Denso has announced that it has developed a high-efficiency diode for alternators for gasoline and diesel engine vehicles with the semiconductor supplier, Hitachi Power Semiconductor Device. Production of alternators equipped with newly developed diodes will start for vehicles to be sold in Europe in FY2019 and will be rolled out to manufacturing group companies around the world.
Diode is a component of alternators. Diode has function to flow current in a certain direction and rectifying generated alternating current to direct current. Denso says the jointly developed diode significantly reduces the power conversion loss by increasing the efficiency of the function. The new diode improves the power generation efficiency by about 6% compared to conventional products and helps improving fuel consumption. Denso manufactures 25m alternators annually in more than 10 countries. If all the diodes were replaced with the new high-efficiency diodes, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 30 tons annually.
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The new diode is developed as a component that fits the conventional alternator. Denso and Hitachi remained the conventional shape of the diode and increased the efficiency of rectifying function by simplifying IC control function and applying 3D design located IC tip sterically.
Although vehicles are being increasingly electrified, the internal combustion engine (ICE) with an alternator still accounts for 80% globally.
