Infineon appointed for Bloom Energy’s fuel cell systems

The current energy crisis clearly shows that alternative energy sources are urgently needed for securing a climate-friendly energy supply. 

Bloom Energy's fuel cells and electrolyzers address climate change and offer multiple pathways to zero-carbon emission. They enable a combustion-free method for generating resilient, sustainable and predictable energy. The individual solid oxide fuel cells (or SOFC) of the energy platform run on natural gas, biogas, or hydrogen. With high electrical efficiency, the system provides a continuous power supply that is robust to grid failures and weather conditions from −20°C to 45°C.

“The global reduction of CO2 emissions and a successful energy transition are two of the greatest challenges to stop climate change on our planet,” said Dr Peter Wawer, President of Infineon's Industrial Power Control Division. “At Infineon, we are convinced that hydrogen is an excellent alternative to CO2-emitting energy sources, making it an important tool in the decarbonisation of the energy industry and the automotive industry. We are therefore very pleased to seeing our CoolSiC devices make a major contribution to the optimisation and further development of hydrogen technologies.”

For efficiency reasons, Bloom Energy has decided to integrate CoolSiC MOSFETs and diodes for the power supply of their advanced fuel cell system. Compared to the previous silicon-based generation, this improved the system's energy efficiency by one percent and power density by 30%. In addition, both the size and cost of the system were reduced by 30%.

The CoolSiC MOSFET IMZ120R030M1H in a TO-247-4 package enables best-in-class switching and conduction losses and offers a high threshold voltage of V th > 4V. For simple and straightforward gate control, it features 0V turn-off gate voltage. The device comes with a wide gate-source voltage range and a robust, low-loss body diode designed for hard commutation. It also offers temperature-independent turn-off switching losses.

The CoolSiC Schottky diode IDW30G120C5B comes in a TO-247-3 package and delivers an industry leading forward voltage. In addition, the diode has no reverse recovery charge and delivers best-in-class surge current capability as well as excellent thermal performance.