Page 19 - PCIM and APEC 2021 - Technical Coverage, eBook

APEC - Power Supply APEC - THERMAL MANAGEMENT

“Historically, that hasn’t been a problem with mechanical switches because you don’t need a
neutral wire, as they don’t have electronics,” said Lokhandwala. “But now, when you make these
smart products, you’re putting functionality inside, which means you need a constant source of

energy to power these electronic devices. So in a typical smart device, you would have a relay driver,
an AC/DC power supply, and a zero-crossing, discrete circuitry commonly used to ensure that the
delay turns on at the right time. And you would have wireless connectivity and some sensors.

“Ioff is the leakage current when the load is off, as the relays use the other current path in the hope
of conducting while on standby,” he added. “To make sure that this current is kept extremely low,
you have to optimize the system so that this off current stays low; if the current is high, the result
is that the LED bulb, for example, comes on. This current can come and charge the input capacitor,
and as a result, it will basically turn the lamp on and off, which is something you don’t want. This

effect is called LED ‘flickering,’ or ghosting. So with the new product, we can eliminate the need
for a neutral wire. This is very common with homes and retrofit applications because, again, most
homes in North America and Europe and Asia have never really been wired with a neutral wire. So
now you have to design a smart system that can work with the two wires or without a neutral wire.
And what we did was create a complete reference design, which, in this case, is a reference design
for an intelligent dimmer switch based on Nordic’s BLE module.” Power Solutions for

Thermal and Motor

Management

By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, editor-in-chief of Power Electronics News and
European correspondent for EE Times

Infineon presented various solutions during APEC, particularly the latest innovations in thermal

management with the new OptiMOS family of packages and the new device in the EiceDRIVER
family, the 6EDL7141 three-phase gate driver. In an interview with Power Electronics News, Francesca
Pastorelli, product marketing manager at Infineon Technologies, and Marijana Vukicevic, head
of battery-powered motor solutions at Infineon Technologies, highlighted how the diverse design
requirements of power electronics require efficient solutions that meet the highest safety standards.

Applications such as e-scooters, electric forklifts, and other light electric vehicles (LEVs), as well
For More Information as power tools and battery management systems, require high-current ratings, robustness, and

durability. Choosing a package that meets the application requirements allows designers to achieve
maximum performance. “The new TOLG [TO-Leaded with Gullwing conductors] and TOLT [TO-
▶ Live Coverage of APEC 2021 Lead ed Top-side cooling] packages offer very low R and a high-current rating above 300 A to
DS(on)
increase system efficiency in high-power–density designs,” said Pastorelli.

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