Infineon Technologies Japan will hold a briefing on the current status of SST and SSCB on 29 October. The session will address the regulatory classification of DC voltages above 750 V, which is an obstacle to introducing 800 V data centers in Japan, as well as the challenges ahead.
Infineon’s Japanese subsidiary held a briefing on SST and SSCB, which support DC power delivery in data centers, explaining their current status and future prospects. SST is a system that uses a high-frequency transformer for DC-DC conversion to achieve a more compact and lighter design, while SSCB is a circuit breaker that can interrupt fault current in DC systems in approximately 3 μs.
It was explained that using CoolSiC and EasyPACK in SST configurations can simplify design, and a range of products currently in the sample-shipping stage was introduced, with mass production expected to begin by the end of the year. SSCB is expected to be deployed at the branch level on racks and boards, with a shift from conventional analog systems expected to progress.
The biggest obstacle to adoption in Japan is the effect of regulatory interpretation. Under Article 2 of the electrical equipment regulations, DC voltages above 750 V are classified as high voltage, making it difficult to align the construction requirements and safety systems needed to introduce 800 V with current regulations. The presenter said the company was considering measures to ease the restrictions in cooperation with industry organizations, but indicated that actual implementation could take time depending on how the regulations are interpreted.
These developments are linked to the need for more advanced power-delivery designs on the grid side upstream of data centers, against a backdrop of growing demand for AI data centers and increasingly difficult supply-demand balancing on the power grid.