News: Microelectronics
22 July 2020
GaN Systems and BrightLoop partner on power converters
GaN Systems Inc of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (a fabless developer of gallium nitride-based power switching semiconductors for power conversion and control applications) and BrightLoop Converters of Paris, France (which manufactures power converters for harsh environments) have announced a strategic partnership to develop AC/DC and DC/DC converter products for electric motorsport and aerospace applications. Leveraging GaN Systems’ 650V GaN transistors, BrightLoop is producing a range of converters that are smaller, lighter and more efficient than those currently available in the market, it is claimed.
BrightLoop’s most recent family of DC/DC converters, including the 1.9kW, 4.8kW and 9.6kW DC/DC converters designed for hybrid and electric racing, incorporates GaN Systems’ transistors and are around half the size and weight of the firm’s first-generation DC/DC converter developed without GaN. BrightLoop says that it continues to make advances using GaN to produce lighter and more compact converters.
BrightLoop’s DC/DC converters are now used in many of the Formula E teams and the winning team from 2019. The converter’s function is to power all the low-voltage electronics including pumps, lighting and radio. Most recently, the World Sporting Consulting (WSC) Group, the motorsport event and racing promotion organization overseeing the Touring Car Racing (TCR) and ETCR (Electric Touring Car Racing) brands, announced BrightLoop as the sole supplier of DC/DC converters for cars in ETCR (the world’s first electric touring car championship, beginning this summer).
Additionally, later next year for aerospace applications BrightLoop will unveil a high-performance 5kW AC/DC power factor correction (PFC) product, which also incorporates GaN Systems transistors. It operates from an input voltage of 60-180VAC and achieves 96% efficiency.
“The industries which we service require high reliability and performance and GaN is an important piece in helping us achieve that,” says BrightLoop’s CEO Florent Liffran. “GaN Systems offers one of the best lines of 650V GaN transistors and, coupled with its unique packaging, allows unprecedented integration,” he adds.
“Teaming up with a leader like BrightLoop to demonstrate GaN Systems’ products in these very demanding applications proves the value and ruggedness of our GaN in high-reliability power applications,” says GaN Systems’ CEO Jim Witham.
