Electronic systems target agricultural industry

Semikron's SKAI 2 compact power electronic systems for hybrid and electric vehicles target the agricultural and construction industries, materials handling and battery-powered vehicles.

The SKAI systems, with power densities of 20kVA/l, are said to provide significant size reduction compared to the other standard products available.

The systems are designed to operate with supply voltages between 24 and 850V and with output power ratings of between 10 and 250kVA.

Versions of these systems are already being produced in Semikron's high-volume production facility.

SKAI systems are developed in line with the latest automotive standards and system qualification standards.

The systems are supplied as standard modules with low-voltage MOSFETS or high-voltage IGBTs, or with the topology of single, dual and multiple inverters.

SKAI systems are also developed to meet individual customer specifications.

Semikron is a single-source supplier that covers everything from feasibility and proof-of-principle studies to the development of optimum system architecture, to electrical and mechanical simulations, end qualification and complete-system series production.

All SKAI 2 modules are fully qualified using analysis such as highly accelerated life testing (HALT) and end of component life testing, with full failure-mode effect analysis studies conducted at all critical points of the design cycle, to ensure that they are in line with relevant automotive standards.

The high-voltage SKAI 2 is available as a water-cooled 600/1200V IGBT inverter system and has been optimised for use in applications such as full-electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars and electric buses.

This system is based on the established sintered, 100 per cent solder-free Semikron SKiM93 IGBT modules, features a polypropylene film DC-link capacitor, driver electronics, a latest-generation DSP controller, EMC filters and current, voltage and temperature sensors, and comes in an IP67 module case.

Communication with the vehicle master controller is via a CAN bus.

These systems are designed for outputs of up to 250kVA.

The low-voltage SKAI 2 is available as an air-cooled or water-cooled 50/100/150/200V MOSFET single and dual inverter system that is used mainly in fork-lift trucks and other materials-handling applications.

These systems are suitable for a motor output of up to 55kVA.

They incorporate many of the same features as the IGBT-based systems and therefore offer the benefits to customers that they behave in the same way, use the same core control system and I/O connections, and the same system structure.

The third type of SKAI 2 platform is a multi-converter box.

These systems are also housed in water-cooled, IP67-protected cases and communicate with the vehicle master controller via a CAN bus.

The signal interface features analogue and digital I/Os to allow for the connection of a variety of sensors, such as temperature sensors and resolver inputs.

A typical multi-converter system would include a three-phase 40kVA active front-end converter, a three-phase 20kVA drive inverter, a three-phase 10kVA drive inverter and a 14V/300A or 28V/165A DC/DC converter.

Back to top