How Sensata Technologies Leads the Way in Automotive Electrification

April Summit

The market development and technological upgrading of new energy vehicles have brought more new demands for sensing technologies to meet the increasingly stringent safety and energy-saving requirements. How to develop and innovate sensing solutions on the system has become a crucial part of the successful development of new energy. Sensata Technologies focuses on batteries, motors and high-voltage electronic devices, which are key components of new energy power systems, and has developed innovative sensing technologies and solutions to address safety and energy-saving issues in the era of vehicle electrification.

Wireless Battery Management System 

The steady development of battery management systems (BMS) has helped improve the safety, range and service life of lithium-ion battery packs used in electric vehicles. Today's BMS with distributed architecture requires the implementation of an isolated communication bus between the master control module and the slave control module. Potential mechanical failures of connectors and wiring harnesses and sensitivity to high EMI environments pose challenges for wired BMS to achieve highly reliable data communications. In addition, automakers are seeking to further improve space efficiency, energy density, modularity and manufacturing efficiency. As the next generation of battery management systems, Sensata Technologies' wireless BMS solution not only provides industry-leading wireless communication technology with high reliability, functional safety and network security, but also solves some of the design and manufacturing challenges that restrict the sustainable and scalable development of the electric vehicle industry, with obvious advantages:

● Eliminate the wiring harness production process, improve the level of production automation, and improve battery pack assembly efficiency

● Improve the space utilization of the battery pack, reduce the overall weight of the battery pack, and indirectly increase the vehicle's range

● Reduce the investment in wiring harnesses, connectors, isolation components and manufacturing, and reduce the overall cost of use

● Support remote diagnosis during battery module incoming material inspection and battery pack integration and assembly

● Reduce the risk of connector failure, star wireless network architecture, with higher reliability

● Distributed architecture, modular design, more flexible assembly, and reduced complexity of battery pack structure design

● Radio frequency communication, providing true electrical isolation between high voltage and low voltage systems

● The wireless network is simple to configure and has strong scalability, making it easy to integrate wireless communication sensors such as current sensors

● The battery module can be quickly disassembled, reassembled and re-networked during recycling, which is convenient and fast.

Intelligent monitoring solution for thermal runaway of power batteries

Safety is the core issue in the development of the new energy vehicle and power battery industry. In recent years, the safety of new energy vehicles has attracted widespread attention from the society. In response to safety requirements, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has formulated three mandatory national standards, including "Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles", which have been publicly announced for approval and will soon become the basic requirements for the approval of new energy vehicle products after 2020. Among them, high requirements are placed on battery thermal runaway monitoring and alarm. Based on mature product design and technology, Sensata Technologies provides customers with reliable, low-power, and long-life battery pack thermal runaway intelligent monitoring solutions. Its advantages include: 

● Based on high-precision pressure sensor technology, it cooperates with BMS to provide effective and immediate monitoring and rapid response to prevent missed reports

● Intelligent solution to meet the requirements of low power consumption 24-hour monitoring and self-diagnosis when parking, and wake up BMS for early warning when necessary

● Highly reliable automotive-grade design and quality, functional safety level of ASIL B

In addition, Sensata Technologies also provides highly integrated battery system current sensors for new energy vehicles, more energy-saving, more efficient and more cost-effective motor position sensors, and a mature, highly reliable and unique "high-voltage DC contactor + fuse" package solution suitable for short-circuit and overload protection solutions under high-power and high-current conditions. In 2018, Sensata Technologies acquired GIGAVAC, a leading brand of high-voltage contactor solutions. Its strong global R&D capabilities, customized automotive solutions, and years of engineering experience in high-voltage and high-current applications have helped the domestic team quickly establish localized R&D and production capabilities. Low contact impedance makes electric vehicles safer, reduces bonding risks, and increases product life, and has won technical recognition from high-end customers such as Tesla.

The future is here, and Sensata Technologies will continue to invest in the field of electrification. In 2018, Sensata Technologies separated its electric vehicle business in China and established a dedicated team for engineering research and development and business development. In the future, Sensata Technologies will continue to deepen its localization strategy based on its existing customer and business foundation, combine innovations in sensor safety and energy efficiency, further improve its layout in the field of electrification, better solve customers' "pain points" from both the market and technology levels, and make electric vehicles safer and greener.