Electronics Weekly Electronics Design & Components Tech News
Cambridge-based power electronics start-up Amantys says the time is right to take its innovative power semiconductor technology to global markets.
The year-old start-up is investing in its sales operation which will target German, China and Japan, after securing new funding of $8m.
Amantys has designed the Power Drive IGBT module gate driver capable of switching 3.3kV, 1.7kV and 1.2kV.
It has patented technology which will reduce size and power consumption of IGBT-based power switching modules, used in high voltage motor drives and renewable energy systems.
The second generation product, dubbed Power Insight, adds monitoring, diagnostics and an optical communications interface to the power module.
According to Amantys marketing director Richard Ord, this is “a breakthrough in optimising performance and improving maintenance in systems such as wind turbine power converters or traction systems for electrically powered locomotives”.
“What we bring to the market is a driver which supports IGBTs from different suppliers and we very high levels of isolation,” said Ord.
“With the new module we are adding siganlling,” said Ord.
To monitor voltages and gate temperature in the module, it is necessaruy to have a data link. But it has been difficult to achieve the necessary isolation form the high voltage switching in the module.
Amantys’ approach is to use a fibre optic comms link.
This adds to the gate driver circuitry to provide simple monitoring and control signals.
This allows the designer to modify gate resistor settings in system via the fibre optic comms link.
Since the drive and module are already characterised, the manufacturer no longer needs to experiment to determine safe operating areas.
The gate drive integrates additional circuitry to monitor and sense a series of key power transistor and gate drive characteristics. Key parameters tracked include drive temperature cycling and number of switching operations to give a leading indicator of potential system faults or failures.
According to Ord, this is a technology which is in the right place at the right time. “The use of IGBT switching is going up dramatically,” he pointed out.
“Traditional applications have been in high voltage motor drives in transportation and factory automation, But now we also see applications in renewable energy systems and hybrid vehicles,” said Ord.
Now Amantys is expanding its commercial activiteios in the important markets of Germany, China, Korea and Japan.
“Each market requires a different marketing approach”, said Ord.
Future product development will include a high isolation electrical data interface with a proprietary signalling protocol.
“There is the potential to add greater diagnostic functions to the module, with remote monitoring via the internet,” said Ord.
Nicky McCabe, chief operating officer at Moonray Investors said: “We have continued to be really impressed with the success that Amantys has achieved over the last year, bringing new and disruptive products to market.”
ARM is another financial backer of the company and ARM vice president of segment marketing Vincent Korstanje is joining the Board of Amantys to represent ARM’s continued support for its investment in Amantys.
“Amantys’ unique power switching technology delivers significant energy savings in medium and high voltage markets. This year Amantys added the Power Insight product that provides real-time monitoring and control of the power switch in order to further improve energy efficiency and reliability,” said Korstanje.
