Aug 25th, 2010
Mitsubishi's air conditioners come with inverter module Using SiC-based SBD
Mitsubishi Electric Corp announced that it will release air conditioners equipped with an inverter module using a silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor device.
The inverter circuit board. An orange device seen in the right is the inverter module.
The company started commercial production of the SiC power semiconductor device, which was originally planned to start in fiscal 2011, ahead of schedule.
Among the ten models of the "Kirigamine Move Eye" room air conditioner, which will be released in late October 2010, two models, "MSZ-ZW281S" and "MSZ-ZW361S," will come with an inverter module using a SiC power semiconductor device for the first time in the world. Their rated outputs are 2.8kW and 3.6kW, respectively, when they are used for cooling. For both of the models, the inverter module is used for driving a compressor.
Though Mitsubishi Electric did not disclose the number of the MSZ-ZW281S and the MSZ-ZW361S to be produced, it plans to produce 20,000 units of the ZW series of air conditioners, whose rated outputs range from 2.2 to 7.1kW, per month.
The additional cost incurred to employ the inverter module will not be reflected in the prices of the air conditioners, Mitsubishi Electric said. The company is planning to equip its air conditioners to be released in the future with the new inverter module.
Diode as a starter
This time, in the inverter module used in the air conditioners, only the schottky barrier diode (SBD) is made with SiC. The transistor, which is used with the SBD, is an IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor).
In the inverter module, only the schottky barrier diode (SBD) is made with SiC.
"The SiC-based SBD plays a role of setting a precedent," Mitsubishi Electric said. "Our aim is to energize the concerned industries by commercializing a product as soon as it is ready for release."
The switching loss of the new inverter module is about 60% smaller than that of a silicon (Si)-based inverter module, the company said. As a result, the new inverter module can reduce the power consumption of the MSZ-ZW361S by about 2%, compared with the case where an existing inverter module is used.
Mitsubishi Electric plans to replace the IGBT with a SiC MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) and use SiC power semiconductor devices not only as an inverter but also as a converter on the board.
"If we could make all of those components by using SiC, the size of a power module on the board becomes half," the company said.
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