Eaton’s subsidiary that is focused on electric mobility has won the contract that will see it supplying 24-to-12-volt DC-to-DC converters. The converters will end up inside commercial heavy duty battery electric vehicles and power the vehicles’ accessories such as antilock brakes and lighting.
While Eaton is not naming the trucks nor the company that will use the converters, it revealed that the trucks will be available in North America and China later this year. This leaves room for armchair tech sleuths to put their skills to use unearthing the identity of the client or clients.
Eaton’s advanced converters, which are also called battery equalizers, pair up with another converter that takes power directly from the truck’s 600 volts powertrain and steps it down to 24 volts. Eaton’s converter then takes it down further to 12 volts so that low voltage components can be powered by it. An example of such low voltage component is the 12 volt backup battery that steps in when the main battery runs into an issue. This two way volt step down ensures that essential low voltage components are always safely running.
Eaton says its DC-DC converters are equipped with noise-reduction and interference rejection tech, preventing them from creating interference with other electronic systems in the vehicle.
Describing his Southfield-based company’s product, Pratik Trivedi, general manager of Eaton’s eMobility business says “DC-DC converters are an essential part of our eMobility product portfolio and are used in a variety of vehicle applications. Like traditional vehicles, electrified vehicles (EVs) have low-voltage loads on board-like infotainment systems, GPS and safety devices. So efficiently converting power from high to low is key, but it is also important to have a secondary converter to provide power to the traditional 12-volt loads.”
Eaton has made a business out of combining the expertise of its different subsidiaries or groups. Its other products include intelligent power electronics, reliable power distribution and protection solutions, and efficient power system electrification solutions for passenger car, commercial vehicle and off-highway customers.