As mobility goes electric, we need a whole spec-trum of charging solutions, for vehicles from e-scooters to mining trucks. These extend from mobile chargers a user can put in a backpack, through domestic wall boxes, to infrastructure charging at up to 350 kW, which needs just 10 minutes to charge a car for the next 200 km. All these present challenges, with that challenge increasing with the current. In the extreme case, a megawatt charging system (MCS; with the standard covering up to 3.75 MW) may, for example, have to cope with 13 kW of losses at 1 kA in a single junction box, which is not unusual today. To reduce charging times for commercial vehicles to a third, by increasing the current to 3 kA, the same technology would have to deal with losses closer to 130 kW. Obviously, thermal management becomes a prominent topic.
Littelfuse is a concern spanning multiple technologies to provide customized, crea-tive answers for customers unable to source what they need off the shelf. Littelfuse has been looking into low loss charging solutions. These start with stackable modules in the 60 to 100 kW range for single- or multi-phase supplies, using silicon carbide MOSFET and Vienna rectifier topologies, and achieving up to 98% efficiency. The modularity also contributes to the reliability of the systems in which they are combined. At Megawatt levels– inspired by B12C electrolysis technologies – Littelfuse already has thyristor solutions, with efficiencies up to 99.8% at 2.2 MW.
Martin Schulz will present on “Charging Batteries from Scooters to Trucks” at the E-Mobility & Energy Storage Stage, 12 June 2024, 11:40 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., as well as on high power density designs.
Further speakers from Littelfuse will present on and discuss high voltage switches, charging station technology, encapsulation materials, novel and advanced semiconductor devices, and utility-scale battery energy storage systems.
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