Texas Instruments Releases UCC5880-Q1 Silicon Carbide Gate Driver to Boost Innovation in High-Voltage System Design
Texas Instruments Releases UCC5880-Q1 Silicon Carbide Gate Driver to Boost Innovation in High-Voltage System Design
Keywords: Electric Vehicle Inverter UCC5880-Q1 SiC Gate Driver
Time: 2023-05-30
"Texas Instruments (TI) recently released a new silicon carbide gate driver product - UCC5880-Q1. This product is designed to help customers overcome the technical difficulties encountered in the design of high-voltage systems, especially for electric vehicles and hybrid The application of high-voltage semiconductors in automobiles provides innovative solutions. At the press conference, Wu Wanbang, general manager of Texas Instruments Hybrid Vehicle/Electric Vehicle Division, and Guo Jin, technical support manager of Texas Instruments China Automotive Semiconductor Division, introduced the characteristics and application fields of the new product , as well as the contribution to electric vehicles, but also mentioned the overall strategy and goals of Texas Instruments in the field of high-voltage technology.
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Texas Instruments (TI) recently released a new silicon carbide gate driver product - UCC5880-Q1. This product is designed to help customers overcome the technical difficulties encountered in the design of high-voltage systems, especially to provide innovative solutions for high-voltage semiconductor applications in electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. At the press conference, Wu Wanbang, General Manager of Texas Instruments Hybrid Vehicle/Electric Vehicle Department, and Guo Jin, Technical Support Manager of Texas Instruments China Automotive Semiconductor Division, introduced the characteristics and application fields of the new product, as well as its contribution to electric vehicles. The overall strategy and goals of Texas Instruments in the field of high-voltage technology are mentioned.
TI said that in automotive applications, the company has clear goals in the field of semiconductor innovation, including helping users extend vehicle driving range, improving electric vehicle charging performance and efficiency, improving the affordability of electric vehicles, and designing safe and reliable electric vehicle systems. To achieve these goals, Texas Instruments not only focuses on gate driver technology, but also enters into areas such as on-board charger solutions and complete battery management system solutions.
What is UCC5880-Q1?
The UCC5880-Q1 gate driver is positioned as a traction inverter drive technology for electric drive systems. This drive product has adjustable drive technology, which can improve the overall efficiency of the traction inverter according to the working conditions. At the same time, it has a high level of integration, which helps reduce design complexity and improve system power density. The product meets functional safety ASIL-D design standards and improves system reliability by adjusting gate drive strength in real time to balance switching speed and voltage overshoot.
The introduction of UCC5880-Q1 will greatly meet the reality of engineers' design goals for high-voltage power supplies and electric drives for electric vehicles, such as: 1. More efficient traction inverters; Small volume, or higher power output under the same volume; 3. High reliability system; 4. Reduce system complexity and use fewer components to design a system with the same function.
UCC5880-Q1 improves traction inverter operating efficiency by 2%
Traction inverters require high power designs and need to achieve safety, reliability and higher efficiency. I learned from the engineers that the efficiency of traction inverter products on the market has reached over 90%, and it is difficult to continue to optimize. Higher voltage design requirements and the use of new semiconductor devices will bring product structure changes and heat dissipation restrictions. Wait for the challenge. After optimizing the system using TI's UCC5880-Q1 device, it is estimated that the operating efficiency of the traction inverter can be improved by up to about 2%. The replacement of traction inverter high-voltage modules from IGBT to SiC will bring new challenges, so it can be confirmed that even 2% is a very high improvement for system design.
TI's overall strategy - to provide a complete solution for the system
The overall strategy of Texas Instruments is to provide complete solutions for the system, not just chip-level products. In addition to the UCC5880-Q1 gate driver, Texas Instruments offers a range of solutions related to traction inverter systems, including ASIL-D compliant MCUs, C2000™ real-time controllers, flyback controllers (which can act as system Auxiliary power supply), for future trends such as distributed auxiliary power, TI also provides fully integrated auxiliary power supply modules, isolated voltage/current detection sampling, isolated power supply detection, etc.
In addition, Texas Instruments also pays attention to close cooperation with partners to achieve comprehensive system optimization. At the press conference, the speaker introduced the 300kW traction inverter reference design jointly developed by TI and Wolfspeed, which uses UCC5880-Q1 and Wolfspeed's SiC module together, and completes the overall test and certification. This reference design includes not only schematics and PCB layouts, but also physical objects for customer evaluation. Functions include gate drive, auxiliary power supply, isolated power supply, and MCU, all using TI's chip solutions to complete the design.
Advantages of UCC5880-Q1's real-time adjustment function
At the press conference, a TI spokesperson mentioned that "TI SiC gate drivers make traction inverters safer and more efficient, extending the annual mileage of vehicles by up to 1,600 kilometers." This is because the UCC5880-Q1 driver can increase the efficiency of the inverter system by up to about 2% through lower system cost and real-time adjustment of the driving capacity, thereby extending the driving range of electric vehicles. The following example further explains this number. If the user charges the battery three times a week, the mileage can be increased by 11 kilometers per charge, and the mileage can be increased by about 1,600 kilometers in one year. In UCC5880-Q1, TI has designed a function that can adjust the gate drive strength in real time, allowing users to adjust the drive current in the range of 5A to 20A while the system is running. On top of this, the device also complies with the ISO 26262 functional safety design standard, enabling designers to design traction inverter systems faster, safer and more efficiently.
An adjustable drive feature allows the user to achieve a balance between switching speed and voltage overshoot. This is because silicon carbide can achieve a higher switching speed. From the perspective of system efficiency, the faster the switching speed, the lower the switching loss and the higher the efficiency; from the perspective of system reliability, the faster the switching speed Fast, may lead to greater voltage overshoot, and then affect the reliability of the module. The adjustable function in UCC5880-Q1 is also the advantage of this product.
At the same time, TI also launched a new evaluation board, which uses the UCC5880-Q1 driver and the auxiliary power supply module UCC14141-Q1 together to help customers achieve smaller size and simpler circuits.
TI invests heavily in high-voltage power technology
In electric vehicles, high-voltage technology is used not only in traction inverters, but also in on-board chargers OBC and high-voltage to low-voltage DC/DC. This technology covers four main categories of products: First, gallium nitride. TI produces a fully integrated solution for automotive-grade gallium nitride, which integrates the drive, protection and power parts into one package, which can maximize the small size. The second is the isolated gate driver, which in addition to the UCC5880-Q1 also includes high-voltage gate drivers for OBC and DC/DC. The third is the auxiliary power supply scheme used in conjunction with it. TI can provide an isolated auxiliary power supply module to achieve better performance with a smaller size. The fourth is the C2000 real-time controller, which can help customers design high-voltage power supplies more simply.
Manager Wu shared TI's three goals in the field of high-voltage technology. First, through the innovation of semiconductor devices, help users minimize switching loss; second, through small-volume design, including simplifying peripheral devices, to help users increase power density; third, through technological innovation, to maximize power tube switching speed and enhance drive strength.
In summary, with the continuous growth of the electric vehicle market and the increasing demand for high-voltage systems, Texas Instruments, as a leader in the semiconductor industry, will continue to be committed to promoting the innovation and application of high-voltage technology. The release of the UCC5880-Q1 gate driver marks an important advance in the company's innovation in high-voltage system design. The product's unique technology and comprehensive solution concept will bring new development opportunities to the electric vehicle industry, promote the further development of electric vehicle technology, and create a more intelligent and environmentally friendly travel experience for people. Texas Instruments' leading position in the field of high-voltage technology and the driving force for continuous innovation will continue to lead the development of the industry and make more contributions to the sustainable transportation of the future.
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