Panasonic's Power Devices to be Showcased in the U.S. at the Power Electronics Exhibition, APEC 2018

San Antonio, TX, U.S. - Panasonic Corporation will showcase its power devices and related products at the Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition 2018, APEC 2018, which will be held in San Antonio, Texas for 3 days from March 5 to 7, 2018.

In the Panasonic booth at APEC 2018, Panasonic will introduce power management solutions for industrial and automotive applications. Panasonic will propose a wide variety of its solutions with elemental technologies at the core, from devices such as the next generation power devices, SiC/GaN to sub systems to integrated products and solutions, which have been developed over the years. These include solutions to contribute to energy savings, downsizings, efficiency improvements for power conversion and better heat management on customers' applications.

APEC 2018 Overview

Period: March 5 - 7, 2018
Venue: The Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center (San Antonio, Texas)
APEC 2018 official website: http://www.apec-conf.org/
Panasonic booth: Booth 301

Information about Panasonic's Exhibitor Seminar

Date: March 6, 2018, 13:30 - 14:00
Place: The Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center Session Room 217C
Title: "Gate driving method and new application for exceeding the Si limit with X-GaN"

Key solutions on exhibit

X-GaN(TM) related solutions

Panasonic's withstand voltage of 600V GaN power device, "X-GaN(TM)" enables size reduction and improves efficiency of power conversion systems. Employing a proprietary structure, the X-GaN power device has successfully overcome challenges that GaN power devices have faced in the past. X-GaN achieved normally-off characteristics and are current collapse free, dramatically improving the reliability of GaN power devices. Panasonic will showcase industrial subsystems that can take full advantage of X-GaN's high performance such as X-GaN compact inverter and DCDC converter with X-GaN, as well as application demos and evaluation kit for checking X-GaN performance.

SiC-DioMOS related solutions

Panasonic's proprietary DioMOS (Diode-integrated MOSFET) structure enables size reduction of SiC modules, by adding high performance diode functionality necessary for power supplies and inverters to transistors. SiC power devices can realize low-loss operation that surpasses Si (silicon) power devices and are noted as a key device for saving energy in high current, high voltage applications. At APEC 2018, Panasonic will introduce modules that have built-in SiC-DioMOS.

Soft PGS (Pyrolytic Highly Oriented Graphite Sheet)

Soft PGS was developed specifically for thermal interface materials. In comparison to ordinary PGS, the Soft PGS boasts extremely high compressibility, enabling it to follow gaps as well as concavities and convexities thereby reducing thermal resistance. The Soft PGS realizes heat release capability by diffusing the heat from the power module (IGBT module). It is an excellent interface material that solves issues that arise when using thermal grease or PCMs (Phase Change Materials).

Flexible thermal insulation material, NASBIS (Nano-Silica Balloon Insulator)

NASBIS is a flexible thermal insulation material that Panasonic has developed using unique materials and production processes. It boasts insulation performance that exceeds air (thermal conductivity of 0.020W/mK typ.) and industry's top-class thinness (less than 1mm), enabling insulation of extremely narrow spaces, and prevents low temperature burns, blocks thermal radiation, and improves heat efficiency.

Passive components

Conductive polymer electrolytic capacitors
By using a conductive polymer, Panasonic has realized a compact capacitor that has a higher resistance against ripple current, reduces noise, and has thermal properties. This enables reduction in the number of capacitors necessary, and thereby realizes downsizing. Panasonic has a wide variety of capacitors that meet diverse needs ranging from small but large capacity to highly reliable capacitors.

Power choke coils
By using proprietary low-loss Ferrous alloy magnetic material, Panasonic has prevented sudden drops in inductance value, therefore realizing both a compact size and high current. It also boasts excellent heat stability without inductance temperature derating. This contributes to miniaturization of power circuits and high efficiency. Panasonic provides an extensive range of power choke coils from high capacity types to high reliability types.

Current sensing resistors
With its unique metal junction technology, Panasonic's current sensing resistors can provide stable resistance values over long periods of time. Moreover, by adopting an exterior that radiates heat, these resistors realize wide resistance ranges. The diverse line-up of compact, low-resistance products includes metal plate type and the thick film type (single/double-sided, short/long electrode).

Next generation technologies (prototype)

Isolated gate drivers (DBM: Drive-by-Microwave)
Using the unique microwave wireless power transmission technology, the DBM gate driver supplies not only isolated signals but also isolated power to a power device. This eliminates the need for the external isolated power supply, significantly simplifies and downsizes gate drive circuits for power devices such as SiCs and IGBTs.

GaN bi-directional switches
Panasonic provides the new GaN bi-directional switch that realizes to switch bi-directional and single directional current conduction as well as high voltage isolation with a single element by using its original device structure. Since this enables the reduction of conduction loss and the number of elements for a bi-directional switch, it contributes to the downsizing and higher conversion efficiency of power converter circuits.

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