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The new energy industry and the power grid must eventually achieve efficient integration to promote the rapid transformation of green energy, which requires the support of a large number of high-precision power metering equipment - power sensors. The volume of the power sensor is not large in power electronics, but it is the heart of power electronics.
The power sensor is a testing equipment based on power electronics technology, and the data shows that China's power electronics market occupies 1/3 of the global market size. Such a large market size has brought opportunities for electricity sensors, and in the context of global energy transformation, renewable energy represented by solar and wind energy has gradually become the mainstream, and power sensors are favored in these fields.
At present, LEM Electronics (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "LEM Electronics"), which has successfully established itself in the power sensor market, has become a leader in this field, and LEM Electronics is making a bold move into the field of new energy and drawing a beautiful blueprint for the rapid transition of green energy.
Electricity sensors are galloping in the field of new energy
"Compared with foreign markets, there is still a certain gap in the domestic power sensor market." Zhang Zonghui, general manager of LEM Electronics China, said, but everyone is working in this direction, especially photovoltaics, which have gradually changed from rapid development to high-quality development, in this context, enterprises need to reflect better competitiveness.
This competitiveness is mainly reflected in product innovation. According to the needs of customers, LEM Electronics has made great efforts in the photovoltaic field.
As we all know, the introduction of the 5.31 new policy last year caused photovoltaic manufacturing enterprises to be hit hard, although the policy has a certain impact on the industry, but for the mainstream enterprises of photovoltaic inverters, after a year of baptism, has successfully passed this stage. We see that China's photovoltaic inverter companies occupy an increasingly high market share, especially string inverters, which accounted for 60.4% in 2018.
In addition to string inverters, the technical route of photovoltaic inverters also includes centralized and distributed inverters, and different technical routes have no essential difference for current sensors. According to photovoltaic product manager Zhou Zhijian, "mainly look at the current sensor application in the inverter position requirements, compared with the DC side sensor, the application in the AC side sensor for accuracy and response time put forward more stringent requirements, customer selection tends to closed-loop current sensor." ”
Based on market demand, LEM Electronics has developed the LZSR series current sensor, which is a high-performance Hall ASIC closed-loop sensor based on LEM Electronics' patent, which ultimately realizes high-current measurement. The product focuses on the current range of 100A-200A, which is mainly used for 60KW-200KW inverters.
According to this site, the current single-power supply current sensor in the 100A-200A market has not appeared, Lem's innovative move, once again confirmed the company's leader in the field of power sensors, in the future, the product will further improve the rated current and improve the installation size. The early development of the product is in Geneva, Switzerland, China's photovoltaic market accounts for 50% of the share, considering the local customer needs, has moved the production line from Switzerland to Beijing to accelerate the response to customer needs.
As a leader in power sensor technology, LEM Electronics continues to deliver new products to the end market, and has good results in the fields of power and electric vehicles.
In recent years, with the launch of smart grid construction projects, more and more applications have been derived from the power generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of power grids, combined with electricity measurement technology, and how to make smaller volume, lower cost, and larger measurement range has also become the focus of the development of LEM electronic technology.
The smart grid has a lot of room for growth, and LEM Electronics is in the nurturing stage, and today the company is beginning to see results in the smart grid field. Recently, LEM Electronics launched the AI-PMUL Integrator, which is a supporting solution for Rogowski coils, with a wide power supply range, suitable for more occasions; Supports multi-range inputs and multiple signal outputs to meet the needs of the global market.
In addition to the development of photovoltaics and smart grids, power sensors also play an important role in the field of electric vehicles. In the past 10 years, China's electric vehicle industry has developed rapidly. Data show that in 2018, the electric vehicle market exceeded one million, accounting for more than half of the global market, although the new energy vehicle subsidies will decline in 2020, but the continuation of the new energy vehicle credit policy, will promote the development of electric vehicles, and the national electric vehicle market is expected to be close to 2 million in 2023.
According to Dr. Liu Jian of the Renewable Energy Development Center of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, "Electric vehicle drivers and battery BMS management need to be combined with high-precision electricity metering equipment, and in the future, electric vehicles may be used as distributed energy storage devices for user terminals, and efficient interaction between electric vehicles and the power grid also needs high-precision metering support." "It can be seen that the development of electric vehicles provides new opportunities for power sensors.
For Lem Electronics, the electric vehicle market is also one of the company's key layout, this new product CAB-SF1500-C high-precision current sensor is mainly used in automotive BMS management, to meet the charge and discharge control of new energy vehicles, overcurrent protection and battery SOC estimation, etc., high current and high precision are its main features.
Chen Di, automotive product manager, revealed: "As the industry's first 1500A product specifically for new energy vehicle BMS management applications and in line with functional safety, this sensor is more convenient to install and is developed based on ISO26262 functional safety to meet the needs of more domestic users. ”
Localized layout
China's development is no longer a follower, but is becoming a market technology leader.
LEM Electronics set sail from Switzerland, has been developing in China for 30 years, with the continuous change of market demand, through high-precision measurement technology, LEM Electronics has achieved the synergy of the entire energy system, China has become the key market of LEM Electronics.
The rapid development of the industrial field provides a broad stage for the development of LEM Electronics in the Chinese market. From the perspective of business proportion, LEM electronics accounts for 75% in the industrial field, of which new energy accounts for 30%, and the automotive industry accounts for 25%, and it is expected that the proportion will increase significantly in 5-10 years.
In terms of promoting localized research and development, LEM Electronics spares no effort. Zhang Zonghui said: "The development of China does not stop at the level of delivery, quality and service, but also focuses on R&D investment according to customer needs. Our R&D investment accounts for 8% of the entire sales revenue, and it is expected that the R&D ratio in the local market is 50% now, and in the next 3-5 years, the R&D demand of LEM Electronics in the local market will reach 80%. ”
In order to meet the needs of 3-5 years of research and development, Lem Electronics gradually strengthens the construction of core capabilities, mainly in terms of technical reserves, first of all, LEM Electronics will have more independent intellectual property rights to meet the needs of market development; In addition, the company vigorously increases the allocation of domestic R&D personnel, and in the next 3-5 years, R&D personnel will increase by at least 1-2 times in China; It is understood that Lem Electronics has also established internal technical committees, special talent training plans and other related organizations.
"The purpose of this is to achieve the strategic goal of domestically developed products that can meet the needs of the domestic market." Zhang Zonghui further said.