〈Industrial Technology and Information〉Innovative technology assists big business opportunities of electric vehicles

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Hu Zhusheng (left), director of the Machinery Institute of ITRI, introduced Taiwan's first "silicon carbide motor drive controller" to Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei Hua (middle)

The market estimates that by 2035, the sales of electric vehicles and fuel vehicles will show a golden cross. In the face of the rapidly growing electric vehicle market, at the just-concluded "Taipei International Auto Parts and Automotive Electronics Show", ITRI's economic The theme pavilion of "Taiwan Automotive Mobile R&D Consortium" (mTARC) of the Department of Technology of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs exhibits the latest highlight technologies, including many product applications that are in sync with international trends, demonstrating Taiwan's solid technical strength.

mTARC, established by the Technology Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, covers 9 R&D institutions including the Industrial Technology Research Institute. Since 2008, it has accumulated more than 1,000 patents related to self-driving cars and electric vehicles. It can be said that Taiwanese manufacturers entered the electric vehicle and self-driving car industry chain. The ammunition depot is also the result of scientific and technological projects supporting industrial innovation and research and development. At present, there are more than 100 authorized patent manufacturers, with a total of more than 257 patents, assisting manufacturers to create nearly 100 billion in output value benefits.

According to the global automotive industry market (Marklines) data, the global sales of electric vehicles in 2020 has reached 3 million, with a growth rate of 46.3%, and the total value of the global vehicle electronics market is nearly 360 billion US dollars. Both have a growth rate of 13%, creating an output value of NT$270 billion in 2020. Now that major information and communication companies have joined, the development is expected to be even more powerful. It is estimated that the output value in 2025 will reach 500 billion to 600 billion yuan.

Taiwan's first automotive SiC motor driver controller

This year, ITRI exhibited many bright technologies, among which Taiwan's first automotive "silicon carbide motor driver" attracted the most attention. At present, only a few manufacturers in the world and the international electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (TESLA) have successfully developed this technology. Zhang Xinhong, manager of the Machinery Institute of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, explained that the "motor controller" and "motor" play different roles, and the electrification of vehicles After that, the battery provides direct current (DC), but the motor runs on alternating current (AC). "To make the motor move, there must be a bridge in the middle to convert DC to AC. This bridge is the motor controller."

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a new generation of compound semiconductor material that has been heavily invested in the world. It has the characteristics of high frequency cut, high efficiency, high voltage resistance, and high temperature resistance. It is widely used in automotive electronics. This time, the Industrial Technology Research Institute used silicon carbide for the power components in the driver controller, because in the application of electric vehicles, the voltage and power of the motor driver controller are the highest. "Silicon carbide components are used in this high-voltage, high-current, High-power parts can show the most advantages, which can greatly reduce the weight and volume of the drive controller," Zhang Xinhong said.

Although silicon carbide has inherent material advantages, there are still many peripheral designs that need to be matched with each other. First of all, although high switching frequency can reduce switching loss and improve motor control efficiency, it will also generate electromagnetic interference problems, so high-frequency anti-noise drive circuit design should be adopted; second, because it is more heat-resistant, the cooling system must be more rigorous The design of the ITRI ensures the temperature of the module through the development of active temperature estimation and compensation technology.

Through the overall module structure design, the power density of the SiC motor driver controller is also improved. The power density of a general motor driver is about 20kW/L, but the silicon carbide motor driver developed by ITRI has a high power density of 40kW/L and a high efficiency of 99%, which is at an international level.

Zhang Xinhong pointed out that silicon carbide power module technology has a high threshold, and currently there are not many manufacturers investing in it in various countries, and only Tesla uses it in mass-produced vehicles. The technology of the Industrial Technology Research Institute is currently in the laboratory test platform stage, and it is expected to conduct real vehicle tests early next year. In the future, it can be applied to electric trucks or electric buses, providing domestic complete solutions for power drive controllers, which will be a key for Taiwan in the field of electric vehicles. Parts market, conquered a city.


The silicon carbide motor driver developed by ITRI has a high power density of 40kW/L and a high efficiency of 99%, which is of international standard.

Integrated packaging technology, motor drive control is like four or two dials

In addition to electric vehicles, the Industrial Technology Research Institute has also made progress in the motor drive controller of electric vehicles, and released the world's first high-density integrated power module higher than 8kW. Zhang Daozhi, head of the Institute of Electro-Optics of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, said that traditional motor controllers mostly use discrete components, that is, individually packaged ICs. The biggest disadvantage is that it is difficult to reduce the size of the circuit board. Based on the size of the motor controller of the current Taiwanese electric locomotive, the output power of the motor falls between 3kW and 6kW.

The Industrial Technology Research Institute adopts an integration method, using semiconductor chip packaging technology, to integrate more chips into the module. The process needs to overcome technical barriers such as chip location, routing design, and uniform heat dissipation, and finally achieve the same volume. The power of the driving motor exceeds 8kW, which is 2 to 3 times that of the current domestic electric locomotive factory, and is equivalent to the output level of the yellow-card large heavy machine.

In addition to high-density integrated power modules, the entire motor drive control system also includes microcontroller boards, power supply boards, and driver boards. The motor drive system above can reduce the volume by one-third.

Zhang Daozhi pointed out that such a design can also solve the "mileage anxiety" that users often worry about when the car runs out of battery. In the past, some power loss was unavoidable when converting DC to AC. Generally, the conversion efficiency of a motor drive control system is about 90% to 92%. However, the integrated design of ITRI shortens the current path and the conversion efficiency can reach as high as 97%. Effectively improve the endurance of electric vehicles. Previously, the Industrial Technology Research Institute has accepted the entrustment of domestic electric vehicle manufacturers, and it is expected to be shipped in the second half of the year. Recently, it has also cooperated with Taiwan and Japanese motor factories, and has the opportunity to apply it to large electric heavy vehicles.


Using semiconductor chip packaging technology, more chips are integrated into the module (right), and the motor power that can be driven exceeds 8kW. The entire motor drive controller is reduced in size through an integrated design, which can be reduced by one-third (left).

Semiconductor wire bonding technology checks battery safety

Another focus of electric vehicles is battery safety. Zhang Daozhi said that the current electric vehicle batteries mostly use welding technology. The copper or nickel sheets are laser spot welded to connect the battery cells one by one. Once one of the battery cells overheats and starts to burn, there is no protection mechanism. , resulting in the occurrence of burning conditions.

The current electric vehicle safety regulations have increasingly stringent requirements for preventing the battery from burning. In order to solve this problem, the "rechargeable battery pack" exhibited by the Industrial Technology Research Institute replaced the previous spot welding technology with Ultrasonic Wire Bond technology. Accessible protection mechanism.

The so-called wire bonding is to replace copper sheets with aluminum wires, and use high-frequency ultrasonic vibrations to achieve firm bonding through surface friction. It is a common method for semiconductor packaging. Zhang Daozhi said that the choice of aluminum wire is due to the popularity of the material; the second is because the melting point of aluminum is 660 degrees. Once the battery starts to overheat, it will reach the temperature at which the aluminum wire will melt. .”

However, the thickness of the aluminum wire is only 250 microns, which is about the width of 5 hairs. The biggest technical threshold for wire bonding lies in the overall quality control, precisely controlling the force of ultrasonic vibration, and each wire must be punched evenly and just right: too much force may damage the The foundation of the battery is damaged, it is played too lightly, and the contact strength is not enough. In addition, the connection method of the aluminum wires must be designed so that the current can be evenly distributed. "The connection method is different, the current flow is different, and the heat generation mode is also different," Zhang Daozhi said.

At present, there are still a small number of manufacturers in Taiwan that have invested in this technology. ITRI has also obtained many battery factories commissioned to design the entire battery module. In the future, in addition to electric locomotives, it can also be used in light electric vehicles, such as golf carts, to lay out battery business opportunities for light electric vehicles.


The "rechargeable battery pack" exhibited by the Industrial Technology Research Institute uses ultrasonic welding technology to replace the previous spot welding technology to achieve a protection mechanism.

The two-speed transmission module effectively improves battery life

Breaking through the myth that electric vehicles do not need gearboxes, the Industrial Technology Research Institute also recently released the "Electric Vehicle Transmission Module Design and Multi-speed Shifting Technology" supported by the Technical Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and assisted the gear manufacturer "Batom Co., Ltd. Company", developed Taiwan's first self-designed and manufactured "two-speed transmission module for electric vehicles", which can be used in high-performance sedans, SUVs and passenger and cargo vehicles in the future.

Hu Zhusheng, director of the Institute of Mechanical and Mechatronic Systems of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, pointed out that observing the development trend of electric vehicles in recent years, major international transmission manufacturers have successively invested in the research and development of two-speed transmission modules, and developed a three-in-one power system based on this to improve the acceleration performance of the vehicle and extreme speed, and balance the energy consumption and power performance of the electric vehicle power system at high load and high speed.

Compared with the single-speed gearbox, the two-speed transmission module uses two gears with high and low gear ratios to improve vehicle acceleration and top speed performance. It can maintain high-efficiency power output under all conditions, effectively increasing the cruising range of the vehicle by 10%. In addition, the two-speed system can use a smaller power motor while maintaining the same performance to achieve the purpose of miniaturization of the power system, and use this advantage to enter the high-end electric vehicle market.

Zhang Nengkai, Section Chief of the Technology Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said that in the past, Taiwan’s vehicle transmission industry was mainly engaged in the production of gear components and OEMs, with little focus on the design of module systems. The cooperation between ITRI and Batom Co., Ltd. not only complements the domestic The technical capabilities of transmission module design, analysis, and verification, and at the same time assist domestic auto parts manufacturers to transform into system module factories.

This product is used as the basis of the three-in-one power system of electric vehicles. It can also integrate localized motor and drive controller resources to form an industrial value chain. It has the opportunity to enter the international electric vehicle industry supply chain and improve the domestic electric vehicle power system industry. . The Industrial Technology Research Institute has taken the lead in investing in the key technologies needed by Taiwan's electric vehicle industry through a multi-pronged approach, laying out market vacancies, and gaining the opportunity to win in the era of electric vehicles.


The two-speed transmission module can meet the power requirements of electric vehicles under high-speed and high-load conditions at the same time, and enable the motor to maintain high-efficiency power output under both conditions, effectively increasing the cruising range of the vehicle by 10%.

From: https://news.cnyes.com/news/id/4650946
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