China used to be called the kingdom of bicycles. Almost everyone in China is familiar with bicycles, and bicycles powered by batteries are usually vehicles. So, what is an electric road bicycle?
An electric road bicycle is not only transportation but also leisure entertainment and sports fitness equipment. It is mainly driven by manpower and supplemented by electric power. At present, electric bicycles are on the rise, representing a new fashion of healthy life.
Electric power assist makes the rider relaxed and comfortable when going uphill, and greatly expands the rider’s mileage. At the same time, like mountain bikes or road bikes, travel electric bikes are very light, allowing riders to ride and handle easily, bringing us full fun instead of painful burdens.
Does it sound simple? However, it is not easy to make a satisfactory travel electric bicycle. These characteristics of touring electric bicycles require that its power system must have the characteristics of small size and lightweight, and at the same time work as a range extender to increase the travel range as much as possible.
In other words, the manufacturer must extract the most energy from the lightest and smallest components.
Tritek, based in Shenzhen, China, knows the mystery as a leading supplier of intelligent batteries for electric bicycles. According to Mr. Li Changbiao, general manager of Shenzhen Tritek Limited, the electric bicycle market is growing rapidly, and the current acceptance in Europe is relatively high.
Tritek supplies a bicycle manufacturer in Spain, a company acquired by Mahle, a well-known German car engine manufacturer, in late 2018. We know that the European market has very strict requirements on product quality.
The electric bicycle battery pack produced by Tritek fully meets the stringent requirements of customers for small size, high efficiency, high reliability, and electromagnetic compatibility standards. At present, no other manufacturer can compete with it. According to reports, Tritek spare battery pack weighs less than 1.5 kg, but it can provide nearly 30 kilometers of extra mileage.
Speaking of this, some readers may disagree: isn’t it enough to use high-energy-density batteries? In fact, the design and production of battery packs are not that simple. For example: Does a high-horsepower car necessarily run faster?
Without an efficient gearbox, the power output of the car’s engine will be greatly reduced. Such a car does not necessarily run better than a car with a smaller engine, but the gearbox is more efficient and lighter.
Similarly, battery packs also require efficient power conversion devices. Mr. Li introduced that, unlike AC-driven electric motorcycles, the electric motor of electric road bicycles is driven by DC electricity. Although the output of lithium-ion batteries is direct current, the output voltage of the battery is not very stable as the battery power and the external environment change, so we need a DC-DC converter to provide a stable voltage for the motor.
An excellent DC-DC converter must not only have a stable output, but also its conversion efficiency must be high enough to ensure that the battery power is fully utilized. He said that the overall efficiency of Tritek battery packs can be as high as 90%, which is 5% to 10% higher than those of other manufacturers. Among them, the excellent DC-DC converter is indispensable.
An excellent DC-DC converter can not only improve the utilization of battery power but also reduce the heat dissipation of the battery pack, so that the battery pack’s heat dissipation requirements will be reduced, avoiding the use of heat sinks, thereby further reducing the battery pack’s Dimensions and weight.
Mr. Li said, PI3741The most prominent feature is high efficiency, which is the most efficient among the alternatives. Its input voltage range is 30V to 42V, and the output voltage is 42V, which is very suitable for the output conversion of travel electric bicycle backup battery pack.
Due to high efficiency and low heat dissipation, the thermal management design of the battery pack becomes simpler. Due to the use of fewer components, the reliability of the battery pack is also improved.
According to Mr. Yu Xunlong, Technical Support Engineer of Vicor Company, PI3741. The reason for its outstanding high efficiency is that it uses Vicor’s proprietary on-chip zero voltage switching (ZVS) technology.
We know that if we want to make the overall size of the power conversion solution smaller, we must increase the frequency of the switching power supply, and the consequent increase in switching loss is usually. ZVS technology makes the voltage during the switching process zero, so-called soft switching, so that the silicon loss during the switching process is reduced.
The soft switching technology itself is not unique to Vicor. Still, only Vicor integrates the ZVS topology into the chip, which achieves high integration under high conversion efficiency, reduces the number of external components, reduces the size of the solution, and improves the reliability of the product.
Mr. Yu introduced that Vicor provided Tritek PI3741. The module is packaged in LGIZ form, which is more convenient for heat dissipation. The size is only 10mm x 14mm x 2.5mm, and the conversion efficiency can be as high as 96%, which is two percentage points higher than competing products. He said that Vicor’s products have always been known for their high quality.
PI3741 The defective rate is only two or three ppm. In addition, PI3741 With very low EMI radiation, all help Tritek e-bike battery products to meet the stringent quality certifications in Europe and the United States.
Well, the story of electric bikes, spare battery packs, and DC-DC converters is here. Although the spring and summer of 2020 restrict the pace of people hiking, the clouds will eventually dissipate, and the sun will be even better tomorrow. At that time, electric bicycles will carry more people who love life to enjoy the gifts of nature and the convenience of new technologies.
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