Power conversion specialist Vanner has started serial production of a liquid-cooled converter with silicon carbide (SiC) solid-state switching for hybrid, battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles.

Vanner has designed a 17.1 kW, 600 A converter using its Hybrid Beltless Alternator (HBA), which is a 17.1 kW, 300 A, 600 VDC to 24 VDC air-cooled converter. It is liquid-cooled to minimize the footprint, and is IP67-rated. It is available in two models: liquid-cooled HBA for hybrid vehicles and liquid-cooled Electric BA for battery and fuel cell vehicles. When used with a Vanner 80-Series Equalizer that has Model Based Battery Monitoring (MBBM), the converter optimizes 12/24 VDC battery charging using Vanner algorithms that continuously calculate the state of the battery’s health and charge. These products support Vanner’s Dashboard diagnostic software and CAN connectivity.

“Using our new SiC converter and our engineering implementation, electrical efficiency operates between 96-98%. This near 100% efficiency is especially important when heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles are looking for efficiency gains to extend their operating range,” said Alec Cook, VP of Engineering and CTO at Vanner.

Source: Vanner