PCIM Europe has been a permanent fixture in the power designer's calendar for over 40 years. Showing off the latest in semiconductors and discrete for power converter and inverter applications, the booths are full of exciting applications and technology. Stuart Cording took the Elektor Engineering Insights show to find out what's new.

Amongst other things he visited MinDCet, a high-voltage, power and mixed-signal IC design company and had a close look at inductor and capacitor measurement equipment. At the booth of Phoenix Contact, Stuart was introduced to the CHARX solutions for EV charging.

As it was a busy day at PCIM Europe, he then quickly ran off to interview Anup Bhalla of UnitedSiC (now Qorvo) and discuss 1200 V SiC MOSFETs. 

Elektor at PCIM 2022

E-Scooters and Semiconductors at PCIM

Had there been enough space at the OnSemi booth, Stuart would definitely have liked to take the Piaggio e-scooter out for a test ride, but, being a serious kind of person, he stuck to presentations of new semiconductors for all sorts of applications, from controllers to power converter and inverter applications.

 

Cording covered a wide range of technologies that were on display at the show. For instance, power semiconductors and power modules play an increasingly important role in the automotive industry," as Cording explained while introducing an e-scooter from Piaggio. "It includes a 48-V battery which requires an efficient battery management system and then a selection of high-efficiency MOSFETs for the power converters and the inverter for the motor control. That makes sure that you can get to your destination on time and still have enough juice to get home."

At the Onsemi booth, Cording also looked into technologies such as mixed-signal analog solutions for high-efficiency power converters.

"It's very tempting to think that digital is the only way to achieve maximum efficiency," he explained. "But here at Onsemi, we're seeing some alternative approaches based on mixed-signal analog solutions for high-efficiency power converters. 

What's advantageous about an analog mixed-signal controller for their power converters? It means that you don't need a digital designer and a software programmer on the team, which avoids the need for continuous firmware updates to keep the application going, he explained. "So the analog designer can work on their own as they used to and bring devices to market more quickly."

Watch the video for Cording's full report from the PCIM Europe show.

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