Date: 20/01/2010

600V IGBT RC-Drives family from Infineon targeting home appliances

Infineon has introduced a new 600V IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) RC-Drives family (RC for Reverse-Conducting) that enables variable speed motor drives in home appliances such as washing machines, refrigerator compressors, inverterised air conditioners, and dishwashers use electronic controls and a switching power supply to obtain high efficiency under different usage conditions.

The IGBT RC-Drives family integrates Infineon's TRENCHSTOP IGBT technology and a free-wheeling diode into a single die resulting a device with low conduction losses and package shrink, and reduce the overall motor drive system cost by up to 10 percent.

By optimizing circuit board layout for the Infineon 15A device, a manufacturer of electric motor drives for home appliances can reduce the area needed for IGBTs by up to 50 percent. This reduces material costs and provides flexibility in design.

The family has been optimized with a low saturation voltage V ce (sat) of 1.65V, which is suitable for switching frequencies typically seen in home appliances of 4kHz to 15 kHz, with conduction losses. This prevents thermal issues even when using the high current devices under full load conditions.

"With increased consumer interest in energy efficient appliances, which can lower recurring energy bills and in some regions qualify for purchase rebates, our customers are looking for breakthrough devices that allow cost reductions and innovation in design that will set them apart from competitors," said Andreas Urschitz, Vice President and General Manager, Industrial and Multimarket Division at Infineon Technologies. "This perfectly matches our goal of providing solutions that address the global challenge for energy efficiency."

Price: For sample quantities, price ranges from $0.30 (600V, 4A) to $0.54 (600 15A)

Availability: Now

For more details visit www.infineon.com