Automotive Solutions

The traction inverter is a key component of electric vehicles. It supplies the drive with the energy stored in the battery. The demands on the reliability of the inverter are correspondingly high, as it determines the performance of the drive and the range of the e-vehicle. TDK is a leader in special DC link capacitors for inverters; the components offer excellent electrical parameters as well as a wide temperature range. Electromagnetic compatibility is ensured by new, standardized EMC filters, which are characterized by their compact design. TDK offers special transformers with high insulation voltage for driving the IGBT modules.

High-voltage DC/DC converters convert the high voltage supplied by the battery into 12 V. High demands are placed on the converters in terms of efficiency and compactness. There is also a trend towards combining them with onboard chargers, DC/DC boosters and the battery junction box. In addition to its leading portfolio of highly reliable DC link capacitors, TDK offers various particularly low-loss inductors and ferrites that are crucial for the design of the converters. Appropriate TDK filter and snubber capacitors are suitable for interference suppression and ensuring EMC. This wide range of components simplifies the scalability and modularity of the DC/DC converters.

The onboard charger integrated into the vehicle is used to charge the high-voltage battery from the AC mains. The trend is towards fast charging. This results in a significantly increased power density and the highest possible efficiency. In the future, onboard chargers will also be able to be operated bidirectionally, so that e-vehicles can feed energy back into the grid or directly supply loads. TDK offers very reliable components for these systems with low losses, a long service life and a wide temperature range. In addition, they are optimised for the latest SiC-based semiconductor generations.

48-volt technology for vehicles offers attractive advantages: it helps to reduce fuel consumption, reduces environmental pollution and can increase engine performance at the same time. The most important component here is a powerful buck-boost converter. TDK offers crucial components for this. These include power inductors and ferrite cores as well as aluminum electrolytic and especially hybrid polymer aluminum electrolytic capacitors.

The traction motor performs both the propulsion and recuperative braking functions in electric vehicles. The challenge in developing these motors is to achieve high performance and high efficiency at low cost. The reliable and accurate detection of temperature and rotor position, even at high speed, are crucial monitoring variables that ensure optimal and safe operation. That is exactly what TDK offers the most important sensor elements for.

Battery packs of electric vehicles consist of many battery cells connected in series and parallel. The Battery Management System (BMS) monitors and controls the charging and discharging of these cells. Only by constantly monitoring and balancing the individual cells, a long service life and reliability of the battery system can be achieved. One of the most important tasks of the BMS is the precise current and temperature monitoring and, if necessary, the safe disconnection of the battery from the load.

Front cameras are among the most important systems for autonomous driving and are thus an integral part of ADAS. They are used to implement lane-keeping systems, recognition of traffic signs and traffic lights. At the same time, they are used to support systems for intelligent speed adaptation and the control of headlights. An important aspect is also the detection of obstacles or misbehaviour of other road users. Components for front cameras must be characterised by very high reliability in addition to compact dimensions.

Surround view cameras provide a 360° view of the entire vehicle and thus increase safety. Especially in difficult traffic situations such as multi-lane traffic, blind spots can be better detected and in commercial vehicles, a better view is made possible, e.g. when reversing or maneuvring. In order to save weight and space, these systems have to be very compact and are connected to the vehicle's electrical system via a coaxial line, which is simultaneously responsible for the power supply as well as the data transfer (Power over Coax, PoC).

In order to be able to process the enormous amounts of data that occur in ADAS and AD systems, fast high-performance processors are used in the corresponding ECUs. In order for these to work safely and reliably, corresponding interference suppression and stabilization tasks are required, which are mainly performed by capacitors, inductors and common-mode chokes. In addition to high reliability, the components must be very compact and designed for high operating temperatures.

Radar systems are an integral part of ADAS and significantly increase driving safety. Even in darkness and bad weather conditions, they ensure the correct distance to vehicles in front, for example in convoy traffic. They also serve to detect objects and can initiate appropriate emergency braking. Another important aspect is the detection of other vehicles in blind spots, which significantly increases safety during overtaking maneuvers, for example. Key components for these systems include common-mode chokes, inductors and ceramic capacitors.

In vehicle lighting, the trend is clearly towards LEDs. No wonder, because these light sources require significantly less power than conventional ones and also have a much longer service life. Another advantage is the much greater freedom of design and the possibility of adaptive driving lights. In addition to the pure driving light, daytime running lights, indicators and auxiliary lights are also realized with LEDs. TDK offers a special substrate with integrated ESD protection for mounting the LEDs, as well as a diverse portfolio of components for the control electronics.

Not only radio keys have long been standard, but also the conventional ignition lock including immobilizer is increasingly being replaced by sophisticated technologies. The trend is now towards hand-free systems that release the doors as soon as the vehicle is approached – and the smartphone is also becoming more and more established as a means of controlling access to vehicles. TDK offers a wide range of components for radio-based systems such as NFC, Bluetooth or UWB.

The comfort equipment of vehicles is increasingly becoming a differentiating feature for manufacturers and is being adapted more and more to individual customer requirements. Clarity and ease of operation determine the design. For example, integrated charging cradles for smartphones and other devices eliminate the need for tangled cables. Thanks to the ultra-flat PiezoListen™ loudspeakers, completely new design possibilities arise for audio performance in vehicles. Conductive transparent foils allow the vehicle to be darkened. At the same time, these foils can be used as antennas.

Vehicle safety systems are subject to a continuous optimization process. Improvements are increasingly realized via a wide variety of sensor systems that are networked. Brake-by-wire, electric steering and suspension systems or even the detection of children in the passenger compartment as well as object detection in blind spots are just a few examples. These innovations are only possible thanks to a wide range of sensors and sensor systems. These include highly sensitive MEMS microphones, reverberation or ultrasonic sensors.

Digitalization is shaping the networked vehicle, which is increasingly becoming a moving computer with high-speed (HS) interfaces and data lines. In-car servers and domain controllers are the core elements of a fast and secure in-vehicle network for the growing number of computing units (ECUs). TDK is the world market leader in data and signal line chokes that enable the trouble-free exchange of large amounts of data even under demanding conditions. In addition, TDK chip varistors are ideal for reliably protecting sensitive interfaces against transient overvoltage. TDK also offers highly efficient filters for the simultaneous transmission of data and power on coax lines (Power over Coax, PoC).

Information, entertainment and communication in vehicles is increasingly taking place via audio-visual systems. The networking of the individual system units is not only wired, but also via WiFi or Bluetooth. User comfort – for example via haptic feedback – and high multifunctionality are decisive performance features. To enable reliable operation, suitable interference suppression measures of the data lines are required, for example. And miniaturized antennas ensure smooth data exchange between the radio-based system units.

Telematics systems (V2X) can significantly increase safety, but also comfort. For data exchange, vehicles communicate with the cloud (V2C), with each other (V2V) or with infrastructure systems (V2I). With V2X systems, for example, the traffic flow can be optimized and in the event of accidents or breakdowns, the appropriate measures can be taken promptly and automatically. In order to realize all these functions, RF components in particular are required, but also inertial sensors to determine the exact position of the vehicle.