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Cabin design is related to the driving and riding comfort and safety of a vehicle. Smart cabins integrate various IT and artificial intelligence technologies to create an integrated digital platform inside the car, providing drivers with a smart experience and promoting driving safety. The continuous upgrading of smart cabin systems relies on the support of passive components. Inductors play important roles in smart cabins, primarily for energy storage, filtering, noise suppression, and current smoothing. Choosing high-reliability automotive-grade inductors will help make automotive cabins more efficient and smarter.
1- Applications of Automotive-Grade Inductors in Cabins
Inductors are integrated into almost every module of the smart cockpit, including infotainment (car amplifier), driving information display (instrument panel/HUD power supply), human-machine interaction (voice dialogue, navigation), intelligent driving perception and control (in-vehicle monitoring, seat air conditioning, and other motor drives), network communication, cockpit domain controller, and more.
According to relevant data statistics, the number of inductors used per high-end intelligent cockpit vehicle will reach 150-180 units by 2025, of which 50% are used for power management, 30% for communication systems. High operation temperature range, excellent anti-vibration performance and high reliability (compliant with AEC-Q200 standards) have become standard requirements for automotive-grade inductors. The specific application scenarios and inductor requirements are as follows.
1.1 Information and Entertainment Systems
In the boost DC-DC power supply of the car amplifier, the DC-DC converter utilizes high-current power inductors and molded inductors to ensure stable operation under continuous high-current working conditions. Additionally, low DCR inductors are employed to reduce copper losses. In the audio amplifier filter circuit, Class D inductors are used to suppress audio howling caused by power supply ripple.
1.2 Information Display Systems
The intelligent cockpit information display system includes a large-size central control display, a full LCD instrument cluster, HUD, etc., generally adopting molded inductors and high-frequency inductors (operating frequency 2MHz). Among them, the molded inductor features high power density, high efficiency, etc., meeting the stable current requirements of display devices; high-frequency inductors are used for in-vehicle high-speed interfaces (such as Ethernet, USB, etc.), suppressing high-frequency noise when transmission rates are increased, ensuring signal quality; the CAN bus interface adopts common-mode chokes to prevent instrument data from being interfered with by motors, causing screen flickering.
1.3 Human-machine interaction system
Small size of power inductors are generally configured in touch screen and biometric detection sensor circuits; the power filter for voice control noise reduction (such as microphone arrays) uses ferrite beads to filter out high-frequency noise introduced by in-vehicle chargers.
1.4 Network communication system
In automotive monitoring data transmission lines, a combination of high-frequency inductors + PoC modules is used to achieve DC power supply and video signal transmission over the same line. The inductor products require wide operating frequency and high impedance characteristics. In gigabit Ethernet communication interfaces, common-mode inductors are generally used to suppress common-mode noise of differential signals.
1.5 Cabin Domain Controller
The cabin domain controller is the "brain" for the vehicle's information entertainment system, digital dashboard, HUD, air conditioning control, and even some ADAS functions, which are required a stable and pure power supply. The core role of inductors in the cabin domain controller is energy storage and filter in DC-DC power converters.
1.6 Streaming Rear view Mirror
Streaming rear view mirrors primarily capture real-time road conditions behind the vehicle using high-definition external rear view cameras, displaying images on a screen instead of traditional mirrors. As a fundamental component in power management systems and electromagnetic compatibility design, inductors are also widely used in streaming rear view mirror circuits.
Automotive Intelligent Cockpit Application Schematic
2- Performance Requirements for Inductors in Intelligent Cockpits
Intelligent cockpit, as the core module of automotive electronics, imposes extremely stringent requirements on inductors, needing to ensure stable power supply, pure signals, and efficient energy conversion in complex environments. Combining industry technical standards and product practices, the main performance requirements for inductors are as follows:
2.1 Environmental adaptability and high reliability
Wide temperature range capability: Supports operating temperatures from -55℃ to +150℃ or higher (some engine compartment applications require up to +170℃), to accommodate the continuous operation of cabin electronic modules (such as the central control screen, ADAS controller) in extreme cold or high-temperature environments.
2.2 High Efficiency and Low Loss
Selecting inductors with low DCR can reduce DC losses in the inductor, resulting in lower power losses and higher conversion efficiency, and effectively improving the response speed of the intelligent cockpit. CODACA's automotive-grade molded inductors, through material and process innovation, have reduced DCR by 30% and improved power efficiency to over 98%.
2.3 High Saturation Current and Soft Saturation Characteristics
The inductor must support transient peak currents without saturating, ensuring that the SoC chip does not experience a voltage collapse during sudden increases in computing power. Some of CODACA's automotive-grade high-current inductors use alloy powder magnetic core materials developed in-house, which exhibit excellent soft saturation characteristics, with a maximum saturation current of up to 422A.
2.4 High Frequency and Noise Suppression
With the widespread adoption of SiC and GaN devices, the frequency for power supplier used in intelligent cockpits needs to support over 2MHz, requires inductors with low core loss and high self-resonant frequency to avoid efficiency degradation caused by high-frequency switching. In terms of noise suppression, fully shielded, molded inductors can effectively reduce high-frequency noise, while common-mode chokes are used in automotive cockpits to suppress common mode noise interference on power and signal lines.
2.5 Miniaturization and High Integration
To adapt to the high-density layout of automotive cabin electronic systems, inductors require small-size, compact designs. CODACA's automotive-grade molded inductors have a minimum size of 4mm*4mm*2mm, meeting the demands of small size, high current, and high power density through process and material innovation.
2.6 AEC-Q200 automotive product reliability tests
Inductors for smart cockpits must pass AEC-Q200 automotive product reliability tests to ensure the reliable and stable operation of automotive electronics in complex environments. Reliability tests for inductors mainly include more than ten items such as temperature cycling, high-temperature storage, high-humidity test, vibration test and mechanical shock test, solderability test, etc. CODACA's CNAS laboratory can independently complete AEC-Q200 tests according to customer requirements and output test reports.
3- CODACA Provides High-Reliability, One-Stop Automotive Grade Inductor Solutions for Smart Cockpits
CODACA has been dedicated to inductor R&D more than 24 years and has independently developed multiple series such as automotive-grade molded inductors, automotive-grade high current power inductors, automotive-grade inductors for digital amplifier , and automotive-grade common mode chokes. It provides a one-stop automotive-grade inductor solution with multiple categories, high reliability, for automotive electronics, meeting the demands of the automotive cabin for inductors' miniaturization, low loss, and high efficiency, and helping to achieve the efficient and intelligent development of automotive intelligent cabin systems.
3.1 Automotive-grade high current power inductor
In intelligent cabin systems, high current power inductors are primarily used in DC-DC converters of power management modules and filtering circuits. CODACA's automotive-grade high current power inductors feature low loss and high saturation current, with the highest saturation current reaching 422A, and a working temperature range of -55℃ to +170℃, making them suitable for complex automotive electronic environments.
3.2 Automotive-grade inductor for digital amplifier
Inductors for digital amplifier are primarily used for audio output filtering in vehicle cabins. To meet the design requirements of automotive power amplifiers for small size, high power, low distortion, and high reliability, CODACA has independently developed multiple series of automotive-grade digital power inductors to achieve higher conversion efficiency and greater output power, ensuring high-fidelity audio performance.
3.3 Automotive-grade molded inductor
CODACA's automotive-grade molded inductor utilizes low-loss magnetic core materials and innovative electrode technology to address technical challenges such as coil skewing and product cracking during the inductor molding process. It reduces overall inductor loss by more than 30%, operates at a high temperature of up to 170°C, and achieves a power efficiency of up to 98%, effectively enhancing the reliability of automotive cockpit systems and DC-DC conversion efficiency.
3.4 EMI components
Common mode chokes and magnetic beads are widely used in communication systems and power filter circuits of automotive cockpits to suppress noise interference between signal lines and power lines. CODACA provides a range of EMI components for automotive cockpits, including automotive-grade common-mode chokes and magnetic beads.
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