Microchip has announced the launch of a new in car charger (OBC) solution that integrates the company's intelligent, power factor correction, signal generation, high-voltage, and high current drive components. This includes Microchip's dsPIC33C digital signal controller (DSC), MCP14C1 isolated silicon carbide (SIC) gate driver, and SiC mosfet. This solution promises to accelerate the time to market for electric vehicle (EV) developers, whether they are battery powered or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Microchip has also released a white paper related to OBC, outlining how it improves the charging and discharging processes of battery packs.

Control

For many years, designers have been using Microchip's dsPIC in motor control power inverters and charging circuits. In addition to providing basic functions such as high-resolution pulse width modulation (PWM) and analog-to-digital converter (ADC), dsPIC also offers advanced digital signal processing capabilities to assist in feedback and analysis in power electronics.

The dsPIC33C DSC microcontroller series has passed AEC-Q100 certification and can be used in automotive applications. The microcontroller has a dual core architecture. One core can be dedicated to control and automotive communication, while the other core is responsible for signal processing and complex tasks such as power factor correction and modulation. Separating these tasks can improve performance and reliability.

The signal processing capability of dsPIC enhances control algorithms, voltage regulation, and current limitation. The efficient algorithm of DSP provides highly controllable charging in various scenarios.

Drive

The MCP14C1 isolated gate driver has also passed AEC-Q100 certification. It has multiple chip packages: SOIC-8 wide body package for enhanced isolation and SOIC-8 narrow body package for standard isolation. The source and drain currents of the driver are 5A, specifically designed for driving silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs. The driver chip supports undervoltage locking, which is an important requirement when driving SiC MOSFETs.

The driver chip provides separate outputs, allowing designers to use external gate resistors for pull-up or pull-down adjustments. The separation of output and compatibility with resistance pull-up eliminates the need for external diodes, reduces costs, and improves reliability. Isolation is also an important component of kilowatt level power electronics. MCP14C1 uses internal capacitor isolation to reduce noise and suppress unexpected triggering.

Power supply

This kit also includes D2PAK-7 XL surface mount packaged SiC power MOSFETs certified by AEC-Q100. Microchip offers a variety of SiC MOSFETs suitable for automotive grade in car charging solutions. Due to the higher bandgap and better thermal breakdown characteristics of SiC, SiC MOSFETs can provide higher voltage and current capacity.

The D2PAK-7L XL package supplements the SiC related advantages of the device by providing five parallel source sensing pins. These pins increase current capacity and reduce switching losses.

DSP microcontroller, gate driver, and SiC MOSFET

In a typical electric vehicle charging scenario, electrical energy is presented in various different AC or DC voltages and provided in several current flow modes. The electric vehicle on-board charging system draws electrical energy from the cables and converts it into an acceptable form for the electric vehicle battery pack. This type of circuit requires intelligent and electric driving capabilities that are tuned based on the specific design attributes of the battery pack.

Proper charging circuit design has a significant impact on the range, battery life, and customer satisfaction of electric vehicles. However, designing from scratch is an extremely complex and difficult process. By equipping internal components, users of Microchip solutions can have more confidence that their designs can work reliably in practical applications. The Microchip solution utilizes mutually compatible and validated components.

Faust Technology focuses on the field of power devices, providing customers with power devices such as IGBT and IPM modules, as well as MCU and touch chips. It is an electronic component supplier and solution provider with core technology.