ABB shrinks Battery Charger by a factor of ten
At the upcoming trade show InnoTrans in Berlin, Germany, September 20 to 23, ABB will launch a next generation battery charger based on SiC power semiconductors for use in all rail applications.
With a footprint of 360 x 220 mm the size of a shoebox it is said to be about ten times smaller and has a weight reduction of 80 percent compared to previous generations. The new device has a power density of 1 kW per litre and per kg, an improvement from previous generations by a factor of 15.
The BORDLINE BC battery charger incorporates SiC technology for the first time. "The new battery charger leverages all the benefits available from SiC and soft switching technologies to allow for a new performance level of power electronics in railway," said Sami Atiya, president of ABB's Discrete Automation and Motion division.
"ABB has a long history of providing innovative and energy-efficient technologies to the rail industry and we will continue innovating for the transportation sector, a key growth area in our Next Level strategy."
The new high-speed trains by Stadler operated by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) on the new transalpine Gotthard base tunnel route between Zurich and Milan will be equipped with this technology
SiC power semiconductor technology offers significant advantages over traditional silicon-based devices in power applications requiring low losses, high frequency switching and/or high temperature environments. For example, the dielectric strength voltage of SiC is about ten times greater than that of Si. Low losses are critical to the performance ratio and SiC technology can reduce the power loss by up to a factor of five. High frequency switching can be increased from the conventional technology level with a range of 10 to 20kHz by a factor of ten.
