Smart Power Module Research Articles

Power Quality Issues in Brushless DC Adjustable Speed Drives

The paper presents some power quality issues in brushless DC adjustable drives. It is focused on specific tests performed and results obtained for a residential air conditioning system ready to be put on the market (i.e. an air handling unit, a system that conserves a significant amount of energy while maintaining indoor comfort). In the introductory section, are presented the new smart power modules, based on fast-recovery MOSFET technology as a compact inverter solution, that drive centrifugal fans provided with brushless DC motors. In the second section, the operating principles of air handling units are shortly addressed, along with the detailed test setups and results obtained on harmonics and conducted electromagnetic interference measurements, according to electromagnetic compatibility standards for the air handling unit. The main conclusion of the paper is that power quality and electromagnetic compatibility issues should be a permanent concern since the early stage of design, in order to save the time and the money involved in applying final retrofitting measures.

Control Method for Universal Smart Power Module Considering Wireless Communication

A universal smart power module (USPM) has been studied as a modularization method for rapidly developing power converters with various specifications. Herein, a control method is proposed for a three-phase modular multilevel converter composed of USPMs. The autonomous balance control of the proposed control method suppresses the variation in the voltage of the cell capacitor and the disturbance caused by communication delays. This enables the application of the proposed versatile extension method. Moreover, current droop control suppresses the effects of delay variations caused by wireless communication and eliminates system instability caused by control interference between modules. Based on the experimental results of steady-state and load-fluctuation responses with a simulated wireless communication implementation, the deviation from the command values of the line and cell capacitor voltage is less than 5%. Furthermore, the autonomous balance control improved the variation in the capacitor voltage in all modules from 9.70V to 1.94V. The results validate the effectiveness of the proposed control method in wireless communication environments.

High Voltage Smart Power Module For Fault-Tolerant Launcher Applications

Generalization of electromechanical actuators use in thrust vector control launchers applications has increased electronics power level needs by a factor of ten, in a global context which puts costs under pressure.The need for a modular and affordable power solution being versatile to fulfil different launcher mission profiles has become thereby stronger.In order to target different power and functional needs, an attractive design should be modular and multipurpose, will work at higher voltages and will be able to deliver powers up to a dozen of kilowatts.Moreover, an efficient design to cost approach will consider alternative technologies, widely used by other high-reliability industries, including Components Off-The-Shelf (COTS) integration.This paper presents the design of a low cost and highly integrated smart power module (SPM) intended to be used into launchers applications, embedding technologies and components from automotive world and being mainly producible by large-scale industry.

Improving the FE simulation of molded packages using warpage measurements

Due to the constant development of new components in microsystem technology the possibility to guarantee the reliability and lifetime of these components is essential. An efficient method for this purpose is Finite Element (FE) modelling. In order to shorten lengthy and expensive lifetime tests, FE simulations become more and more necessary. To obtain suitable FE models, multitude of material and technical component characteristics are needed. However, due to the rapid development of new materials, the characteristics are often insufficient or even unknown. Therefore additional measurements of the material or the complete system are necessary. Which material data is required depends first and foremost on the component and its usage.In this paper the importance of temperature dependent topographic measurements for the simulation model of a package design (Smart Power Module) will be demonstrated. The warpage of a whole package was measured at different temperatures in order to obtain unknown material behaviour like the chemical shrinkage and polymer relaxation. For this purpose, the Shadow Moiré Measurement Method was utilised.This work will focus on how to obtain experimental data of two different molding compounds (MC) in several stages of lifetime as well as implementing the results in a FE simulation model.

Smart Power Module Molding Advances: Evaluating high temperature suitability of Molding Compounds

During the last years within power electronics packaging a trend towards compact power electronics modules for automotive and industrial applications could be observed, where a smart integrated control unit for motor drives is replacing bulky substrates with discrete control logic and power electronics. Most recent modules combine control and power electronics yielding maximum miniaturization. Transfer molding is the method of choice for cost effective encapsulation of such modules due to robustness of the molded modules and moderate cost of packaging. But there are challenges with this type of package: Typically those packages are asymmetric, a substrate with single sided assembly is overmolded on the component side and the substrate backside is exposed providing a heat path for optimized cooling. This asymmetric geometry is prone to yield warped substrates, preventing optimum thermal contact to the heatsink and also putting thermo-mechanical stress on the encapsulated components, possibly reducing reliability. Such packages being truly heterogeneous, combining powerICs, wire bonds, SMDs, controlICs, substrate and leadframe surfaces, the encapsulant used needs to adhere sufficiently to all surfaces present. Additionally those packages need to operate at elevated temperatures for long time, e.g. operate at 200 °C for 1000 h and more, so high thermal stability is of ample importance. Within this paper the main goal is to identify transfer molding compounds suitable for the encapsulation of smart power modules, ready to be used at 200 °C and determine the actual maximum temperature of use of such high performance molding compounds currently available in the market. Summarized a detailed description of the high temperature suitability of high performance molding compounds is provided – additionally an extended test methodology is described to facilitate future material evaluation for HT or harsh environment use of polymeric materials as encapsulants or base materials.

High temperature, Smart Power Module for aircraft actuators

More electric aircraft require converters that can operate over a wide temperature range (−55 to more than 200°C). Silicon carbide JFETs can satisfy these requirements, but there is a need for suitable peripheral components (gate drivers, passives. . . ). In this paper, we present a “smart power module” based on SiC JFETs and dedicated integrated gate driver circuits. The design is detailed, and some electrical results are given, showing proper operation of the module up to 200°C.

순간전압강하 보상을 위한 저가의 승압형 단상 인버터 시스템의 설계 및 구현

In this paper, a 300[W] class boost type single-phase inverter system which can compensate voltage sag on source side is designed and implemented. This system is a two-stage conversion system composed of a boost converter and a PWM inverter. If the voltage sag has appeared at the point of common coupling, the boost converter would be operated to compensate it. The boost converter and the inverter were constructed on single smart power module(SPM) to implement low cost system. The system is designed for that the THD of output voltage is below 5[%]. Finally, the validity of the design for the inverter system is verified by both simulations and experiments.