Redefining automotive 48V power delivery Modular Solutions Decentralized Architecture

Today’s challenges with electrification

The development of pure electric, mild hybrid (MHEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles with 48V based power delivery networks (PDN) are rapidly expanding.

Cars and SUVs

Light duty trucks

Trucks and busses

High-end sports cars

Electric vehicles

EV motorcycles

While these new vehicles solve the CO₂ emissions challenge and offer significant performance enhancements and new features, their electrification presents new power delivery challenges for OEM and Tier 1 engineers. These challenges are common to the development of all new electrified vehicle platforms:

Managing new 48V and Legacy 12V loads
Higher voltage, 800V and 400V conversion and regulation
Designing higher power, low weight and small DC-DC converters
Adding innovative technologies from new suppliers
Hiring experienced power system engineering resources

Modular power solutions

Vicor enables the most advanced vehicles today with a modular approach to power providing converters with a high level of integration, advanced switching topologies and thermally adept packaging. Modular power replaces the larger, heavier discrete solutions that are present in so many vehicles today. The Vicor power modules enable an EV/HEV to be lighter, faster and/or travel farther.

Vicor ChiPs: four components serve 300 possible combinations

Regulated DC-DC converters

High voltage DCM

Non-isolated regulated

2+kW

400V to 48V and 48V to 12V

92 x 23 x 7mm

Low voltage DCM

Non-isolated regulated

1kW

48V to 12V

37 x 17 x 7mm

Fixed ratio DC-DC converters

High voltage BCM

Isolated

2.5kW

800V to 48V and 400V to 48V

61 x 35 x 7mm

NBM

Non-isolated and bidirectional

1kW

48V to 12V and 12V to 48V

23 x 17 x 7mm

The benefits of modular power

Lighter weight vehicles

Faster time to SOP

Design efficiency

Reuse of modules

Modular power enables a high-performance decentralized architecture

Diagram of automotive centralized architecture

Diagram of automotive decentralized architecture

The benefits of moving from a large centralized DC-DC converter to decentralized 48V to 12V power distribution architecture are numerous:

Maximize 48V power delivery to save cost and weight by downsizing with 48V cabling and connectors
Packaging density and flexibility
FuSa true power redundancy
Reduce thermal management challenges by distributing the power loss among the DC-DC converters

Decentralized architecture reduces thermal management challenges

Centralized: 180W of power loss

Standard DC-DC converter at 94% efficiency

Decentralized: 15W of power loss

Vicor high-efficiency DC-DC converter module at 98% efficiency

Decentralized architecture with ultra-high voltage batteries

Decentralized power with an 800V battery

High-density, high-efficiency fixed ratio converters used to step down high voltage to 48V

Many high-performance pure electric vehicles are adding 800V batteries to enable the higher power levels that their vehicle powertrains are now requiring. Converting from 800V to 48V at levels of >20kW with traditional converter topologies results in a bulky and heavy DC-DC converter due to the wide input to output voltage ratio. By using Vicor fixed ratio converter modules that operate at high switching frequencies, power densities of 2.6kW/in³ and efficiencies of 98% can be achieved, significantly reducing the size of the converter.

Modular power solutions simplify decentralized architectures

Manage high voltage with fixed ratio converters

Highest density at highest efficiency

Maximize 48V PDN with power dense modules at the point of load

Modular components are scalable, flexible, easy to reuse for new applications or changing electrical environments

Implementing decentralized 48V power distribution architectures with modular power components greatly simplifies the design challenge. Modular components from Vicor are inherently more scalable and flexible due to their high density and efficiency. Components can be easily paralleled and with only a few components, high-performance power delivery systems from a few hundred watts too many kilowatts can be created.