Overview
Emissions from road vehicles have to be reduced substantially in the future. The ultimate goal of most car manufacturers is to get to a completely electric vehicle, protecting the environment from emissions and noise, with alternative on-board energy sources (solar) and connection to the grid. In this context the project is addressing the development of highly efficient electrical vehicles, the battery control, the high-voltage components (IGBTs, high-voltage FETs) and the architectures and subsystems for the electronics of electrical vehicles.
- Development of nanoelectronics technologies, devices, circuits architectures and modules for electrical cars/vehicles and demonstration of these modules in a final systems.
- New design and concepts for power train, power conversion, power management and battery management.
- Achieve 35% energy saving, and increased integrability against the current state-of-the art EV power electronics systems.
Fields of research:
- Smart power technologies for energy management.
- High power technologies e.g. for electrical and hybrid vehicles based on heterogeneous technologies (Si, SOI, SiC, GaN ).
- Sensor and actuator components and systems based on heterogeneous substrates and functionalities.
- Smart packages and high power modules for heterogeneous integration with extended power dissipation.
- Reliability, quality and test on component and system level under harsh conditions (prediction, EMI, radiation, parasitics).
- Technologies - Si, SOI, SiC, GaN.
Improvements:
- Efficiency -> converter
- Mileage -> batteries and energy system
- Temperature range -> components on hot spots
- Flexibility -> thermal components
- Harsh environment electronics and sensors
- Functionality
Design and concepts - power train, power conversion, power management and battery management. Fail safe and fault tolerant systems.
Funding
Results
Integration/miniaturisation (mass, volume), power consumption, losses, efficiency, reliability and costs of the key components for efficient electric and hybrid vehicles are the main focus for the project. The main innovations elements addressed by E3Car project are:
- Higher battery lifetime, optimal performance out of battery due to new battery management system.
- Significantly improved level of Li ion battery control.
- Zero losses current magnetic sensor with new material, new architecture for larger sensitivity range and 3.3V and 800V power MOS technology for battery management. New magnetic material for zero losses current magnetic sensor.
- High-current sensor, high-temperature interconnection and packaging for temperatures above 200°C.
- New storage unit prototype for innovative regenerative braking system with ultra/super capacitors or batteries, evaluation of solar cell technologies.
- Optimal system configuration of the whole power train for electrical vehicles, novel power conversion circuit and module with increased efficiency.
- IGBTs are optimized for highest efficiency, high voltage capability and high operating temperature. VCE,Sat reduction by ultra-thin chips (40µm) will result in highest efficiency.
- Compact DC/DC converters from 400V or 700V to 12V, 5V or 3.3V in System-in-Package (SiP) with high efficiency. Currently there are only modules with discrete components in much larger housings. New high voltage transistors are integrated in CMOS process, which is extended to higher voltages. New DC-DC converter topologies for these new devices will be investigated and optimised for efficiency.
- DC-DC converters for range extending with solar panels, where essential innovations are regulated by single modules to account for different incident angle of sun light to maximise the efficiency of the panels. Further innovation converts from a lower voltage (a few volts or even less) up to the E-car battery voltage in the range of 400 or even 700V.
- Current capability increase, novel high temperature devices, improved performance and reliability of SiC switches.
- GaN HEMT grown by MOCVD on silicon substrate for high-voltage (>750V) high-temperature application. Processing to be developed for rugged conditions at reasonable cost.
- New type of SOI based wafer material with buried cavities and conductive polysilicon vias for new generation of inertial sensors.
- Development of mul
Strategy targets
Innovating for the future: technology and behaviour
- Promoting more sustainable development