Renesas Introduces a New line up in Intelligent Power devices - a Replacement for Relays in Automotive Application

Renesas Electronics, today announced its availability of six new intelligent power devices for heater control applications and automotive motor. The devices provide a high performance, extremely reliable solution compared with mechanical relays, switching the current flow on and off in ECUs (Electronic Control Units).

IPD is a power IC device that integrates in a single package control circuit that implements protection functions and self- diagnostic functions. IPDs are very compact, power efficient, light weight, and not subject to tear and contact wear that affects mechanical relays, enabling highly reliable systems with self-protection functions.

Previously, most ECUs used relays as switching elements with the average automobile using 100 relays. The transition from mechanical relays to semiconductor switching started in applications like lighting control, and the trend has boosted into other automotive systems, such as heater control and motor, driving a very high demand in high performance and highly reliable semiconductor switching devices.

Recently, in Japan and other countries a strict environmental regulations have spurred and accelerated the efforts to improve fuel efficiency. This has highlighted the demands for reduced vehicle weight, lighter ECU, more compact, and low power consumption. Creating light vehicles had made difficult as the routing of the wire harness is determined and the configuration location is being restricted due to maintenance in the relay box that is responsible for power distribution within the vehicle.

This has raised the growing demand to free placement constraints in the relay box and to allow greater flexibility in the wire harness by configuring the relay box with a semiconductor switch with self- protection function. Conventional semiconductor switches have been unsuitable for handling large currency, which has prevented efforts to develop semiconductor based boxes. Hence, it is difficult to deal with high current loads when using conventional semiconductor switches. From past so many years, Renesas has delivered IPDs for automotive applications that contribute light weight, compactness, reduced power consumption and higher performances in ECUs. Renesas has leveraged its experience and expertise to create and deliver new IPDs achieving low on-resistance and high breakdown tolerance.

Key features of new IPDs

Low on resistance for high reliability and reduced loss for a high range of large current applications.
Guaranteed on- resistance characteristic at low power supply voltages and built-in diagnostic functions.
Excellent breakdown tolerance and less costly ECUs.

Market and Availability: – Samples of IPDs are readily available now. Mass production begins from January 2017 and is expected to reach 850,000 units by the end of January 2018.