Compact onboard inverter reference design enables faster development

CISSOID introduces the compact EVK-PLA1060 series of Onboard Inverter Reference Designs. This compelling advance further decreases time-to-market for R&D engineers in the highly dynamic and rapidly evolving e-mobility arena. The increasingly wide range of SiC inverter reference designs, including this new Onboard Inverter Reference Design, is the company's product focus at the PCIM Europe 2024.

In a fast-paced industry such as e-mobility, speed-to-market can often prove the difference between commercial success and failure. The company, therefore, set about devising a way to accelerate the development process even more for traction inverters.

Whereas the existing Bench-Top Inverter Reference Designs are ideal for laboratory and bench-based motor testing, the reference design is far closer to production-ready. The result is a complete solution, conceived for integration into vehicles about to undergo in-vehicle and field testing, drastically reducing the time required for system development.

Featuring a compact, lightweight, yet robust aluminium housing, the EVK-PLA1060 Onboard Inverter Reference Design provides easy vehicle mounting with minimal design effort. The motor control software allows customisation and configuration by the user for further process simplification.

Silicon Mobility's ultra-fast OLEA T222 FPCU drives the product's functionality. Dedicated to e-motor control, this application-specific processor's programmable hardware accelerates response times to critical events, offloads the processor cores, and enhances functional safety.

The T222 processor's programmable hardware enables fast control loops and high switching frequencies. Combined with the OLEA APP – 222 INVERTER control software, providing powerful optimisations such as dead-time compensation and advanced modulations, this high-performance, real-time solution is fully configurable for use with various e-motor types.

The OLEA T222 processor and OLEA APP - T222 INVERTER software carry ISO26262 ASIL-D and AUTOSAR 4.3 certification, while the ISO26262 certification of the company's ICMs is currently in progress.

As a highly modular solution, the reference design is configurable and customisable as required. It comprises a power module, the control board, a low ESL DC-link capacitor, a compact EMC (electro-magnetic compatibility) filter and current sensors.

The reference design provides a broad power range of 100 to 350kW at a 100 to 850V operating bus voltage, offering the potential for a power density of 52kW per litre.

This innovative Onboard Inverter Reference Design ultimately provides a complete and uniquely modular solution for those seeking further reductions in time-to-market for electric motor drivetrains. With its potential for integration at the vehicle field testing stage, R&D engineers can use this important industry advance to step into the future of high-efficiency inverter design and development.

See CISSOID at PCIM Europe 2024 in Hall 9, Booth 622.