INDUSTRY News


Partners develop multilevel topology for EVs and industrial applications


Innoscience Technology and the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) are jointly developing a reference demo that uses Innoscience’s 650V InnoGaN HEMT devices in a multilevel topology. The design will fi t 850VDC applications such as e-mobility motor drivers, solar and industrial inverters, EV fast chargers and, even, EV drivetrains. The three-level ANPC (Active Neutral Point Clamped) converter uses Innoscience’s readily-available INN650D080BS 650V, 80mΩ HEMTs in a 8x8mm DFN package. No snubber capacitors or expensive SiC diodes are required, reducing system cost. “At higher voltages, classic two-level topologies such as a half-bridge are not practical as the 650V-rated HEMTs will fail. But there are many other topologies that allow us to keep the operating voltage of the HEMT well below its rated voltage, while working with much higher DC bus voltages. In this case we chose the ANPC topology because it enables us to switch 850VDC without needing SiC. 850V is high enough for many industrial and e-mobility applications – even potentially EV drivetrains – if enough care is taken on the circuity design to minimise parasitics,” said BFH Professor Timothé Delaforge.


Machine intelligence to design molecules and reaction pathways


Researchers in Japan have developed a machine learning process that simultaneously designs new molecules and suggests the chemical reactions to make them. The team at the Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM) in Tokyo uses a statistical approach called Bayesian inference which works with a vast set of data about diff erent options for starting materials and reaction pathways.


The possible starting materials are all combinations of the millions of compounds that can be readily purchased. The computer algorithm assesses the huge range of feasible reactions and reaction networks to discover a synthetic route towards a compound with properties it has been instructed to aim for. Expert chemists then review the results to test and refi ne what the AI proposes – AI makes the suggestions whilst humans decide which is best. The current success focuses only on the design of small molecules, but a future plan includes procedures to design polymers. Many of the most important industrial and biological compounds are polymers, but it has proved diffi cult to make new versions suggested by machine learning due to challenges in fi nding reactions to build the designs. The simultaneous design and reaction discovery options off ered by this new technology promises to break through that barrier.


Fully-integrated vision system based on LiDAR


A partnership between Indie Semiconductor and SiLC Technologies promises to deliver fully-integrated vision system solutions based on frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) detection. This is likely to redefi ne the benchmark for rapidly-emerging LiDAR (light detection and ranging) applications, for better performing next-generation sensing applications, like those in driver assistance, autonomous mobility, robotics and industrial automation. FMCW-based LiDAR delivers multiple real-world benefi ts compared to direct detection based Time of Flight (TOF) solutions, including long range with high precision, interference immunity, per-point instantaneous velocity and motion measurement.


6 September 2023 | Automation


The partners will use their respective products and technologies to develop reference platforms for an order of magnitude improvements in sensing performance, manufacturability, power consumption, form factor and cost relative to existing systems. “By combining the software-defi ned high-performance, low-power analogue and digital processing and system control capabilities of our Surya, coupled with SiLC’s Eyeonic vision solution, system integrators and OEMs are enabled with 4D FMCW imaging for mass-market deployment into multiple applications,” said Chet Babla, Senior Vice President for Strategic Marketing at Indie Semiconductor.


automationmagazine.co.uk


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