10 48V POWER INFUSIONS www.vicorpower.com Issue 3 2025 Power Electronics Europe www.power-mag.com the low side of the converter which is then multiplied by the conversion ratio of the converter (in this case 16/1) increasing the voltage on the input side above the 800V battery voltage. This difference in voltage reverses the direction of current flow without internal loop controller intervention. The 800V battery then momentarily becomes the load (rebound) and recovers energy by charging through its battery management control system. Once the displacement from the bumpy road has subsided, the bus converter will once again step down the 800V battery and supply current to the suspension linear motors – all without intervention from the vehicle’s onboard processors. Hongfa introduces smallest active suspension power supply using power modules and 48 volts For Hongfa, active suspension design is defined by the need to balance size and weight against the requirement for higher efficiency, improved EMI and thermal performance. These system requirements brought Hongfa and Vicor together on the development of an 800V-to-48V DC-DC converter to build the ultimate active suspension system. The Hongfa solution leverages the Vicor power density advantage to create compact (197 x 201 x 71mm) 5kW power supplies for each actuator. The system can process up to 6kW of peak power in either direction. The design of the converter is greatly simplified by using a pair of Vicor BCM6135 bus converters operating in parallel, instead of several hundred discrete components. The converter is optimized to work with 800V battery systems and has an operating range of 420 to 920V. With liquid cooling it can deliver up to 100A of current with 97.3% efficiency. The system housing volume is under 1.8l and total system weighs in at 2.6kg, providing a major weight reduction (Figure 4). “When it comes to active suspension, our OEM customers require a DC-DC converter with a response rate measured in milliseconds,” said Mr. Peter Li Research & Development Director at Hongfa, “otherwise, additional battery support is needed. Vicor BCM6135 power modules enable the competitive performance we need.” Together Hongfa and Vicor have collaborated to develop the smallest active suspension system today – almost half the size of the nearest competitor – that delivers the industry’s fastest power conversion response. At the low end of its operating voltage range the guaranteed peak power rating of the BCM6135 model is 3.1kW for 20ms with a 25 percent duty cycle (Figure 5). As Hongfa can attest, developing an active suspension power system is complex: worst-case road surface profiles, cooling methods, size, weight and cost constraints can vary enormously. “Vicor power modules not only deliver the performance we need but they also significantly shorten our development time and have made designing this type of system much easier for us,” said Mr. Li at Hongfa. The combination of 48V and highdensity power modules are enabling new levels of innovation in automotive electrification — reducing space, weight and delivering superior performance. The BCM6135 is critically important to delivering top performance for high voltage Figure 4 The Hongfa active suspension system (Power System Specs HF3661 800V48V DC-DC System) is liquid cooled and is the most compact on the market, weighing 2.6kg and measuring 197 x 201 x 71mm. Figure 5 In laboratory testing, a BCM bus converter with a 16:1 transformation ratio was provided an 800V input to produce a 50V output. Without an attached heat sink, the module outputted a peak current of 90A. Even though the module is rated for only 3.1kW, it was able to support peak output power of 4kW in testing.
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