IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2021 - 16

High Voltage IPD
Brushless
dc Motor
Drive
ac/dc
Converter
Circuits/
Various
Protection
Circuits
Integrated
in a Motor
MCD
or MCU
An IPD can directly drive a brushless dc (BLDC) motor.
FIG 2 High-voltage intelligent power device (IPD) power IC chip integrating gate drive and protective circuits with a three-phase
inverter that can be embedded in a motor. (Source: Toshiba [6]).
sensing, drive, and protective functions
in addition to the basic power
switching function in a very small
form factor. There are generally two
power IC categories. The first category
is often termed SmartDiscrete,
in which a single power transistor
(mostly vertical type) is monolithically
integrated with simple protective/
control functions, such as ESD, overcurrent,
overvoltage, overtemperature
protection. SmartDiscrete ICs
are essentially discrete devices with
some smart functions, and often fabricated
with a cost-effective process
Machine Pole
Stator Pole Piece
Back Iron
Coil
Pole Face
-
IMMD
Modular
Pole-Drive
Unit
similar to the discrete power transistors.
The second category is true
power ICs (sometimes termed smart
power ICs) with multiple independent
power transistors (mostly lateral
type) monolithically integrated with
sophiscated analog and digital circuitry,
forming the entire power conversion
circuit except for perhaps
large passive components such as
inductors, transformers, or capacitors.
In the form of Power-Supply-ona-Chip
(PSoC), even all the passive
components can be integrated into a
single chip.
Power Electronics
++
+
Gate
Drive
Controller
Communication
Bus
Module
Controller
FIG 3 Concept of integrated motor and drive with multiple modular pole-drive units
that include a separate controller to each unit. The primary object is to mitigate single
point failure and enhance reliability (Credit: Tom Jahns from University of Wisconsin
Madison [8]).
16 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE z June 2021
Potential Market Drivers
While the US$20B power IC market
today is dominated by low-voltage
(under 100 V) power management ICs
fabricated with bipolar-CMOS-LDMOS
(BCDMOS) technology, there are market
needs for high-voltage (HV)
(>500 V) power ICs. One example is
the fractional horsepower (<765 W)
motor drive market. The world fractional
horsepower motor market is the
largest motor market segment with a
revenue of US$45B in 2018. Fractional
horsepower motors are widely used in
home appliances (white goods), vehicles,
robotics, and industrial machinery.
Power ICs offer a great opportunity
to integrate the motor drive with
the motor itself and improve efficiency,
size, weight, and noise level in
those applications. Figure 2 shows a
high-voltage intelligent power device
(IPD) motor drive IC from Toshiba
that can be integrated into a brushless
dc motor [6], [7]. In this case, gate
driver and protective circuits are
monolithically integrated with a threephase
inverter in a single power IC
chip. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
drones and electric vertical takeoff
and landing (eVTOL) air-taxi are
emerging as important market opportunity
in this category that will gain
significant weight and size benefits

IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2021

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