Cover story
Leveraging Data Center Designs A lot of expertise for designing power systems comes from the data center industry. Designers can leverage the topologies developed for hyperscale data centres, add functional safety and security and come up with a pretty good charger or DC-DC converter from 48V to 400V or 800V for the power train. The biggest difference between designing for a data center versus EV power is that the data center approach using dsPIC33 devices uses a digital control loop rather than analogue filters and a feedback loop. This allows more of a platform design in the digital domain, sensing the output voltage and current, converting to digital, then adjusting the PWM to drive all of the power FETs with low latency feedback loops. It was that expertise from the data centers that helps manage the complexity for higher power in EVs. To pair a digital signal controller with high speed switching GaN devices requires 250MHz performance, and our dsPIC33 controller roadmaps are designed to meet that need in the near future. In addition, the dsPIC33 offering includes multicore controllers to separate the compact control algorithms from the rest of the software required for EV applications. Things like automotive requirements, functional safety, abstraction layers, drivers and Autosar quickly lead to memory requirements over 1MB, with a clear advantage for multicore devices using one core for the control loop and another core for the automotive/housekeeping functions. These requirements lead to more complex controller chips, with the associated software tools and the appropriate level of ASIL safety support, to support EV system designers.
Charging Infrastructure The wider implication of the growing popularity of electric vehicles is much more than the cars themselves. The entire infrastructure of the power grid will need to change. We will see more sustainable energy and local microgrids developed in many places where they can’t simply double the amount of electricity from suppliers, so consumers will generate some at home thru solar or other means. With large amounts of energy moving around to enable
fast charging, it’s possible that business models we haven’t yet thought of will be introduced. Perhaps instead of every home having fast charging capabilities, we will see fast battery swapping, leaving more time to fully charge the “spare” battery. Or perhaps in the longer term, charging will be more
ubiquitous and there will be less need for batteries. There are already inductive coils embedded in roads in Korea and Sweden to charge a vehicle are it drives along. This reduces the size requirements of the battery and the power requirements and reduces the need for chargers.
Conclusion With electric vehicles set to become the dominant transportation trend over the next decade, technology suppliers are paying close attention to the system architectures that developers are using. Flexible devices that deliver the performance required for the next generation will be critical to enabling innovation as the EV market expands. But close attention also needs to be paid to innovating the design of the infrastructure, both in roadside charging and embedded charging, to avoid the range limitations consumers fear today.
www.microchip.com
www.electronicsworld.co.uk February 2022 07
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