TI launched the gate driver UCC5880-Q1 to further improve the range of new energy vehicles

According to Lansheng Technology, for the new energy vehicle market, Texas Instruments (TI) has set four goals, namely: to help users maximize the mileage of their cars; Helping customers improve the charging performance and efficiency of electric vehicles; Through the innovation and change of semiconductor technology, electric vehicles have become more economical; Committed to helping customers design safe and reliable electric vehicles.

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Based on these set goals, TI is doing its best.

?For example, analog chip faucets are changing technology so that each charge can help electric vehicles extend a certain driving range; Leveraging the company's deep technology accumulation, TI can help reduce the charging time of electric vehicles from zero to full charge. In addition, TI's continued technological innovation and optimization of customer systems can reduce the cost of electric vehicles.

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Texas Instruments is also poised for the electric drive market, i.e. drive technology in traction inverters.

?According to reports, when designing high-voltage power supplies and electric drives for electric vehicles, developers generally set four goals. First of all, it is hoped that a more efficient traction inverter can be designed; Secondly, it is necessary to increase the power density, that is, reduce the volume under the same power output, or output more power in the same volume; Third, it is necessary to design a high-reliability system, because the traction inverter is related to power, and safety and reliability are very important; Finally, although system requirements continue to increase, from a design perspective, there is a need to reduce system complexity and design systems with the same functionality with fewer components.

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From a designer's perspective, traction inverters need to have more power and need to be safe, reliable, and efficient. The efficiency of traction inverter products on the market has reached more than 90%, and it is difficult to continue to optimize. In addition, the need for higher voltage designs and the use of new semiconductor devices create challenges such as product structure changes and heat dissipation limitations.

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With this in mind, Texas Instruments introduced the highly integrated functional safety-compliant isolated gate driver UCC5880-Q1 to enable engineers to design more efficient traction inverters and maximize the range of electric vehicles (EVs).

TI said that this SPI-based device integrates real-time variable gate drive strength, advanced SiC monitoring and protection, and functional safety diagnostics; At the same time, the product is ISO26262 compliant, enabling designers to build safer, more efficient, and more reliable SiC and IGBT traction inverters; In addition, the chip can change the gate drive strength in real time, adjusting the step size between 5A and 20A.

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In TI's view, these leading designs are of great benefit to developers. Taking "adjustable drive" as an example, TI said that with this function, silicon carbide can achieve higher switching speeds, resulting in lower switching losses and higher efficiency. However, from a system reliability perspective, the faster the switching speed, the greater the voltage overshoot, which in turn affects module reliability. However, TI's adjustable drive function allows users to balance switching speed and voltage overshoot, which is a performance advantage they bring to users.

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Based on these leading-edge designs, the chip is able to increase SiC switching power losses by up to 2% while increasing its efficiency. In other words, if a user charges three times a week, they can increase their range by 11 kilometers per charge, and about 1600 kilometers in a year.

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"In combination with the UCC14141-Q1 isolated auxiliary power module, components can be further reduced and power density increased," TI continued.

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According to TI, customers need to achieve higher power density while achieving more power. Therefore, in addition to the UCC5880-Q1 gate driver, TI also uses the isolated auxiliary power module UCC14141-Q1. As an isolated power module with integrated transformer, UCC14141-Q1 is used with UCC5880-Q1, which can easily design the traction inverter drive axle circuit of distributed auxiliary power supply, helping customers achieve more complete functions with smaller size and simpler circuit.

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Texas Instruments emphasized that the company not only provides chip solutions, but also overall solutions. As shown, TI and silicon carbide module supplier Wolfspeed worked together to design an 800V/300kW SiC traction inverter reference design. This reference design includes not only schematic and PCB routing, but also physical evaluation by the customer. With this system, TI can provide customers with functions including gate drive, auxiliary power and isolated power supply, which are designed using TI's chip solutions.

At the same time, TI is investing in technologies that enable customers to achieve simple design of high-voltage power supplies, including gallium nitride, gate drivers for traction inverters, and high-voltage gate drivers for OBC and DC/DC, isolated auxiliary power modules, and C2000 real-time controllers.

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"In the field of high-voltage technology, we have three goals: to help users minimize switching losses through semiconductor device innovation; Helps users increase power density through small footprint, including simplification of peripheral components; and through technological innovation, the switching speed of the power tube is maximized and the drive strength is enhanced. TI emphasized.

Lansheng Technology believes that TI is investing heavily in high-voltage semiconductor technology. This is first reflected in the fact that TI has a very large product line within TI, which only does high-voltage technology related products; Secondly, TI's high-voltage technology is not only used in automobiles, but also in many industrial designs, including high-voltage servos and high-power inverters.

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