9 May 2012

Transphorm delivers first qualified 600V GaN-on-Si products

At this week’s Power Control and Intelligent Motion (PCIM 2012) event in Nuremberg, Germany (8-10 May), Transphorm Inc of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA (which designs and delivers power conversion devices and modules) has revealed its latest development that, the firm says, aims to cost-effectively reduce the large and growing problem of electrical energy waste in power conversion.

Transphorm claims to be is the first firm to provide a qualified 600V gallium nitride (GaN) solution to inefficient power conversion. Last year (starting at last May’s PCIM 2011), it announced its first GaN-on-silicon products: power transistors, diodes and modules, based on its patented EZ GaN technology. The following 600V products are now available as evaluation samples to approved customers:

• TPS30xxPK series of 600V, 2-4-6A, GaN diode in the industry-standard TO-220 package;
• TPH3006PS- 600V, 180 milli-Ohm GaN transistor in the industry-standard TO-220 package;
• TPT3044M- 600V, 3-phase GaN module and related inverter application board TDMD2000E0I.

“The opportunity for widespread energy efficiency gains is staggering and our GaN solutions offer unprecedented energy gains,” reckons co-founder & CEO Umesh Mishra (a professor of electrical & computer engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara). “In the motor segment alone, Transphorm’s innovations create the potential to save 2.5% of US electricity generation through enhanced electro-mechanical efficiency of the full drive and motor system - equivalent to the energy saving potential of replacing incandescent lighting with white LEDs.”

Transphorm claims that its compact and easy-to-embed solutions can cut energy waste by 50% and simplify the design and manufacturing of a wide variety of electrical systems and devices, including motor drives, power supplies and inverters for solar panels and electric vehicles. To demonstrate the performance of its patented GaN-based technology, in booth H12-258 at the PCIM exhibition Transphorm is showcasing its EZ GaN-based, dc-to-dc Boost Converter (running at more than 99% efficiency) and its Tru-Sine motor drive (delivering 2-8% higher efficiency at 100kHz versus state-of-the-art silicon IGBT-based motor drives at 15kHz).

“For customers looking for a low-risk roadmap to the next generation of power conversion technology, Transphorm’s EZ-GaN application boards provide for a simpler design-in and faster time to market,” says co-founder & president Primit Parikh.

Electric power waste that occurs during power conversion is equivalent to the daily output of 318 coal plants, and costs the US economy $40bn per year, it is reckoned. Transphorm’s GaN products come in industry-standard packages and are designed for optimum high-frequency switching. The firm says that its proprietary EZ GaN platform can reduce power system size, increase energy density and deliver high efficiencies across the grid, from HVACs to hybrids, and from servers to solar panels.

Tags: Transphorm GaN

Visit: www.transphormusa.com