Reference design enables scalable battery management for high-voltage battery packs with integrated monitoring, protection, cell balancing and isolated communication.
Microchip Technology has unveiled a reference design for a modular BMS operating on high voltage for battery applications in the industrial, consumer electronics and power-conversion sectors. The design features a scalable three-module structure integrating a battery management controller together with separate voltage and current monitoring modules that enable battery packs to be developed from low-voltage to high-voltage configurations. With a modular design, extra modules can be integrated when increasing the capacity of the batteries while keeping the same hardware architecture.
The reference design uses an eight-channel analogue front end within the voltage monitoring module to measure individual battery-cell voltages up to 32 V. In addition, Current measurement is performed using a shunt-based measurement method together with an analogue front end power monitor to measure voltage, current and energy-consumption parameters. Moreover, there is also thermal monitoring using silicon-based digital temperature sensors.
The protection and diagnostic capabilities incorporated into the design enhance the safety and reliability of battery operation. These include passive cell balancing, overvoltage and undervoltage protection, overcurrent protection, overtemperature and undertemperature protection, and fast short-circuit protection with a response time of 2.5 µs. The embedded fuel-gauging algorithms provide estimates of the State of Charge (SOC) and State of Health (SOH).
The reference design is designed to work within scalable battery systems. Each monitoring module supports up to 16 battery cells. Moreover, one can connect up to 51 monitoring modules, which supports up to 408 battery cells with a maximum battery voltage of 1632VDC. Communication among the modules takes place via Single Pair Ethernet (SPE). External interfaces such as CAN and Wi-Fi simplifies system integration. Hardware security is provided by the Microchip CryptoAuthentication devices.
The design also incorporates programmable fault detection for voltages, currents and temperatures, multiple communication interfaces and selectable power-supply options. Cell balancing, accurate temperature sensing and programmable monitoring functions make the design a good fit for batteries that need reliable operations and easy system scaling capabilities. The modular design allows designers to modify the design to fit various battery sizes without redesigning the entire hardware.
Target applications include electric vehicles, two-wheeled electric vehicles, energy storage systems and other high-voltage battery-powered systems. Development and evaluation are supported by the availability of a user guide, hardware design files, firmware, schematics and other development resources needed to modify the design to suit their application needs.
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