The new 600V IGBT RC-Drives family (RC for Reverse-Conducting) enables more cost-effective design of variable speed electric motors, which can reduce the energy consumption of appliances by up to 30% in many applications.

Variable speed motor drives in such appliances as washing machines, refrigerator compressors, inverterised air conditioners and dishwashers use electronic controls and a switching power supply to obtain the best efficiency under different usage conditions. The IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) RC-Drives family integrates Infineon’s market leading TRENCHSTOP™ IGBT technology and a free-wheeling diode into a single die resulting in a device with low conduction losses and package shrink compared to competitor solutions. This in turn allows for a reduction in the system circuit board area and heat sink size, plus can reduce the overall motor drive system cost by up to 10%.

"With increased consumer interest in energy efficient appliances, which can lower recurring energy bills and in some regions qualify for purchase rebates, our customers are looking for breakthrough devices that allow cost reductions and innovation in design that will set them apart from competitors," said Andreas Urschitz, Vice President and General Manager, Industrial and Multimarket Division at Infineon Technologies. "This perfectly matches our goal of providing solutions that address the global challenge for energy efficiency."

The IGBT RC-Drives family is available in 4, 6, 10 and 15A current classes in two package types: DPAK (TO-252) and IPAK (TO-251) both with dimensions of 2.30 x 6.50 x 7.22mm in size. This enables the design of variable speed drives from 30W up to 2kW in a small compact package, where competitor suppliers in this application segment can only offer the larger D2PAK (TO-263) or TO-220 packages with dimensions of 9 x 10 x 4.5mm. By optimizing circuit board layout for the Infineon 15A device, a manufacturer of electric motor drives for home appliances can reduce the area needed for IGBTs by up to 50%. This reduces material costs and provides flexibility in design.

The family has been optimized with a low saturation voltage Vce(sat) of 1.65V, which is ideal for switching frequencies typically seen in home appliances of 4kHz to 15 kHz, since at these frequencies conduction losses are the most dominant losses. This prevents thermal issues even when using the highest current devices under full load conditions. Additionally, low EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) levels are exhibited thanks to Infineon’s TRENCHSTOP IGBT technology with its soft switching behavior. EMI measurements have shown a 10% improvement in EMI behaviour over the closest competitor and in a kitchen environment where there are many electronic devices this is an important feature.

The IGBT RC-Drives family, which offers low conduction losses and area space saving is available in 600V voltage class and is available in high-volume quantities to order. For sample quantities, pricing ranges from US $0.30 (600V, 4A) to US $0.54 (600 15A).