Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced an automotive battery monitor and balancer IC that reports high-accuracy voltage measurements in systems up to 800V. In addition, the BQ79616-Q1 streamlines Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) D compliance in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs).
Filtering system-level noise to accurately measure battery-cell voltage and temperature and reliably reporting this information to the microcontroller (MCU) are key design challenges for automotive manufacturers, says TI. The BQ79616-Q1 addresses both of these challenges to help engineers achieve battery safety goals and maximize distance per charge in wired and wireless battery management systems.
The BQ79616-Q1 battery monitor and balancer is what TI claims is the industry’s first to include a patented wake-up-at-fault feature. When paired with the BQ79600-Q1 SPI/UART communication interface, it enables total system shutdown when the vehicle is parked or turned off. This helps design engineers conserve battery power, improve cell balancing and support safety requirements.
The BQ79616-Q1 supports high-accuracy monitoring for a broad spectrum of battery chemistries, including lithium-iron phosphate (LiFePO4). This enables automotive manufacturers to more precisely measure battery state-of-charge and state-of-health, thereby reducing cost. The BQ79616-Q1’s integrated digital low-pass filter and high-precision analog-to-digital converter optimize signal measurement accuracy, delivering cell-voltage measurements with less than 2mV of error.
This monitor and balancer IC meets component-level requirements of ISO 26262, supporting ASIL D compliance for voltage measurement, temperature measurement and communication—dramatically reducing bill of materials (BOM) and software overhead. With fast time in diagnosing battery failures, 100ms in 400-V systems, the BQ79616-Q1 enables greater system reliability and battery safety.
According to TI, the BQ79616-Q1 offers robust electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) performance to withstand the harsh, noisy environments of HEVs and EVs without compromising the reliability of daisy-chain communication. In addition, the device’s pin rating enables it to withstand high-voltage transients and hot-plug events, and it incorporates autonomous cell balancing to simplify thermal management.
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TI’s family of monitors and balancers offers multiple channel options in the same package, providing pin-to-pin compatibility and 100% reuse of established software. Further, the BQ79616-Q1 integrates bus-bar measurement, enabling engineers to maximize channel usage across various combinations of battery module sizes. Combining the BQ79616-Q1 with the BQ79600-Q1, engineers can design their battery management system in a closed-loop configuration with only one communication interface to further reduce component count.
The 16-channel BQ79616-Q1 is available now for purchase in volume on TI.com in a 10-mm-by-10-mm, 64-pin thermally enhanced thin quad flat package (HTQFP), priced at US$6.90 in 1,000-unit quantities. The BQ79616-Q1EVM evaluation module is available on TI.com for US$399.00. The BQ79600-Q1 is available in volume production on TI.com in a 16-pin thin shrink small-outline package (TSSOP). Pricing starts at US$4.00 in 1,000-unit quantities. New 12-channel and 14-channel battery monitors and balancers are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2021.
Texas Instruments | www.ti.com
