Charged EVs | EPC launches 5 kW GaN motor inverter boards for light EVs and robotics

Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) has introduced two 3-phase BLDC motor drive inverter evaluation boards for robotics and light EV applications. The new EPC9186HC2 and EPC9186HC3 platforms are designed for motor drive systems up to 5 kW, and use the company’s 100 V EPC2361 eGaN FETs to target higher switching speed, higher current capability and more compact inverter designs.

The boards are aimed at applications including robotics, industrial automation, electric scooters, forklifts, agricultural machinery, battery-powered mobility systems and high-power drones. Both are based on EPC’s earlier EPC9186 platform, but use a new power stage built around EPC2361 GaN devices. EPC says the new configuration improves conduction performance and allows higher-current, lower-cost operation in demanding motion-control environments.

The difference between the two versions is in the number of parallel devices used at each switch position. The EPC9186HC2 uses two EPC2361 eGaN FETs in parallel per switch position, while the EPC9186HC3 uses three, which the company says further lowers equivalent on-resistance and improves efficiency at higher load currents. Compared with silicon MOSFETs, EPC says the EPC2361 devices offer lower gate charge and output capacitance, which can support faster switching, lower losses, smaller passive components and higher motor-control bandwidth.

EPC says the boards support phase currents up to 150 ARMS, depending on the selected current-sensing configuration, and PWM switching frequencies up to 120 kHz. They operate with DC input voltages up to 76 V, and feature dv/dt of around 6 V/ns. The boards also integrate gate drivers, high-bandwidth phase-current sensing, voltage monitoring, housekeeping power supplies, over-current detection and input undervoltage lockout.

For motor-drive engineers, that mix of current capability and switching speed matters because inverter losses, acoustic noise and control bandwidth all affect how a system behaves in real machines. EPC says the boards support both sensorless and encoder-based motor control, and are compatible with controller platforms from Microchip, Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics. Integrated phase-current sensing also supports field-oriented control.

The EPC9186HC2 and EPC9186HC3 reference design boards are priced at $1080 and are available now through Digi-Key and Mouser.

Source: Efficient Power Conversion