Offering performance and functional safety features that are optimised for 14V Li-Ion battery packs, which can replace traditional automotive lead-acid batteries, the MC33772 offers advanced diagnostics and functional verification supporting ISO 26262 ASIL-C requirements within a single chip.

Lead-acid automotive batteries are increasingly being replaced by Li-Ion chemistries to reduce weight, increase reliability and boost energy efficiency for engine start-stop systems and energy recuperation technologies. Recent advances now enable Li-Ion batteries to displace lead-acid even as the starter battery. To maintain safe operating conditions and ensure system-wide control of the battery, next-generation battery cell controllers must provide accurate, reliable battery diagnostics and high speed communication of status.

The battery cell controller’s functional verification supports ISO 26262 ASIL-C requirements, which help protect automotive and industrial battery packs against critical fault conditions. Higher level ASIL-D system implementations can also be realised using multiple battery cell controllers for redundancy.

Expansion of its battery cell controller offering paves the way for an effective Li-Ion alternative to lead-acid, the company believes, while meeting stringent performance and functional safety requirements across a wide variety of battery sizes and types.

In addition to 14V Li-Ion battery packs, the controller’s feature set is suited for reducing system electronics bill of materials in a range of automotive and industrial battery management applications, including 48V battery systems, high voltage hybrid and electric cars, e-bikes and energy storage systems. According to the company, it delivers an optimal balance of measurement accuracy, scalability and high speed isolated communications. It also supports rapid, 2Mbit/s communication of battery health and conditions for a variety of battery management system topologies, including centralised, distributed CAN and distributed daisy chain systems.

Three, four, five and six-cell versions are available, in a 48pin QFP.

Hardware to support the MC33771 and MC33772 battery cell controllers and the MC33664 transformer physical layer are the KIT33771ASP1EVB, KIT33772ASP1EVB and KIT33664EVB evaluation kits.

The MC33771, MC33772 and MC33664 products are sampling now. The MC33771 and MC33664 products are expected to be in production by Q4 2015, while the MC33772 product is planned for production by Q2 2016.