Infineon's Power PROFET™ product family replaces high-current relays and fuses to enable the next generation of automotive power distribution architectures

     Infineon Technologies AG is helping to build an economical and intelligent distributed automotive Power distribution network architecture, and recently launched a new ultra-low resistance intelligent high-edge switch product family Power PROFET™. They offer the lowest on-resistance and highest energy efficiency of their kind on the market, replacing electromagnetic relays and fuses in power distribution boxes and junction boxes with currents up to 40A DC.

     Today's vehicle network architecture is severely limited by the inherent flaws of relays and fuses, which are too bulky, need to be replaced frequently, and are quite limited in functionality. For example, their switching life is only 200,000 times. The Power PROFET switch solves these problems and brings multiple benefits. They have a switching life of up to 1 million times, and they can simultaneously replace multiple components of existing systems, such as relays, fuses, relay drive circuits, cables and connectors. This allows it to be installed elsewhere in the vehicle, enabling a new generation of distributed vehicle power distribution architecture.

     Andreas Doll, Vice President and General Manager of the Automotive Body Power Systems business at Infineon Technologies AG, said: "The new generation of smarter power distribution architectures can benefit from the high reliability, small size and diagnostic capabilities of our new Power PROFET. With the introduction of the ultra low Resistance Power PROFET family, we further expand our comprehensive high-side switch portfolio."

     With on-resistance as low as 1.0mΩ, Power PROFET switches are designed to drive high-current devices, including electronic control units (ECUs), auxiliary power output units, PTC heaters or rear window heaters. In addition, these switch products are ideal for devices with many switching times and high energy requirements, such as starting relays and electric vacuum pumps in "start-stop" systems. Power PROFET switches increase the reliability of the entire vehicle system by integrating protection and diagnostic functions, such as short-circuit protection and overtemperature protection.

     The Power PROFET reduces power consumption by up to 7 times, thus increasing energy efficiency. They consume less than 2W and conduct current up to 30A DC. Power management is supported by built-in current sensing and pulse width modulation. In addition, the Power PROFET switch is the industry benchmark with energy processing capabilities of up to 3000mJ for single and 550mJ for repeated pulses. For most applications, this eliminates the need to configure a continuous current return path, thereby reducing system costs.

     These switches have excellent protection and can support more than 1 million short circuit cycles to meet AEC-Q100 Class A requirements. In the event of an overflow event, the restart policy can be implemented through software reset without the need to remove or replace any components. In terms of the system, the Power PROFET switch facilitates more accurate system selection. In addition, they can greatly shorten the length of many cables or eliminate cables altogether, thus greatly simplifying the wiring harness structure. The automotive industry estimates that the effective use of Power PROFET and the simplification of the vehicle production process can save nearly 10 euros in system costs for automotive power distribution systems, including wiring harnesses.