the key driver is development in the battery area. You

Supplier Interview: SEMIKRON
Power tools
With vessel electrification advancing at an impressive rate, the race is on for power
electronics suppliers to provide the means to integrate increasingly powerful systems
Words: matt ross
New developments in power
electronics can regulate the
speed and torque of electric
drive motors, and as such,
represent the heart of a
propulsion system, helping
marine applications to cut fuel
consumption and exhaust
emissions of auxiliary drives
Supplier Interview: SEMIKRON
I
n just a few short, sharp years, vehicle
electrification has enjoyed a rapid ascent
into the public consciousness. And the
rapid development of these technologies
in a plethora of fields, including marine
vessels, has been accompanied by a need for
performance electronics capable of operating
in strenuous environments.
Semikron, however, has been looking into
such fields for upward of 20 years – a step that
appears to be paying dividends. “In regard to
e-vehicle applications, we have been working
on these for a long time,” explains Klaus
Backhaus, SKAI HV product manager at the
German power electronics supplier. “Today,
these make up about 8% of our total revenue.
People are curious that we are already quite
big – in terms of our market share, or at least
the revenue share within our portfolio.” Such
forward thinking, it would appear, resulted
from early research into fields that might
otherwise seem unrelated. “At the beginning
of the 1990s, we worked in the field of
material handling,” Backhaus continues.
“One of the main areas of this is forklift
applications. For a long time, forklifts have
been required to be used indoors, in very
rough conditions where they have to
effectively go through their processes. From
the very beginning it was quite clear that the
electric drivetrain was an ideal solution for
this, but that there were some major obstacles.
The electronics have quite severe requirements
in terms of vibration and temperature cycling
– these are always critical.” Developing power
electronics components for these applications
led Semikron to learn some valuable lessons.
“Together with key customers, we learned how
to tackle these issues,” Backhaus says. “We
learned how to ruggedize power electronic
systems so that they are suitable for these
types of material handling forklifts. In those
years, we generated a platform of technology
that we are still developing today. But the
foundations date back two decades or more.”
As this work steered the development of
a portfolio of components suited for such
strenuous conditions – along with a host
of innovative processes including pressure
contacts, solder-free components and
sintering – the emergence of electrification in
the marine sphere has led to Semikron being
ideally situated to take advantage of such a
nascent industry. “There is a vast application
range where we can offer power electronics to
accelerate or increase efficiency,” Backhaus
says. “We cannot do everything at the same
time, but we see that it is very important to
network, and to set up a structure that allows
us to serve those applications. And one of
those applications is the marine industry,
where the benefits of electrification are clear.”
Past experience
Thanks to the similarities in technical
requirements, marine electrification has been
a natural extension of Semikron’s growth,
despite the fact that embracing the industry is
a relatively recent development. “Marine is a
very new field for us,” Backhaus admits. “We
started looking at it, maybe two years ago.”
The requirements for power electronics in
these applications, while obviously varying
on a case-by-case basis, retain an air of
familiarity for a company like Semikron,
which has decades of experience in a wide
range of industries, including solar, wind and
utility vehicles. “Generally speaking, marine
application requirements are very similar to
what we would see in off-road applications,
and also agricultural and construction
equipment.” The building blocks of marine
systems share a lot of commonality with other
applications, but what makes this emerging
“The key driver is development in the battery area. You have
possibilities now that were not possible even two years ago. And,
of course, you have to address these applications in a different
way to fields such as commercial vehicles or passenger cars”
Klaus Backhaus, SKAI HV product manager, Semikron
44 // October 2014 // Electric & Hybrid Marine Technology International
Electric & Hybrid Marine Technology International // October 2014 // 45
Supplier Interview: SEMIKRON
Semikron is delivering breakthroughs
in power electronics systems, helping
to ensure that the marine industry
can drive down emissions output
and meet future stringent regulations
market so dynamic, Backhaus adds, is the
speed at which the technology is advancing.
“The key driver is development in the battery
area. You have possibilities now that were not
possible even two years ago. And, of course,
you have to address these applications in a
different way to fields such as commercial
vehicles or passenger cars.”
Marine electrification also encompasses
a wide range of power level requirements.
“It starts at levels below 1kW, and goes up
into the tens of megawatts range,” Backhaus
says. “Therefore, we had to really focus on
what to start with. We presented a couple
of currently available products to system
integrators where we thought the approach,
to start with, would be quite easy.”
Initially, Semikron components proved an
obvious fit for systems with lower power level
requirements. “In the sub-MW range, we are
quite highly integrated,” Backhaus explains.
“In the upper range, beyond 1MW, we have
really interesting solutions under development
– they are not released for production at the
moment. But they have outstanding power
density, so you can do completely different
things than before – provided, of course, that
you have the right system integrator.”
Given the remarkable advancements of
electrification in the marine sector, the fact
that Semikron is even close to being able to
offer components for systems with higher
power levels is impressive. “You can now
electrify a ship in the megawatt range and
have it running for 30 minutes,” Backhaus
says by way of illustration. “That was simply
unthinkable five years ago.”
set up, this will really cut these costs down
from where we are today.” There are other
important drivers – legislation, politics,
even the palatably green image that vessel
electrification enjoys – that may push on the
research and development needed for rapid
technological advancement. The end result,
Backhaus believes, is the same. “You can
already see the drive into the megawatt range.
We’ll be thinking about more applications
with higher power levels even faster than the
past two years.”
And those various applications need power
electronics. It’s all the encouragement a company
like Semikron needs to keep the marine sector
very much on its radar. Fortunately, it’s a goal
that can run concurrently with the company’s
broader long-term objectives as well. “If you
look at our core competencies, then the
questions of what we have to do moving
forward are pretty clear,” Backhaus explains.
“You have to look at increasing the reliability
of systems, you minimize the structure, you
“The cost of the kilowatt-hours of a battery
will dramatically influence development.
We’re quite optimistic about this. If you
look at Tesla’s activities, and what they
are going to set up, this will really cut
these costs down from where we are today”
Klaus Backhaus, SKAI HV product manager, Semikron
Future proofing
The goal, moving forward, is for Semikron
to establish itself as the go-to provider for
developers and manufacturers of marine
applications. “We would like to get known,”
Backhaus says, “so that the system integrators
are aware of the possibilities and the feasibilities
[of using Semikron products]. It’s so dynamic.
Two years ago, you couldn’t have thought about
the kind of applications being discussed now.
We’re very keen to support that. But we’re
trying to catalyze that process; we can’t steer
it. It’s controlled by the marine market.”
One of the key drivers to marine electrification
– and to electrification in other industries –
remains battery technology. “The cost of the
kilowatt-hours of a battery will dramatically
influence development,” Backhaus says,
“We’re quite optimistic about this. If you look
at Tesla’s activities, and what they are going to
46 // October 2014 // Electric & Hybrid Marine Technology International
increase the temperature range in which they
can operate, and you drive down the cost.
These kinds of issues never die. Once you
achieve something, you ask yourself how to
improve it even further.” Advances such as
those tend to be handled internally, driven by
the company’s own R&D model. But Semikron
also boasts a collaborative approach to its future
endeavors – both in the marine sphere and
otherwise. “You have topics such as interfacing
components,” Backhaus says. “These can only
be resolved or improved in partnership with
our customers.” And the real key, Backhaus
believes, harkens back to a company
philosophy that he’s witnessed since he joined
Semikron back in 1997. “We’re a mid-sized
company of 2,900 people, so we have to
always be aware of where we are. There’s
a lovely German saying that translates to:
‘You have to focus on your strengths.’”