COVER STORY
Empowering a sustainable future Omron’s relays drive green innovation in high-power applications
Transitioning to sustainable and renewable energy sources is essential for addressing the global climate crisis and ensuring long-term energy security. Unlike fossil fuels, which contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation, renewable sources such as solar, wind, and hydro offer clean, abundant, and increasingly cost-effective alternatives. Embracing these technologies not only reduces carbon footprints but also fosters innovation, creates green jobs, and strengthens energy independence. In this global pursuit of carbon neutrality and digital transformation, the role of electronic components has never been more critical. Among these, relays – often overlooked – are proving to be pivotal in enabling energy-efficient, compact, and high-performance systems. Omron, a global leader in electronic components, is at the forefront of this transformation. Omron is delivering relay technologies that not only meet the demands of modern applications but also align with ambitious sustainability goals by investing in product solutions that enable customers to build a sustainable and resilient infrastructure, helping to safeguard the planet for future generations. In this month’s edition, Gregorio Vidal, field application engineer at Anglia, provides an overview of the latest generation of Omron high power relays aimed at sustainable and renewable energy applications.
Omron’s sustainability vision: Shaping the Future 2030
Omron’s long-term strategy, encapsulated in its “Shaping the Future 2030” (SF2030) vision, places sustainability at the heart of its corporate mission. This vision is not just aspirational – it is operationalised through concrete actions across product development, sourcing, and customer engagement. Omron is actively supporting global decarbonisation efforts by expanding its portfolio of energy-efficient and renewable-ready components.
Miniaturisation and performance: the relay advantage
Modern applications demand more from less – smaller footprints, higher switching capacities, greater reliability and more cost effectiveness. Omron’s relay portfolio is engineered to meet these challenges through:
Compact design: Offering high switching capacity in a small form factor for space-constrained designs.
High inrush capability: Relays with high inrush current capability supporting inductive loads without compromising performance.
Latching contacts: Reducing power consumption by maintaining switched state without continuous coil energisation.
Wide switching voltage range: From 250V AC to 1,000V DC, Omron relays can cover a broad spectrum of applications.
Omron have developed a number of new power relay families to address the needs of modern energy management applications. The following are some examples of these key products.
10 July/August 2025 Components in Electronics
G6QG – compact high-power relay with one-pole 480VAC/55A load switching The Omron G6QG is a compact power relay designed to deliver high switching
performance in a small footprint, making it ideal for applications where space and efficiency are critical. The G6QG is the
industry’s smallest PCB power
relay capable of
interrupting currents up to 480VAC/55A. Developers may find it difficult to suppress the rise in temperature of components that control large currents during product operation. The G6QG has enhanced heat dissipation by utilising Omron’s design know-how. It reduces the resistance of the current-carrying path using Omron’s material technology and suppresses the rise in terminal temperature during energisation by widening the coil-side terminal width and improving heat dissipation (Fig.1).
G6QG
The G6QG is capable of interrupting loads of 480VAC/55A, making it suitable not only for single-phase power supply applications, but also for various three-phase power supply applications.
Measuring just 30.5 x 20.5 x 16.0mm the G6QG relay has a contact gap of 2 mm or more in accordance with the IEC 62109 standard required for PV inverter applications (Fig.2), so you can use it with confidence.
Figure 2. Internal construction contact area
The G6QG relays are available with 12 VDC or 24VDC coils and have a max. switching current of 55A and rated carry current of 55A at 85°C, furthermore they feature a 10 kV (1.2 x 50 µs) impulse withstand voltage between coil and contacts. Contacts are rated at 100K min. mechanical operations, 10 operations min. at 55A and 30K operations min. at 20A make and break currents at 480 VAC. The G6QC relays are suitable for EV charger, PV inverter, energy storage systems and industrial inverter applications.
Figure 1. Coil-side terminal construction
G9KC – high-performance 4 pole power relay The Omron G9KC series is a high-performance power relay designed for demanding applications requiring robust switching at elevated voltages and currents. Rated 40A
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