News

Amantys seals Partnership for the US Market with AmePower

April 14, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

Amantys Ltd. has today expanded its global reach through a significant partnership with Miami-based AmePower Power Electronics, a division of AmeTrade, Inc, is adding the Amantys Power Drive™ family of gate drives to its innovative product portfolio for customers in the US and South America, complementing the IGBT Modules they offer from ABB, Dynex Semiconductors, Hitachi and IXYS. This distribution agreement signals the arrival of Amantys in the Americas and continues the development of the company’s presence in key global markets.

The region is particularly important in locomotive traction, industrial motor drives, and renewable energy generation through solar and wind power. The Amantys Power Drive plug & play family of digital IGBT drivers offer substantial advantages over existing solutions, including advanced short circuit protection, in-circuit configurability and visibility of vital parameters such as temperature during operation.

This innovative approach to power electronics attracted the attention of AmePower General Manager, Luis Contreras: "Amantys brings intelligence to the control of power, and with Insight technology we can receive real-time data about the performance of the system and initiate specific preventive actions as necessary, even when the system is remote or relatively inaccessible. This is particularly important in the US for applications such as rail propulsion systems, making remote diagnosis and maintenance planning more cost efficient and far easier to manage.”

"The US is an important market for Amantys with growing opportunities in a wide range of applications for power electronics, so establishing this partnership is a critical part of our long term strategy,” added Steve Evans, VP Marketing. “In AmePower we have gained a partner with an excellent portfolio of IGBT Modules and it’s a great complement to our IGBT Driver product line-up. We are looking forward to a successful alliance in the United States.”

The Amantys Power Drive range is available in operating voltages from 1.2kV to 6.5kV IGBTs with a current load rating up to 3600A. They are compatible with all popular modules from ABB, Dynex, Fuji Electric, Hitachi, Infineon, Powerex or Westcode/IXYS – an excellent match with the franchise portfolio at AmePower.

The lower voltage 1200V/1700V IGBT gate drivers for PrimePACKTM and High Power Module package types are particularly used in wind turbine converters, industrial motor drives and solar energy systems, whilst the higher voltage HPM devices at 3.3kV, 4.5kV and 6.5kV are also used in applications including locomotive traction, industrial motor drives and High Voltage DC power transmission. Each of these applications has a different mission profile – some with smooth predictable load patterns, and others changing as quickly and often as the sun coming out – so the ability to configure the IGBT switching characteristics brings a huge benefit in design productivity and system reliability.