Automotive high-side gate driver with SPI interface protects battery system

EiceDRIVER™ 2ED4820-EM, an automotive dual-channel high-side gate driver with SPI interface, ensures reliable 48V battery systems

[Munich, Germany, February 7, 2022] 48V battery systems can be used in a variety of growing markets such as mild hybrid electric vehicles, trucks, electric multi-wheelers, and solar panel battery packs. These lithium-ion battery systems require positive and negative voltage protection. In addition, if an overcurrent occurs, such batteries must be able to quickly and reliably disconnect from the load within microseconds. Because the battery pack may not be dedicated to a single vehicle, status diagnostics and overcurrent protection threshold configuration are very important.

To meet these needs, Infineon Technologies AG has launched the EiceDRIVER™ 2ED4820-EM, an intelligent gate driver with SPI interface. This gate driver can be used with Infineon 80/100V OptiMOSTM MOSFETs and can be used for high-current load switching in 48V networks.

The smart dual-channel high-side gate driver 2ED4820-EM from the EiceDRIVER APD family can withstand negative voltages (Vbat) as low as -90 V and positive voltages as high as +105 V - a wide range of voltage fluctuations that may occur in the event of a short circuit or poor contact. In addition, the driver includes a current sense amplifier for high-side or low-side current measurement. Low-side measurement can use existing shunt resistors in the battery management system, helping to reduce cost, PCB space and overall power consumption. With two integrated output channels, the driver can also control a dedicated pre-charge path or separate the battery's charge and discharge current paths, further reducing PCB space and overall cost.

Availability

The 2ED4820-EM is now in production. It is a QM device and comes with a safety application note for use in functional safety applications. To speed up design-in, Infineon offers evaluation and reference boards with the EiceDRIVER APD 2ED4820-EM for customers to order.