Compact dc/dc converters provide up to 12 kW/600 A for off-road apps

With its new VALUE DC-DC product line, BrightLoop Converters is aiming to democratize access to performance and offer a range of converters dedicated to off-highway and commercial vehicles. The French player in power electronics is teaming up with Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) to deliver the upcoming VALUE product line.

BrightLoop Converters has gained experience from many years of development for motorsport applications and learned to make the most out of GaN technology to deliver highly reliable, extremely light, and compact converters. The company released in 2020 a PERFORMANCE DC-DC product line offering the best power density on the market (~3kW/kg) and great versatility to extreme vehicle applications and motorsports.

After demonstrating that GaN technology can significantly improve performance, the French company now wants to prove that using this technology does not necessarily lead to higher costs. With the launch of the new VALUE product line later this year, the strategy is clear: make performance accessible to these markets, which are now also looking for a lightweight, space-saving, and high-performance converters in the most cost-effective way.

The VALUE product line is composed of two converters (M and L) respectively delivering 6kW/300A and 12kW/600A. While being competitively priced, they have a significantly smaller footprint and weight (<5kg) than the equivalent power converters currently available on the market. The VALUE range also features a rugged and durable design as per commercial and off-highway market expectations, and compliance with market standards such as ECE R 10, ECE R 100, and LV 124.

Moreover, BrightLoop’s VALUE M and L DC-DC converters can be used in 12V, 24V, 48V architectures and with 400V, 800V, or more exotic battery ranges: the same platform addresses all these needs. Just like the other BrightLoop converters, this range is based on a foolproof versatility and is available in a single or dual output version (plus optional) with the possibility to set the output voltage by CAN between 10V and 54V. This feature allows removing some components – thus saving space – from the vehicle such as the battery equalizer, present when there are several batteries in the system. In addition, VALUE converters offer a reversibility function that allows, for example, to recharge the HV bus without the need for bulky resistors.

These features are made possible by the use of EPC’s EPC2029 enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN) FET transistors. EPC’s EPC2029 is an 80 V, 48 A eGaN FET featuring a 1 mm ball pitch. The wider pitch allows for the placement of additional and larger vias under the device to enable high current carrying capability despite the extremely small 2.6 mm x 4.6 mm footprint. Compared to a state-of-the-art silicon power MOSFET with similar on-resistance, the EPC2029 is much smaller and has many times superior switching performance, making it ideal for applications such as BrightLoop’s VALUE DC-DC converters.