Products of the Week: September 16, 2024

Sept. 16, 2024

Here's this week's selection of some of the most interesting new products that have been launched of late.

Silicon-Carbide Modules Target Clean-Energy Applications

Wolfspeed unveiled a silicon-carbide (SiC) module targeting the renewable energy, energy storage, and high-capacity fast-charging sectors. Offering increased efficiency, durability, reliability, and scalability, the 2,300-V baseplate-less SiC power modules for 1500-V DC bus applications are based on Wolfspeed’s 200-mm SiC wafers. Wolfspeed also announced that it's partnering with EPC Power, which will employ the modules in scalable high-power utility-grade solar and energy storage systems.

Wolfspeed's 2,300-V SiC modules can improve system efficiency while reducing the passive components count, and offer 15% greater voltage headroom compared to similar SiC modules, improved dynamic performance, consistent temperature stability, and a significant reduction in EMI filter size. The technology achieves a 77% reduction in switching losses over IGBTs and a 2-3X reduction in switching losses for SiC devices intended for 1,500-V applications.

The 2,300-V modules support a two-level topology for simplified system design and reduced driver count compared to IGBT-based, three-level configurations. They also offer enhanced lifetime and durability through an optimized failure-in-time rate for continuous 1,500-V DC operation and improved cosmic ray susceptibility compared to a 2,000-V design, as well as reduce the amount of potential single points of failure.

Alix Paultre | Editor-at-Large, Microwaves & RF

Alix is Editor-at-Large for Microwaves & RF.

An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the U.S. military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications, most recently as Editor-in-Chief of Power Systems Design.

Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.