E-Mobility Engineering 016 l Aurora Powertrains eSled dossier l In Conversation: Thomas de Lange l Automated manufacturing focus l Torque sensing insight l Battery Show Europe 2022 report l Sodium batteries insight l User interfaces focus

Technical consultants Ryan is an award-winning engineer and business leader with more than 20 years’ experience in the High-Performance, Heavy-Duty and Off-Highway Automotive markets. Prominent in the development of Power Electronics, Electric Motors and Drives (PEMD) for these demanding applications, he has successfully founded, scaled and exited three businesses in the electric vehicle space. He is currently CEO of eTech49 Limited, an advisory business specialising in disruptive hardware technology in PEMD. In addition, he is Chairman of EV North, an industry group representing the booming EV industry in the north of England, a board member of the North East LEP and an adviser to a number of corporations. Danson Joseph has had a varied career in the electrical power industry, having worked in areas ranging from systems engineering of photovoltaic powerplants to developing the battery packs for Jaguar Land Rover’s I-Pace SUV. With a PhD in electrical machines from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, Danson has focused on developing battery systems for automotive use. After completing the I-Pace project he formed Danecca, a battery development company with a focus on prototyping and small-scale production work, as well as testing and verifying cells and packs destined for mass production. Dr Nabeel Shirazee graduated from Leicester University in 1990, where he studied electrical and electronic engineering. An MSc in magnetic engineering followed at Cardiff University, where he continued his studies, earning a PhD and developing a permanent magnetic lifting system that has been patented by the university. His interest in magnetics led to a patented magnetic levitation system that was awarded the World’s No 1 Invention prize at INPEX in the USA. In 1999, he founded Electronica, a magnetics research and design consultancy. Since then, he has been involved in various projects, including the design of an actuator motor for a British aerospace company. He has also licensed the levitation technology in France. Ryan Maughan Danson Joseph Dr Nabeel Shirazee 48Vbidirectional charger for hybrids EPC has developed a reference design called the EPC9165 for a 2 kW bidirectional charger in 48 V hybrid vehicles using GaN transistors (writes Nick Flaherty). Mild hybrids running on 48 V require a 48 to 12 V bidirectional converter, with power ranging from 1.5 to 6 kW. The EPC9165’s design uses a synchronous buck/boost converter with other supporting circuitry including current sensors and temperature sensor. It also uses a controller board for the digital control and housekeeping power supply based around the dsPIC33CK256MP503 digital controller from Microchip. The main conversion is based around the EPC2302 GaN transistor. This has a four times better figure of merit compared to a more traditional MOSFET design. For the same gate voltage of 5 V, GaN FETs have at least five times lower gate charge than MOSFETs, according to Tiziano Morganti, senior field application engineer at EPC. The transistors are also smaller, with lower Coss, faster voltage transition and zero reverse recovery. At full load, EPC eGaN FETs can operate with 96% efficiency at 500 kHz switching frequency, enabling 1 kW/phase compared to silicon-based solutions, which are limited to 600 W/phase owing to their 100 kHz maximum switching frequency. Two converters can be paralleled for 4 kW, three for 6 kW or only one phase can be chosen for 1 kW. BATTERY CHARGERS Winter 2022 | E-Mobility Engineering 11 TheGrid