Infineon launches new car battery management IC

Infineon Technologies has launched a new sensing and balancing IC for electric vehicle (EV) battery management systems, the German chip company said on Friday.

TLE9012AQU will manage cells within batteries to prevent premature ageing. It can measure the voltage in up to twelve battery cells over the entire temperature and voltage range as well as the operating life cycle, Infineon said.

Battery management systems ensure that the capacity of a battery is optimally utilized so that traveling distance per charge increases. 

It also supports up to five external temperature sensors, provides an integrated cell balancing function and uses an iso-UART interface for communication, the company said.

Cell balancing is achieved via twelve balancing switches integrated on the chip – one per channel. They are designed for currents up to 150 mA.

Balancing can be programmed to stop without a signal from the microcontroller unit (MCU) which can turn the cell into sleep more after a defined time of up to 32 hours or a defined voltage. TLE9012AQU also supports external switches for higher balancing currents.

The device will began production next month.