Continental develops latest generation of power elctronics

The latest generation of power electronics was recently developed by the international automotive supplier, Continental, for electric drive train applications. It is said to be smaller, lighter and more powerful, and in figures, the highly integrated module has a continuous power of 20 kilowatts at a weight of only eight kilograms and just five liters of space. Also, mass and volume are about 33 percent less than in the previous generation. This was possible due to the integration of two modules: the inverter and the DC-DC converter, which are now assembled in a single housing. Right from the start, the engineers designed the control device to be modular and scalable. Therefore, modifying just a few components is all that is necessary to adapt the device to a large variety of applications. For instance, the Audi Q5 hybrid and purely electric vehicles can both use the same concept.