New Industry Products

High-Power IPM Provides Secure Scalability & Smart Protection

March 19, 2018 by Paul Shepard

Infineon Technologies AG has optimized its high power intelligent power module (IPM) MIPAQ™ Pro for the fields of energy storage and smart grid. Customers now profit from complete monitoring and easy scalability of the IPM. Additional features comprise of higher power density, true real time junction temperature detection and secure authentication.

An upgraded smart protection and greater design flexibility drastically reduce efforts for the power stage development and the running system. Thus, also small and medium enterprises are empowered to implement semiconductors for existing and emerging applications. MIPAQ Pro is in production.

No matter what the application is, customers very often face limitations in available space. The intelligent wiring of the MIPAQ Pro helps to overcome this restriction.

With its smart feature-set it allows for replacing power units and sub-systems which are nominally 50 percent higher rated. Thus, the real time condition monitoring makes safety buffers towards e.g. 150°C semiconductor junction temperature just a surplus.

Installing the MIPAQ Pro at the heart of an inverter makes changing topology very easy. At the end of their production line, customers can choose between chopper- and half-bridge modes via Modbus. This is especially helpful for manufacturers of inverters for the energy storage and smart grid industry.

Very clearly, the software adaption helps in optimizing the supply chain. The safe operation area of the IPM has also been improved with more robust boards and a software-upgrade leading to higher system availability. This is supported by different warning levels which can easily be adapted to specific use-cases helping system-operators to generate counter-measures before a potential fault-triggered system shutdown.

As many as four MIPAQ™ Pro modules can be connected in parallel as easy daisy chain, to cover large power ranges. Furthermore all daisy chained MIPAQ™ Pro occur as one device for customer controller and the paralleling is supported by adjustable delay settings, that ensure a balanced set-up of the overall inverter.

Complete Monitoring

MIPAQ™ Pro monitors real time continuously several key parameters, like actual and max. junction temperature, PCB hot spot and average temperature, sub system current, switching frequency, supply voltage, ac output voltage, dc-Link voltage, IGBT driver power and internal power dissipation; all this data can accessed via Modbus.

Secure Authentication

As Infineon's security microcontroller is integrated into the MIPAQ™ Pro, individual certificates can be stored allowing authentication of the installed High Power IPM in the system. This assures everlasting high quality and reliability of the original system right from the beginning.

Moreover, this is advantageous for system manufacturers, as they gain control over the after-sales business if power stages are authenticated. In addition an Infineon certificates is already embedded to provide authentication of original parts.

​Smart Protection

Monitoring default and/or by customers individually adjusted key parameters enables the system to increase its availability by generating counter measures on early warnings, which are indicated automatically at reaching the limits of this adjustable operating area and/or prevent the MIPAQ™ Pro and the customers system of any damage on an instant automatic shut-down at reaching any border of the wide MIPAQ™ Pro SOA.

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