Shouting Hard

Hybrid and Electric vehicles, by design, introduce many new electronic components into the bill of materials and account for up to 30% of the vehicles total cost.  Years ago, Toyota was the only manufacturer with a hybrid car in mass production, but Toyota’s policy of integrating the supply chain into their own structure and utilizing only local factories made it impossible to develop sub-suppliers specializing in these new components. In 2011, all car manufacturers have one or several projects based on HEV technology. This requires the development of a complete supply chain focused on these new key elements for electric power.

Toyota Prius

Batteries, from the beginning, received the majority of attention and focus since they represent the single largest cost in these new power trains.  Alliances and joint ventures have been created between car manufacturers and standard battery manufacturers with targets of lowering costs, reducing weights and improving energy output. All battery manufacturers are looking closely at the innovations, patent applications and movements of their competitors. The companies who are quick to market with any advantages or improvements in battery technology and performance will see greater profits – a very hard challenge for an industry that has suffered from a lack of innovation for more than 20 years.

A full electric car has a bill of materials with an average of one third of the number of components than a gasoline or diesel powered automobile. The number of components required for the power train, by itself, is reduced to the battery, electric motor, charger and power converter. The main costs and margins are now focused on the battery and the electric motor set rather than in the internal combustion engine. Automotive companies are getting involved in developing these key elements on their own as a key strategy to control and keep in house these larger value-added components.

Plug-In Hybrid Power Train Design

Tier 1 suppliers are looking for other elements in the powertrain to realize profits and these include the power converters and battery chargers. These elements transfer the energy in the powertrain from the battery to the motor, charge the battery and generate the low voltage power network to feed the car’s electronic systems (lights, entertainment system, heating, etc.). The basic technology used in these power converters is very well known as, in large part, the converters are switched mode power supplies with small form factors and high efficiencies. High efficiency power supplies have been developed for many years for use in other markets including UPS systems, solar panel generators, wind power energy and industrial motor drives.  Companies producing converters for these applications, including Eaton and Bosch, can become new Tier 1 suppliers for these HEV platforms. Their challenges will be in having to design and manufacture the converters for onboard installation and to be qualified for use in automobiles.

In the same way, electronic Tier 1 suppliers for gas and diesel powered automobiles are already transforming themselves to develop and manufacture power converters and battery chargers. Lear, Valeo, Delphi and Continental are excellent examples of these Tier 1 suppliers and each now have converters and battery chargers in their product portfolios and many will be in new HEV cars to be launched in the coming years.

Delphi DC/DC Converter

Key electronic components used in these new HEV power assemblies are commonly utilized in the industrial markets and include high power switching semiconductors, high energy capacitors and high power transformers and inductors. In the automotive marketplace, electrical and mechanical constraints are dictated by the size and volume available for the assembly, cost targets and required efficiency ratings. Component manufacturers (Tier 2) have to adapt their business models to meet the demands of this new potential market. The heart of the component technology is already well known and in use in industrial applications but the new requirements of HEV make it necessary for a complete reinventing of these components.

A high power planar transformer from PREMO Group

Infineon and Semikron are two power management IC manufacturers who have focused on the HEV market for the last four plus years. Both have launched automotive qualified semiconductors ready for integration into HEV converters and have dedicated departments to support car manufacturers and to develop R&D kits and application notes for their MOSFETS/IGBT’s. Their target is clear: to make completely off-the-shelf parts available and to reduce the overall costs of their automotive customers.

In addition to the active components used in the converter, there are many required passive components that have been the focus of Tier 2 suppliers.  One such classification is inductive components including power transformers, power chokes, current sensors, EMI filters and auxiliary signal transformers. These types of components are commonly used in industrial applications but have never been before installed in automobiles.  PREMO is a Tier 2 inductive component manufacturer that has experienced a major transformation in their business model due to this evolution.  Four years ago, Premo anticipated the future needs of the automobile market for these types of components.  Over this four year period, Premo’s know-how, expertise and inductive components portfolio for industrial applications has led them to be able to deliver standard, agency-qualified solutions for automotive customers.

PFC Choke Developed for Automotive Applications

Onboard battery chargers for plug-in vehicles introduce a new technology challenge for these companies. The charger connects the automobile to the domestic power network, merging the requirements of the industrial world with the automotive world. The charger must comply with all EMC requirements from these industrial standards while, at the same time, fulfilling the lifespan, environmental, robustness and safety requirements of the automotive market. PREMO is the first Tier 2 component manufacturer to make available to the HEV market a complete off-the-shelf EMC Filter for battery chargers with complete AECQ-200 qualification. This filter is delivered in a single aluminum box with connectors, simplifying the assembly operation for the charger manufacturer.

PREMO EMC Filter for Battery Chargers

Opportunities are in the air.  Even with the conservative numbers the automobile manufacturers are predicting for HEV unit sales in future years, the component suppliers will need to initiate a complete conversion and re-tooling of their factories to reach the capacity and output that will be required to support these programs. The production of several hundred thousand EMC Filters of the type required for battery chargers is not a simple task and no manufacturer has ever built one previously with the productivity and automation level required by the automotive market.  This is a very big challenge for component companies who may be used to having a high operator workforce for their industrial customers.

Esta entrada se publicó en Junio de 2005 en Necoblog:

Bueno, ya llevo aquí 3 semanas y me ha pasado de todo. La verdad es que China es un país muy grande, aquí todo está muy lejos. Trabajo en Wuxi, una ciudad de cuatro millones y medio de habitantes cerca de Shanghai. Cerca significa 2 horas en coche si pillas bien la autovía.

La contaminación aquí es brutal. El desarrollo que están llevando a cabo los chinos en infraestructuras e industria lleva una velocidad vertiginosa. Esto hace que no tengan cuidado a la hora de quitar la mierda. Aquí todos los ríos y lagos son marrones, las desembocaduras siguen marrones hasta bien entrado el mar y el cielo siempre está con esa neblina que no deja ver el sol. Cuando vas en coche y te aproximas a una ciudad grande, la nube marrón que flota sobre ella es apreciable a simple vista. Si llueve la lluvia es mierda literal, no barro ni agua sucia, es mierda.

La contrapartida es que tienen una industria de fabricación que crece y crece sin parar. Vas por la autovía y los anuncios en las vallas publicitarias son de rodamientos, cilindros, tornillos, etc. En la estación de trenes de Shanghai, al bajar del vagón no hay anuncios de colonias, ropa o coches. Hay anuncios de máquina herramienta, de proveedores de acero y de fresadoras.

El tráfico en Wuxi y en China en general es totalmente caótico. Mi carné de conducir español no sirve aquí, pero aun si sirviera no podría conducir. Tendría un accidente el primer día. Los semáforos están en el otro lado del cruce, la preferencia no sigue la normativa de las señales o los semáforos. La norma es la siguiente: camión gigante, camión pequeño, taxi pijo, taxi Santana 2000, coche, moto, bici, chino. En ese orden. Si un camión entra en el cruce y un taxi está cruzando, pito al canto y el taxi se para. Si un chino cruza un paso de cebra y viene un Santana con un cliente, a joderse tocan y la pelas en medio de la carretera si tiene ocho carriles. Fijaos que al extranjero ni lo he nombrado, así que os podéis imaginar lo que hay que liar para cruzar una avenida de las que hay por aquí.

Para desplazarnos en el tiempo libre usamos los taxis, normalmente Volkswagen Santana 2000, que son los que más abundan. Si quieres ir a un sitio normalmente lo dices y te entienden porque no suelen ser sitios raros. A menos que te toque un chino incompetente o que no sabe leer, entonces mejor bajarse del taxi y pillar otro. Anoche nos tocó uno de esos. Resulta que queríamos ir al centro a comernos una pizza y tomamos un taxi. Nada más subir ya vimos que el tío era un inútil porque le dijimos:

— “Chélaton!”

Que es uno de los hoteles famosos del centro (Hotel Sheraton, lo de la erre no es ninguna leyenda urbana, aquí el tren es “tlen” y cabrón es “cablón”) y ni puta idea. Total, que sacamos el papelito y tampoco se ve que sabía leer un pijo. Al final le dijimos otro hotel que está en la misma calle y eso si que lo entendió. Pero mi intención era que nos dejara en el Sheraton al llegar a la calle, así que cuando estábamos en el semáforo vi el Sheraton a la derecha y el otro donde íbamos a la izquierda. Al momento saqué el brazo por la ventana y me puse a pegarle voces:

— “Chélaton!! Chélaton! Go! There! Allí!!!”

Y el chino venga a decir chineces que nos íbamos para el otro hotel. Aquí los semáforos en vez de un circulo grande verde o rojo tienen el tiempo, como los marcadores de posesión del baloncesto pero de colores. Quedaban ya un par de segundos para que arrancara y yo veía que el chino seguía con la intención de salir hacía el sitio contrario.

— “Allí cabrónnnn!!!” con el brazo cada vez más fuera del taxi… “Tira pa allaaaaaaa”

— “Chélatonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!”

Cuando se pone verde, el joputa el chino sale pa donde le da la gana. Al meter el brazo dentro, como ya llevaba inercia, le arremeto en el hombro bien al chino, pa que se entere bien, a la vez que le digo:

— “Pujao!, Pujao!, hijoputa, TIN TIN TIN TIN!!!”

Pu hao es muy malo en chino y tin tin es para el coche. Le metí un buen meco y el cabrón empezó a reirse, tin tin tin cabrón, para que nos bajamos que nos mandas a tomar por culo. Al final se paró le pedí la puta fapiao (factura) y nos fuimos al Chélaton de los cojones andando.

Hola de nuevo. Esto se puede llamar la vuelta de Necoblog, o la vuelta de Neco a esto de escribir. Aquí pondré posts del antiguo blog, quizás retocados o extendidos, según me de. Además de los nuevos que vayan surgiendo. Los que estéis buscando el dominio antiguo, olvidadlo, está squateado. Ahora apareceré por este, que quienes me conozcan entenderán bien. Un saludo y feliz Navidad.