5 Practical Ways to Boost OBC Charging Power Without Eating Up Space

SiC and GaN aren’t just trendy acronyms. They switch faster, waste less energy, and run cooler than silicon.

Swap your silicon MOSFETs for SiC in the PFC stage. Due to the higher switching frequency, you can watch your inductors shrink.

Just don’t get sloppy with your gate driver layout. High dV/dt plus stray inductance? That’s a recipe for ringing, EMI, and headaches.

Your topology defines everything - size, efficiency, EMI behavior.

Totem pole PFC combined with a resonant LLC stage can cut your parts count and reduce cooling needs.

Simulate early. Tools like PLECS or LTspice will save you from painful redesigns and late-stage surprises.

High power means high heat. And in compact designs, every thermal path matters.

Use liquid-cooled plates that double as structural housing. It’s a win for space and weight.

Better yet, share cooling loops with other systems like the inverter. That’s efficiency you can feel.

Transformers and inductors are notorious space hogs.

Nanocrystalline cores with high saturation flux density let you go smaller without compromising performance.

Optimize your winding layout to reduce leakage inductance and high-frequency losses. Every millimeter counts.

Space savings aren’t just about smaller parts. They’re about smarter systems.

IMS (Insulated Metal Substrate) boards carry current, shed heat, and hold the structure together.

Loop in your vehicle architecture team early. Housing, cooling, and mounting points should be part of the same conversation, not an afterthought.

Think also about components that you can share between applications. The OBC, DC/DC and traction inverter can share some of their components and live in the same housing.