As the demand for electric buses and other electrified heavy-duty transportation vehicles increases to meet lower carbon emissions targets, silicon carbide-based power management solutions are delivering greater efficiencies for such transportation systems. Further expanding its broad portfolio of SiC MOSFET discrete and module products, Microchip has introduced a new "production-ready" 1200V digital gate driver that provides system developers with multiple levels of control and protection for safe, reliable Transport and meet stringent industry requirements.
Microchip's First SiC MOSFET Digital Gate Driver Reduces Switching Losses by 50%
For designers of silicon carbide power conversion equipment, Microchip's AgileSwitchR2ASC-12A2HP 1200V dual-channel digital gate driver with Augmented Switching technology is production-qualified and fully configurable. To ensure reliable and safe operation, the 2ASC-12A2HP gate driver provides multi-level control and higher protection levels for SiC MOSFET power systems. Key features of AgileSwitch gate driver products include the ability to suppress drain-source voltage (Vds) overvoltage pulses by up to 80%, which reduces switching losses by up to 50% compared to conventional gate drivers. The 2ASC-12A2HP digital gate driver can source/sink up to 10A peak current, built-in an isolated DC/DC converter, and has a low-capacitance isolation barrier for PWM signals and fault feedback.
Microchip's 2ASC-12A2HP gate driver is compatible with the latest version of the Intelligent Configuration Tool (ICT). This interface allows the user to configure gate driver parameters including gate switch profiles, system critical monitors and controller interface settings. This is equivalent to tailoring the gate driver to the user's application without changing the hardware, helping to speed up development time from evaluation to production, and enabling designers to change control parameters during the design process. ICT offers a free download that saves designers approximately 3 to 6 months of new design development time.
“The societal trend toward electrification of all vehicles, including buses, trains, trams and agricultural transport, depends on innovative power electronics solutions that use less energy to do more,” said Leon Gross, vice president of Microchip’s Discretes Products business unit. production efficiency. When combined with Microchip’s silicon carbide power components, the newly introduced gate driver technology enables engineers to achieve new levels of power density in transportation systems and industrial applications.”
In addition to commercial vehicles, other applications include charging infrastructure, energy storage systems, solar converters, and flight actuators, among others.
Microchip's 2ASC-12A2HP gate drivers are compatible with its broad portfolio of SiC power components and modules and can interoperate with SiC products from other manufacturers. Microchip's combination of silicon carbide power blocks and digital gate drivers enables designers to influence dynamic issues including voltage overshoot, switching losses, and electromagnetic interference. While Microchip provides SiC MOSFETs with snap-down and short-circuit robustness, it also provides a total system solution that greatly simplifies the development process from design to production.
Microchip's silicon carbide product portfolio further expands its rich microcontroller (MCU) and analog solutions to further provide total system solutions for high power applications.