hitachi Energy can support you with advanced, reliable and high-performance power semiconductors for your applications.
Power semiconductors: the silent heroes, forging the path forward to the brave new frontiers in power electronics applications.
Advertisement
