Decrease charging time and design smaller, more efficient and safety-compliant onboard charging systems and DC/DC converters

As electric vehicle (EV) architectures evolve, the onboard charger and DC/DC converter are moving from discrete electronic control unit (ECU) designs toward either mechanically or electrically integrated combo box designs.  These advanced architectures require real-time digital controllers for sophisticated power topologies. Our real-time microcontrollers (MCUs) work with our isolated gate driver, bias supply and sensing technologies to enable fast and efficient EV charging and high-voltage to low-voltage DC/DC conversion.

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Why choose TI for your onboard charger and DC/DC converter systems?

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Enable advanced features and architectures

Move to higher power levels by enabling advanced features such as bidirectional power flow and integrated powertrain systems with our broad portfolio of real-time MCUs and analog technology.

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Improve power density while reducing system size

Our power management devices enable switching at higher frequencies, even for the most advanced state-of-the-art topologies, resulting in increased power density.

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Enhance safety and reliability

Efficiently achieve ISO 26262 certification with help from TI Functional Safety-Compliant and TI Functional Safety-Capable devices, available documentation, and advice from our safety experts.

Enabling technologies

Real-time control MCUs

Advances in real-time control have increased processing capabilities and expanded sensing and actuation performance, resulting in higher precision and efficiency to make vehicles more affordable.

Benefits include: 

  • Reduced size and weight: low latency control loops and high resolution PWMs enable higher switching frequencies which reduce the physical size and weight of passives and magnetics.
  • Improved power density and efficiency: unlock the benefits of wide band-gap (WBG) gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors that require 100-kHz to 1-MHz switching frequencies.
  • System integration to reduce cost: cores and peripherals enable advanced power topologies and support the integration of multiple power conversions on a single MCU.
Resource
7.4-kW on-board charger reference design with CCM totem pole PFC and CLLLC DC/DC reference design
This bidirectional OBC reference design consists of an interleaved continuous conduction mode totem-pole bridgeless power-factor correction power stage followed by a CLLLC DC/DC power stage controlled by a real-time control MCU.
This paper discusses the common control challenges of onboard chargers and high-voltage to low-voltage DC/DC converters, along with the benefits of C2000™ real-time MCUs in these subsystems. 
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Read how high-performance real-time MCUs can help reduce the size and weight of the motor to increase driving ranges and help make electric vehicles (EVs) more affordable.
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Featured products for MCUs

Isolated gate drivers

A gate driver provides galvanic isolation between the input and output and drives the insulated-gate bipolar transistor-, silicon- or silicon carbide-based power factor correction stage.

Benefits include:

  • Improved system-level efficiency: minimized switching and conduction losses that include turnon and turnoff energy.
  • Reduced overall system size and weight: increased switching frequencies enable a significant reduction in overall system magnetics and weight, while a dual-channel driver implementation reduces overall printed circuit board area and bill of materials compared to single-channel options.
  • System reliability: galvanic isolation and high common-mode transient immunity increase system resilience to transients and noise.
This application note provides example solutions for common design challenges to achieve efficient power conversion in on-board charger systems that can be resolved using logic and translation.
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This paper examines the benefits of using an integrated powertrain solution to speed adoption of EVs through power electronics, with the focus on implementation of wide band-gap semiconductor switches and isolated gate drivers.
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This white paper discusses advanced topologies to support high power with improved power density and efficiency.
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Featured products for isolated gate drivers

The right bias power supply solution

Optimize costs while improving power density and efficiency to meet your system requirements. Choose from a portfolio of bias power supplies with integrated field-effect transistors (FETs) and magnetics, integrated FETs and external magnetics, or external FETs and external magnetics.

Benefits include:

  • Improved power density and efficiency in a small footprint, with >150-V/ns common-mode transient immunity and mitigated electromagnetic interference.
  • Streamlined functional safety, with International Organization for Standardization 26262 compliance and system-level diagnostics and protection.
  • Protected power modules, with high load regulation accuracy and thermal performance.
This paper examines various isolated DC/DC bias power supplies to move signals and power across the isolation barrier.
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This application report introduces the benefits of using UCC14240-Q1 for isolated gate driver bias applications. The focus of this document is automotive applications and ease of use of fully integrated bias supply solution.
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This document provides an overview of galvanic isolation, explains common isolation methods for high-voltage systems and shows how our isolation integrated circuits can help designers meet isolation needs reliably.
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Featured products for bias power supply

Voltage and current sensing

Achieve accurate, low-latency current and voltage measurements with high common-mode transient immunity and working voltages, thereby improving the system efficiency, reliability and performance of onboard charging systems.

Benefits include:

  • Capacitive isolation, which enhances safety and lowers system costs.
  • High bandwidth for faster control and reaction times, enabling higher system reliability and better performance.
  • Easier design complexity, which eliminates the need for external protection.
This article covers design considerations while selecting an isolated amplifier, such as isolation specifications, how to power the high side, and selection of the input voltage range.
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This document compares isolated shunt- and magnetic-based sensing to accomplish isolated current sensing for applications such as onboard chargers, DC charging (pile) stations, power conversion systems and motor drives.
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Design efficiency

A compact and efficient design of the electromagnetic interference (EMI) input filter is critical to achieving the full benefits of electrification.  Active EMI filter ICs reduce magnetic component and overall filter size relative to a passive-only design.

Benefits include:

  • Easier system integration: due to a more compact size and smaller packaging.
  • Reduced component power losses: enables better thermal management, higher efficiency, longer component lifetime and increased system-level reliability.
  • Lower component weight: provides better mechanical robustness and improved performance.
  • Improved high-frequency: the smaller-sized chokes have lower parasitic interwinding capacitance, which improves filter attenuation at the high frequencies.
This technical white paper discusses measured results from a 3.3-kW power factor correction (PFC) AC/DC regulator to illustrate the benefits of EMI mitigation and board space savings.
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Technical article
How a standalone active EMI filter IC shrinks common-mode filter size
This article discusses how space-constrained applications can use active power-supply filter integrated circuits to reduce the size of magnetic components and the overall filter.
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Single- and three-phase active EMI filter ICs mitigate common-mode EMI, save space and reduce cost
Learn how our portfolio of stand-alone AEF products for CM noise cancellation effectively reduces size, weight and cost in single-phase and three-phase systems compared to a traditional passive filter design.
Featured products for active EMI filters

Use our reference design selection tool to find designs that best match your application and parameters.

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28 APR 2021 | COMPANY BLOG
Integrating powertrain systems into a compact mechanical enclosure can lead to more affordable, more efficient electric vehicles (EVs)
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Technical resources