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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
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: five components serve 300 possible combinations
These advanced and innovative 48V modular power conversion and regulation solutions simplify complex power delivery challenges, increasing performance, productivity and time to market.
Regulated DC-DC converters
High voltage DCM
Isolated regulated
2+kW
400V to 48V
92 x 23 x 7mm
Low voltage DCM
Isolated regulated
2+kW
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
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
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
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.
