Chargers from 50 kW to 350 kW
Efficient design systems for hyper-fast DC charging systems
The outlook for e-mobility is bright. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA)* about 140 percent more electric vehicles (EVs) were sold in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of the previous year. Yet, to keep this momentum going, it is critical to make owning an EV as convenient as owning a traditional car, which is where high-power DC charging plays a role.
Encouraging drivers to make EVs their primary means of transportation relies heavily on finding ways to extend their range. While carmakers work on more efficient batteries, equally important is building up a powerful, convenient and accessible charging infrastructure. This need for more range and reliable infrastructure translates to greater demand for more power as fast as possible.
High-power DC charging systems up to 350 kW, allow drivers to add 200 km to their battery in about seven minutes – just enough time to have a cup of coffee on the way to their final destination. The technology that makes these chargers fast, efficient and accessible will help eliminate “range anxiety” among drivers and further encourage EV adoption around the world.
*Source: International Energy Agency (IEA) https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2021?mode=overview
Selecting the right components
Infineon has the broadest portfolio for EV charging on the market. With our combined system solutions and competence, it is possible to select the best products and technology for every aspect of EV charger design so that customers receive the best price for performance.
When choosing the ideal power semiconductor, it is important to know the charger’s power level. Ultimately, the selection of suitable devices depends on this factor. Chargers in a power range above 50 kW are commonly built using Infineon’s IGBTs, CoolSiC™ MOSFETs, and diode power modules, such as the CoolSiC™ Easy Module, IGBT EconoPACK™ and the IGBT EconoDUAL™ family. With subunits from 50 kW to 100 kW, chargers with power ranges higher than 100 kW are built by stacking the subunits.
Our high-quality portfolio of power switches works seamlessly with our broad range of drivers. All switches need a driver and all drivers need to be controlled. That is why we also offer the best-fit EiceDRIVER™, as well as XMC™ and AURIX™ microcontrollers for your fast EV charging designs. For converter management, our high-precision coreless current sensors offer the ideal solution for converter control and diagnosis. And finally, our line of OPTIGA™ products ensure data protection and security for the charging station.
Technology trends
The aim of high-power chargers is decreasing charging time to make electric vehicles on par with combustion engine cars. There are two possible charging infrastructure architectures: either isolate the primary AC side or the secondary DC side.
Isolating the primary AC side
In a charging park scenario, six to eight high-power charging stations can be made available with an overall power setup of 2 MW to 3 MW, as proven in practice. Power is sourced from a highly-efficient, medium-voltage transformer, typically 22 kV to 500 kV, to isolate the AC side of the system. The AC to DC stage follows, which may or may not involve an active rectifier. Multi-pulse passive rectification is one option to have the current harmonics under the existing standards. Isolating the primary side gives the designer the freedom to use non-isolated DC-DC converter topologies for the DC-DC conversion stage. Usually, a multiphase buck converter is suitable for this architecture with a DC conversion block.
Isolating the secondary DC side
The second infrastructure architecture reaches 350 kW by stacking 50 kW or 100 kW subunits for standalone applications.
System diagram: 50 to 350 kW EV charger
The AC-DC system comes after an EMI filter, converts AC into DC voltage and usually has a controlled rectification stage. The DC-DC conversion stage is usually an isolating type: first converting DC voltage to high-frequency AC voltage and again converting that high-frequency AC to DC voltage rectification on the secondary side of the transformer.
The common strategy in this power category is to use power modules instead of discrete devices. IGBT-based solutions featuring EconoPACK™ and EconoDUAL™ are perfect for both Vienna Rectifier and AFE, for AC-DC conversion, usually operating at around 20 kHz. CoolSiC™ Easy modules enable the AC-DC converter stage to operate at around 40 kHz to 50 kHz. CoolSiC™ is also a device of choice for the DC-DC stage to enable high switching possibility to reduce the overall system size and achieve higher efficiency.
Parametric Product Finders
Podcast4Engineers: Fast EV charging
Today, a DC charger with 150 kW can put a 200 km charge on an EV in around just 15 minutes. As fast charging and battery technologies continue to evolve and improve in the near future, experts anticipate the charging time to drop even further. Listen to our Podcast4Engineers episodes as our Infineon experts discuss the latest trends and challenges in EV charging and how our one-stop product and design portfolio can help design energy-efficient DC EV chargers today.
Webinars
As electro mobility increasingly becomes part of our daily lives, the need for more efficient charging solutions is growing. With an eye on the requirements and technological developments in this field, the challenge is to respond with smart and compact power conversion solutions for the charging networks of today and tomorrow. In this webinar, you will gain deeper insights, into Infineon's comprehensive DC-EV charging portfolio with a focus on silicon carbide and its important contribution to ultra-fast EV charging.
Electric vehicles are changing the demand for charging infrastructure. Driving forces are the desire for fast, large-scale, efficient electric charging, and the correlated technical support to design suitable stations. Infineon offers a one-stop-shop, covering power ranges from kilowatt to megawatt including power semiconductors, microcontrollers, gate drivers as well as security and safety authentication solutions.
Online Courses
Understand why to use WBG switches for bi-directional converters, the topologies used and how they function.
In this video, you will:
- Be familiar with top-side cooling, its uses and benefits
- Learn how you can get the most out of your TOLT package
Do you want to know the various topologies you can find in this power conversion stage and their top-level working principle? Get to know the basic concepts of passive and two-level active rectification methods.
Training topics:
- Get to know how AURIXTM is able to answer the needs of the electric vehicle market
- Recognize and explore how AURIX™ TC3xx addresses key electric vehicle challenges, and understand the main features of the AURIX™ TC3xx microcontroller
In this training you will:
- Be familiar with silicon carbide MOSFET structures and their characteristics
- Get to know Infineon's CoolSiC™ MOSFET, its features, its improvements over a typical trench MOS and how it performs against its competitors
In this training you will:
- Get to know Infineon’s IPOSIM tool, specifically for an automotive electric vehicle inverter
- Discover the steps involved in simulating different parameters and comparing the results of different Infineon products to see which is the best fit for your application
In this training you will:
- Identify the challenges posed by traction inverter applications in terms of system requirements, size, cost and time.
- Describe EasyPACK™ 2B EDT2’s distinctive features and explain how Infineon is able to meet customer needs. Especially in relation to quality and ramp-up capability.
In this training you will:
- Learn about the transition from fule injection combustion engine to full battery electric vehicles and the main 48V powered applications.
- Additionally get an overview about Infineon’s comprehensive MOSFET portfolio for 48 V applications and their support material
