-- Complying with the Safety Standards Requiring High Insulation Voltage of 690 V and Others --
TOKYO, Japan, May 16, 2012 -- Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the availability of a long-creepage-distance photocoupler, the PS9905, for inverters in applications such as industrial equipment employing the maximum commercial power supply voltage of 690 V or solar power generation systems employing high voltages up to 1,000 V.
The new PS9905 device is a photocoupler (compound semiconductor, Note 1) with an external creepage distance (Note 2) of 14.5 mm, exceeding the 13.8 mm specified in safety standards (IEC 61800) covering insulation to prevent electric shock, etc.
A high-speed photocoupler, the PS9924, is also available, which supports internal system communication speeds of 10 Mb/second while providing a long creepage distance of 14.5 mm. Among products with creepage distances exceeding 10 mm, it delivers low power consumption characteristics among the best in the industry, making it ideal for applications requiring both high insulation voltage and low power consumption.
As efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and lower energy consumption in order to protect the environment have advanced, the use of inverters in industrial applications and solar power generation systems has continued to grow rapidly as a way to achieve low-power motor control and reduce power conversion loss.
These inverters comprise high-voltage circuit blocks containing power devices such as IGBTs and control circuit boxes containing devices such as microcontrollers (MCUs). Photocouplers are required to drive power semiconductor devices such as IGBTs while electrically isolating the two circuit blocks.
Renesas already mass produces compact photocouplers with a creepage distance of 8 mm for driving IGBTs in inverter circuits. However such systems have come to handle increasingly higher voltages, making it possible to lower the current level, reducing power loss and allowing the use of thinner cables between inverter motors and as power cables.
To address this market trend, Renesas released the PS9905 and PS9924 photocouplers for inverters in industrial systems employing 690 V power supplies, use of which is expected to expand further moving forward, and inverters in 1,000 V solar power generation systems.
The new photocouplers have a long creepage distance of 14.5 mm to meet applicable safety standards.
(Note 1) Photocoupler: A photocoupler houses in a single package a light generating element (LED) on the input side, which converts the electrical signal to light, and a light receiving element on the output side, which converts the light into an electrical signal. Since such an optically coupled device conveys the signal from the input to the output side in the form of light, the two sides can be completely isolated from each other electrically.
(Note 2) External creepage distance: The minimum distance from the high-voltage-side package pin to the low-voltage-side package pin used for connecting the photocoupler, as measured along the resin exterior of the package. A longer distance provides a higher voltage tolerance.
For details, please visit http://www.renesas.com/press/news/2012/news20120516.jsp
(press release)
- « Prev
- 1
- Next »
