Infineon has unveiled its latest innovation, the PSoC™ 4 High Voltage Precision Analog (HVPA)-144K microcontroller, designed specifically for automotive battery management systems. This cutting-edge microcontroller amalgamates high-precision analog and high-voltage subsystems onto a single chip, catering directly to the demands of the automotive battery management sector.
Targeting the crucial task of monitoring and managing automotive 12 V lead-acid batteries, this microcontroller offers a fully integrated embedded system. Its significance lies in ensuring the smooth functioning of vehicles’ electrical systems by maintaining the integrity of the 12 V power supply. Notably, the PSoC 4 HVPA-144K is compliant with ISO26262 standards, underscoring its commitment to compact and safe intelligent battery sensing and management within modern vehicles.
At the heart of its functionality are dual high-resolution sigma-delta ADCs, complemented by four digital filtering channels. These components enable precise measurement of critical battery parameters, including state-of-charge (SoC) and state-of-health (SoH), with an impressive accuracy of up to ±0.1 percent. Furthermore, the inclusion of two programmable gain amplifiers (PGAs) with automatic gain control ensures seamless analog front-end control sans software intervention, setting it apart from conventional approaches.
Employing shunt-based current sensing enhances accuracy compared to traditional Hall sensors, further bolstering its reliability. Additionally, an integrated 12 V LDO (42 V tolerant) streamlines power supply by enabling direct connection to the 12 V lead-acid battery, eliminating the need for external power sources. Facilitating seamless communication, an integrated transceiver facilitates direct interaction with the LIN bus. Moreover, adherence to ASIL-C functional safety requirements according to ISO26262 underscores its commitment to safety.
Driving its performance is the Arm® Cortex®-M0+ MCU, capable of operating at speeds of up to 48 MHz, complemented by ample memory resources. With up to 128 KB of code flash, 8 KB of data flash, and 8 KB of SRAM, all equipped with ECC, the microcontroller ensures efficient data processing and storage. Furthermore, it boasts digital peripherals, including four timers/counters/PWMs and a versatile serial communication block configurable as I2C/SPI/UART, enhancing its versatility.
Supported by automotive-quality software, the PSoC 4 HVPA-144K leverages Infineon’s Automotive Peripheral Driver Library (AutoPDL) and Safety Library (SafeTlib). Developed in compliance with automotive software development standards, these libraries adhere to A-SPICE, MISRA 2012 AMD1, CERT C, and ISO26262 standards, ensuring robustness and reliability.
Looking ahead, Infineon aims to expand its PSoC microcontroller portfolio to encompass Li-ion battery management systems for Electric Vehicles (EVs). This strategic move anticipates the development of several products tailored to monitoring and managing high voltage (400 V and above) and low voltage (12 V/48 V) batteries, thereby facilitating the widespread adoption of EVs in the future.
