Intersil Introduces Hybrid and Electric Vehicle (HEV/EV) Li-Ion Battery Management Control Solution

Intersil Corporation has introduced its HEV/EV system solution, featuring an automotive grade Li-Ion battery management system and safety monitor. Building upon Intersil's history of providing superior battery management devices for the portable electronics market, the automotive grade (AEC-Q100) ISL78600 multi-cell solution is specifically designed and tested to address the safety, reliability and performance requirements of the hybrid, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and electric vehicle markets. To address the stringent safety requirements of the automotive market, Intersil's HEV/EV solution provides customers with ISO26262 (ASIL) compliance to prevent battery pack failures. The solution also provides built-in fault detection for all of its major internal functions and detects external faults such as open wire, over and under voltage as well as temperature and cell balancing faults. The ISL78600 battery management system provides the high accuracy needed for precise state-of-charge measurements to extend vehicle driving range and the life of high performance Li-Ion batteries. To accomplish this, each ISL78600 device utilizes a 14-bit temperature compensated data converter that scans 12 channels in less than 250 microseconds. Average mid-size HEV vehicles today utilize 126 to 168 cells, which can be addressed with 11 to 14 ISL78600s per vehicle. When combined with four external temperature sensors, the ISL78600 provides superior accuracy for state-of-charge measurements across the full battery operating temperature range. To achieve the highest possible reliability for intra-system communication, the ISL78600 utilizes a high noise immunity and transient tolerant communication scheme. This fully differential daisy-chain architecture allows the use of low cost twisted pair wiring to stack multiple battery packs together while protecting against hot plugging and high voltage transients. The benefits offered by the Intersil HEV/EV system solution can significantly reduce overall battery management system costs. The ISL78600 allows for easy connection to microcontrollers via either a 2.5MHz SPI or 400KHz I2C interface, and is specified for -40°C to 105°C operation. Moreover, while targeted at the HEV/EV market, the Intersil solution can easily be adapted to address industrial and battery back-up applications. The ISL78601 Safety Monitor Also available today is Intersil's ISL78601 multi-cell battery monitor. Addressing the safety requirements of an HEV/EV battery system, the ISL78601 device provides for standalone or independent redundant fault monitoring. See the related news release, also issued today. Pricing and Availability The ISL78600 is available now in a 10mm x 10mm 64-lead TQFP package. Pricing starts at $6.50 each in 10,000-piece quantities. For additional information please visit www.intersil.com/auto. Multi-Cell Li-ion Battery Monitor for Hybrid and Electric Vehicle (HEV/EV) Applications Intersil Corporation, as part of its new HEV/EV system solution, introduced a second device that provides a 12-channel automotive grade Li-Ion battery fault and safety monitor. To address the safety requirements of an HEV/PHEV(plug-in hybrid)/EV Li-Ion battery system, the ISL78601 provides independent and redundant fault monitoring when used in conjunction with the ISL78600 battery management system (also introduced today, see related news release). To achieve the highest possible reliability for intra-system communication, the ISL78601 utilizes a high noise immunity and transient tolerant communication scheme. This fully differential daisy-chain architecture allows the use of low cost twisted pair wiring to stack multiple battery packs together while protecting against hot plugging and high voltage transients. The benefits offered by the Intersil HEV/EV system solution can significantly reduce overall battery management system costs. As part of the system's safety features, the ISL78601 has extensive built-in fault detection for its internal functions and detects external faults such as over and under voltage. The device also includes a watchdog timer to detect communication failures. The ISL78601 allows for easy connections to microcontrollers via either a 2.5MHz SPI or 400kHz I2C interface, and is specified for -40°C to 105°C operation. Pricing and Availability The ISL78601 is available now in a 38-lead 9.7mm x 4.4mm TSSOP package. Pricing starts at $1.85 each in 10,000-piece quantities. For additional information please visit www.intersil.com/auto/. Intersil Automotive Product Line Intersil has leveraged its success in providing proven, high quality products to the military, space, industrial, computing and consumer markets, and has tailored these technologies for the demanding requirements of the automotive industry. www.intersil.com