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Mitsubishi Electric Joins Horizon Europe's "FLAGCHIP" Project to Develop Technology for Monitoring Power Module ConditionWill estimate junction temperature and related degradation of power modules

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 3764

Overview of FLAGCHIP Project

TOKYO, January 30, 2025 - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it will begin developing a prototype to demonstrate a junction-temperature estimation technology for power modules, which it is pursuing as a partner in the European Union's Horizon Europe project aimed at developing advanced power modules and improving cost efficiency of renewable-energy power-generation. The company is participating through its European subsidiary Mitsubishi Electric R&D Centre Europe B.V., which has joined the project, called Flagship Advanced Solutions for Condition and Health Monitoring in Power Electronics (FLAGCHIP)^*.
In the global effort to expand the introduction of renewable energy to support carbon neutrality, the need to upgrade the reliability and maintenance of electronic devices for power conversion has become increasingly important. In particular, attention is being focused on technological innovations aimed at strengthening power module reliability and improving data acquisition and analysis methods to accurately determine degradation conditions in order to carry facilitate more timely maintenance.
The FLAGCHIP project currently involves 11 companies and academic institutions from nine European countries^** engaged in developing advanced power modules, condition and health monitoring technologies, and devising methods for calculating cost efficiency of renewable-energy power-generation systems and reducing associated costs. Demonstrations of wind-power and solar-power generation systems using these technologies and methods will be conducted at test facilities owned by project partners in Norway and France. Mitsubishi Electric will be in charge of demonstrating a technology that estimates the junction temperature of silicon carbide metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (SiC-MOSFET) semiconductor chips inside the power module, which will provide necessary data for accurately estimating module degradation. Starting in October 2026, the demonstration will use the newly developed prototype at a test facility in France where direct current (DC) voltage is converted to a specific DC voltage for a wind-power generation system.