Texas Instruments unveils the UCC5880-Q1 Silicon Carbide grid driver, an innovative design for high-voltage systems

Texas Instruments (TI) has unveiled its latest silicon carbide gate driver, the UCC5880-Q1. The product is designed to help customers overcome the technical challenges encountered in the design of high-voltage systems, specifically providing innovative solutions for high-voltage semiconductor applications in electric and hybrid vehicles. At the press conference, Wu Wanbang, general manager of Hybrid/electric vehicle division of Texas Instruments, and Guo Jin, technical support manager of China Automotive Semiconductor Division of Texas Instruments, introduced the features and application areas of the new product, as well as the contribution to electric vehicles, and also mentioned the overall strategy and objectives of Texas Instruments in the field of high voltage technology.

In automotive applications, TI said the company has clear goals in the area of semiconductor innovation, including helping customers extend vehicle driving range, improving EV charging performance and efficiency, increasing the affordability of EVs and designing safe and reliable EV systems. To achieve these goals, TI focuses not only on grid driver technology, but also on on-board charger solutions and complete battery management system solutions.

What is UCC5880-Q1?

The UCC5880-Q1 grid driver is positioned as a traction inverter drive technology for use in electric drive systems. The driver product features adjustable drive technology that improves the overall efficiency of the traction inverter depending on the operating conditions, while providing high integration that helps reduce design complexity and increase system power density. The product meets functional safety ASIL-D design standards and improves system reliability by balancing switching speed and voltage overshoot by adjusting grid drive strength in real time.

The introduction of UCC5880-Q1 will greatly meet engineers' realistic design goals of high-voltage power supply and electric drive for electric vehicles, such as: a more efficient traction inverter; Two, higher power density, in the output of the same power to reduce the volume, or in the same volume of the output of greater power; 3. High reliability system; Fourth, reduce the complexity of the system, using fewer components to design the same function of the system.

UCC5880-Q1 increases the operating efficiency of traction inverter by 2%

Traction inverters need high power design, and need to achieve safety, reliability and higher efficiency. From the aspect of engineers, in fact, the efficiency of traction inverter products on the market has reached more than 90%, it is difficult to continue to optimize, the design needs of higher pressure and the use of new semiconductor devices, will bring challenges such as product structure change and heat dissipation limitation. By optimizing the system with TI's UCC5880-Q1 components, it is estimated that traction inverter operating efficiency can be improved by up to 2%. The high voltage module of the traction inverter will present new challenges after switching from IGBT to SiC, so it can be confirmed that even 2% is a very high improvement for the system design.

TI Holistic strategy - to provide a complete solution for the system

Ti's overall strategy is to provide complete solutions for systems, not just chip level products. In addition to UCC5880-Q1 grid drivers, TI offers a range of solutions related to traction inverter systems, including ASIL-D-compliant MCUS, C2000™ real-time controllers, flyback controllers that can act as auxiliary power to the system, and future trends such as distributed auxiliary power, TI also offers fully integrated auxiliary power supply modules, isolated voltage/current detection sampling, isolated power supply detection, etc.

In addition, TI also focuses on working closely with partners to achieve comprehensive system optimization. At the press conference, the speaker introduced the 300kW traction inverter reference design developed by TI and Wolfspeed, which combines UCC5880-Q1 with Wolfspeed's SiC module and completes the overall testing and certification. This reference design not only includes schematics and PCB wiring, but also provides a physical design for the customer to evaluate. Functions include grid drive, auxiliary power supply, isolated power supply, MCU, all using TI chip scheme to complete the design.

UCC5880-Q1 real - time adjustment function advantage

"TI SiC grid drivers make traction inverters safer and more efficient, extending the vehicle's annual driving range by up to 1,600 kilometers," a TI spokesperson said in a press release. This is because the UCC5880-Q1 drive can increase inverter system efficiency by up to 2% through lower system cost and real-time adjustment of drive capability, thus extending EV range. To illustrate this figure further, if a user charges three times a week, each charge will increase their range by 11 kilometers, or about 1,600 kilometers over the course of a year. In the UCC5880-Q1, TI designed the capability to adjust the grid drive strength in real time, allowing the user to adjust the drive current in the 5A to 20A range while the system is running. In addition, the device complies with ISO 26262 functional safety design standards, enabling designers to design traction inverter systems faster, safer and more efficient.

The adjustable drive function allows users to achieve a balance between switching speed and voltage overshoot. This is because silicon carbide can achieve higher switching speed, from the point of view of system efficiency, the faster the switching speed, the lower the switching loss, the higher the efficiency; From the perspective of system reliability, faster switching speed may lead to greater voltage overshoot, thus affecting module reliability. The adjustable function of UCC5880-Q1 is also the advantage of this product.

TI also introduced a new evaluation board that combines the UCC5880-Q1 driver with the UCC14141-Q1 auxiliary power module to help customers achieve smaller size and simpler circuits.

TI invests heavily in high-voltage power technology

In electric vehicles, high voltage technology is not only used in traction inverters, but also in the on-board charger OBC and high voltage to low voltage DC/DC. The technology covers four main product categories: One is gallium nitride. TI produces a vehicle scale gallium nitride fully integrated solution, which integrates the drive, protection and power components in a single package to maximize the small size. The second is isolated grid drivers, which include high voltage grid drivers for OBC and DC/DC in addition to UCC5880-Q1. Third, the auxiliary power supply scheme used together, TI can provide isolated auxiliary power module, with smaller volume to achieve better performance. The fourth is the C2000 real-time controller, which can help customers design high-voltage power more easily.

Mr. Wu shared TI's three goals in the high-pressure technology sector. First, through the innovation of semiconductor devices, help users to reduce switching loss to a greater extent; Second, through small volume design, including simplified peripheral devices, to help users improve power density; Thirdly, through technological innovation, the switching speed of the power tube can be improved to a greater extent, and the driving strength can be enhanced.

In conclusion, as the electric vehicle market continues to grow and the demand for high voltage systems increases, TI, as a leader in the semiconductor industry, will continue to be committed to promoting the innovation and application of high voltage technology. The release of the UCC5880-Q1 grid driver marks an important step forward in the company's innovation in high voltage system design. The unique technology and comprehensive solution concept of the product will bring new development opportunities to the electric vehicle industry, promote the further development of electric vehicle technology, and create a more intelligent and environmentally friendly travel experience for people. Ti's leadership in high-pressure technology and drive for innovation will continue to lead the industry and contribute more to sustainable transportation in the future.