ROHM SiC MOSFETs Solve Design Challenges For Leading Solar Energy Company Midnite Solar

ROHM Semiconductor recently announced that Midnite Solar, the leading producer of a wide range of alternative energy products based in Arlington, WA, utilizes ROHM’s silicon carbide MOSFETs to drive efficiency and reduce system cost. Four products new to the US market – the Hawkes Bay 600VDC to 48VDC 6000W MPPT solar charge controller, powerful Barcelona dual MPPT charge controller, MNB17 advanced battery-based charger/inverter, and 120/240V Rosie inverter/charger – all benefit from the high performance and proven reliability of ROHM’s SiC technology.

“SiC power devices offer vastly improved energy efficiency over the silicon parts they replace, and the cost premium has come down significantly, enabling a wider range of applications to benefit from these devices for better system performance and value. We are very happy to support Midnite Solar’s latest power conversion product design with our SiC MOSFET technology, and we are truly excited to see the advanced power devices and system solutions making a positive difference for our valued customers,” says Ming Su, Ph.D., Technical Marketing Manager at ROHM Semiconductor.

“Silicon carbide solves a key challenge,” explains Robin Gudgel, Midnite Solar’s principal owner and engineering manager. “Regular silicon MOSFETs have a very slow body diode,” he details. “Therefore, trying to make an inverter work as a charger where it must run bidirectionally is very difficult. We were looking at an IGBT pair in combination with another diode, but silicon carbide is such a good solution, and ROHM’s devices did not require any significant design changes, so it was an obvious choice.”

Midnite Solar incorporates ROHM’s 60mΩ R_DS(on) SiC devices and newer 30mΩ R_DS(on) products in its new solar product ranges. Gudgel comments that he expects reliability to be excellent as the design is running cool. Driving the parts will be simple, as ROHM also supplies the gate drivers.

“ROHM is an excellent company to work with,” he adds, “And these silicon carbide MOSFETs are a great solution for inverter companies like ourselves.”