Fuji Electric Review
Vol.67-No.4,2021
Power Semiconductors Contributing to Vehicle Electrifi cation and Energy Management
Power Semiconductors Contributing to Vehicle
Electrification and Energy Management
Electrification and Energy Management
Global efforts toward decarbonization are progressing rapidly toward the creation of a sustainable society and the resolution of climate change issues, which are objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2019, Fuji Electric announced its “Environmental Vision 2050,” which focuses on the achievement of a decarbonized society, recycling-oriented society, and society that is in harmony with nature. We aim to achieve this vision through expansion of clean energy technologies and energy-saving products.
The keys to achieving a decarbonized society include vehicle electrification to reduce CO2 emissions and the further improvement of the efficiency of power electronics equipment for the stable and efficient use of energy. Fuji Electric’s power semiconductors are key devices that contribute to electrification and improved efficiency.
This special issue presents Fuji Electric’s power semiconductors with a focus on the latest technologies and products.
Blaabjerg, Frede
ONISHI, Yasuhiko; MIYASAKA, Tadashi; IKAWA, Osamu
In the interests of solving the issues around climate change, the focus on achieving a decarbonized society is growing rapidly around the world. In 2019, Fuji Electric announced its Environmental Vision 2050, which is aimed at achieving a decarbonized society through the proliferation of clean energy technologies and energy-saving products. To that end, it is essential to electrify vehicles and improve the efficiency of power electronics equipment for the stable and efficient use of energy. Fuji Electric’s power semiconductors are key devices for the electrification and improvements, and we will contribute to the creation of a sustainable society through their technological innovation.
This special issue describes the current status and future outlook of Fuji Electric’s power semiconductor products and technologies.
ADACHI, Shinichiro; OBATA, Tomoyuki; HIGASHI, Nobuhiro
The electrification of automobiles has been dramatically accelerated worldwide in the last decade and power modules are required to be compact, low-cost, and higher power output at the same time. In order to meet the market requirement, Fuji Electric has developed the “M677,” an industry-leading ultra-compact RC-IGBT module for xEVs targeting motors with output capacity of 100 kW. By combining low-loss RC-IGBTs, a new package with lead frame wiring, and a high thermal performance cooler, it has lower generated loss by 20% during inverter operation and smaller module size by 50% than a conventional product. This enhancement has resulted in a palm-sized 100-kW class RC-IGBT module that achieves twice the power density compared with the conventional one.
TATEISHI, Yoshihiro; KOYAMA, Takahiro; YOSHIDA, Daiki
In electric vehicles, the development of integrated mechanical and electrical systems is progressing in order to make systems smaller and more efficient. At the same time, the power modules in these systems are also being required to achieve higher power densities. To meet these requirements, Fuji Electric developed a power module that uses a new aluminum cooling unit. The cooling unit was designed using a highly accurate simulation, and its cooling performance was improved by optimizing it fins and flow paths. In addition, it has achieved a compact size by consolidating functions and reducing the number of parts. As a result, its power density was approximately doubled compared to the 3rd-generation (conventional) power module.
EBUKURO, Yuta; YAMANO, Akio; KAKEFU, Mitsuhiro
In recent years, demand has been increasing for high performance power converters with high output power and high reliability. Against this backdrop, Fuji Electric has developed RC-IGBTs that integrate an IGBT and FWD on a single chip and has applied this technology and a 7th-generation “X Series” technology to create the line-up of the “Dual XT” RC-IGBT modules with 1,200 V and 1,700 V ratings for industrial applications. These modules have a higher chip junction temperature of 175°C and smaller junction temperature fluctuations than conventional products using the same package while maintaining high reliability. These improvements have resulted in higher power outputs and longer lifetime of power converters.
MINAGAWA, Kei; KARASAWA, Tatsuya; KARAMOTO, Yuki
Fuji Electric has developed a 7th-generation “X Series” high-capacity IGBT-IPM and added it to the “P631” package line. The new IGBT-IPM achieves high output current and high heat dissipation to meet the demand for higher output power, higher efficiency, and higher reliability in power conversion equipment. Its rated current is up to 1.5 times higher than that of the existing high-capacity “V Series” IPMs. In addition, it improves the loss generated during continuous operation by approximately 7% and operates at high-temperature up to 150°C. This contributes to increasing the output current of inverters by approximately 1.3 times.
KAMIMURA, Takeshi; OHASHI, Hidetomo; TAMURA, Takahiro
Worldwide energy consumption has been increasing year by year, resulting in many countries advancing policies and regulations related to energy savings. In addition to these energy-saving policies and regulations, there is also demand for low-noise and noise-immunity features in compliance with EMC-related standards for communication and control equipment. To meet these demands, Fuji Electric has developed the “P633C Series” 3rd-generation small IPMs with improved energy-saving and EMC performance. Applying the 7th-generation FWD chip technology improves the trade-off between generated loss and generated noise. In addition, they come with newly developed 3ch-HVIC and LVIC chips to improve malfunction and breakdown capability against external surges.
JONISHI, Akihiro; YAMAJI, Masaharu; SUMIDA, Hitoshi
IPMs are used in a variety of applications, including industrial machinery, home appliances, and power supplies for servers. Fuji Electric has developed 3ch-HVIC technology for next-generation small IPMs for power conversion systems. It achieves high noise tolerance for switching noise without increasing the chip area by integrating the highside gate driver circuits (HVIC) for three channels into a single chip instead of using a conventional three-chip configuration and by applying high noise tolerance technology to the level shifter and high-side well structure. Furthermore, applying this newly developed 3ch-HVIC reduces the mounting area of the control unit by approximately 30% and the package size by approximately 10% compared with conventional products.
WATANABE, Sota; HASHIZUME, Yuichi; SHIMADA, Takashi
Increases in data transmission volumes have been increasing the power consumption of servers and communication base stations. As a result, high efficiency power conversion equipment is being required to improve power savings. Against this backdrop, Fuji Electric has developed a 2nd-generation discrete SiC-SBD with improved conductive loss and surge forward current for current continuous mode power factor correction circuits in power supplies for servers and communication base stations. Our proprietary wafer processing technology has improved pn junction diode operation. In addition, by reducing the thickness of the n+SiC substrate to about one-third the size, it reduces thermal resistance and improves heat dissipation. These enhancements have improved the guaranteed surge forward current by 1.6 times compared to 1st-generation products.
UCHIDA, Takafumi; OKUMURA, Keiji; NARITA, Syunki
Fuji Electric has launched a variety of high-efficiency power electronics equipment to solve social and environmental challenges, such as global warming. Recently, we have developed a 2nd-generation 1,700-V SiC trench gate MOSFET by using the trench gate structure of our 2nd-generation 1,200-V SiC trench gate MOSFET. It has a 60% lower specific on-resistance than those with planar gate structure. It suppresses gate threshold voltage instability due to gate bias and specific on-resistance increase due to body diode conduction, both of which have caused reliability issues for SiC devices. In addition, its power loss during inverter operation is 78% lower than that of conventional Si modules.
New Products
HAMADA, Ippei; KINUTA, Takahiro; KUBODERA, Shinji
The spread of cloud computing based information systems and e-commerce has led to an increasing number of data centers (DCs) around the world. In addition to providing Internet access, DCs are responsible for maintaining and operating servers that store critical information. Therefore, the power supply in DCs must be stable and continuous.
Fuji Electric provides comprehensive engineering services from design to operational support for all electrical equipment in DCs, contributing to stable power supply, energy saving, and space savings. One of the core pieces of equipment in DCs is an uninterruptible power system (UPS), which continues to supply power in the event of a power failure or other power supply problem.
In recent years, hyperscale DCs, which are increasingly being constructed mainly in North America and Asia, uses enormous amounts of electricity. This means that UPSs need to have a high capacity and save their energy consumption. Fuji Electric released the 1,000-kVA “UPS7400WX” in FY2018, which meets the safety standards of the North American market.
In this paper, we will describe the next generation model of the “UPS7400WX.“ That is the “UPS7500WX” large-capacity uninterruptible power system, which is developed based on platform technologies, such as power conversion circuits and parallel control of UPS modules.
KAWAMURA, Satoshi
In recent years, ship-to-shore broadband communications using satellite communications have been spreading rapidly. As a result, ships navigating at sea can now enjoy fi xed-price, high-speed communication services. This means that the information gap with land-based services is being resolved, resulting in a sharp increase in needs related to remote services. It is against this backdrop that Fuji Electric has developed an Internet of Things (IoT) system for ships that provides a better service for its exhaust gas cleaning system (EGCS).