With these solutions from ENNOVI, smart electric vehicle design can be simplified

Driven by the concepts of electrification, networking, and intelligence , current car design is undergoing earth-shaking changes. The three are progressive, and electrification allows the new era of cars to be based on new energy power systems, and to achieve big data collection through interconnection, thereby realizing intelligent travel.

A new design concept requires a new design solution. At the ENNOVI 2024 China Media Communication Conference, several experts from ENNOVI shared the company 's battery platform development solutions, power component design solutions and signal interconnection design solutions.

Zhang Yin, head of sales for ENNOVI China, said that these three solutions cover almost all applications of the entire vehicle, including the battery pack, on-board charger, inverter , electric traction motor , ECU, electronic power steering, sensor , partition control unit and actuator control units in the power unit. More importantly, ENNOVI has vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities and global logistics deployment, enabling automotive industry customers from product process research and development to manufacturing delivery.

Image source: ENNOVI

Simplifying the battery platform development solution

In the process of automobile electrification, the battery platform is a very core part. At the same time, for the entire industry, realizing the platformization of automobile batteries is also a very critical link, including the integrated design of battery packs.

Of course, as the core of the electric vehicle platform technology, the battery platform is also affected by many factors. For example, different wheelbases, different endurances, and different drives have different requirements for battery platforms. Chen Le, product manager of ENNOVI's battery system interconnection product line in China, said that the products of ENNOVI's battery platform development solution product line are mainly used for battery packs of power batteries, which connect the cells of the power batteries in series and parallel, and transmit the working conditions, voltage and temperature of the cells to the outside. In

terms of battery pack solution supply, ENNOVI will launch related solutions for soft-pack batteries in the first half of this year. At that time, ENNOVI's battery pack solutions will include:

Battery interconnection system for cylindrical cells

Battery interconnection system for prismatic cells

Battery interconnect system for pouch cells (coming soon)

·Module housing

Chen Le mentioned in his introduction of CCS products for cylindrical batteries that cylindrical battery packs mainly include components such as insulation layer, cell connection bar, cell, data acquisition circuit and cell bracket. Among them, the insulation layer is used to isolate the metal part to maintain battery performance, usually attached to the aluminum bar, the upper PET film, the middle aluminum bar and the lower plastic bracket form a structure with a middle conductive and upper and lower insulating layers High voltage Parts are connected in series and parallel. This structure connects all the individual cells at the bottom in series and parallel to output rated power to the electric vehicle.

CCS products for cylindrical batteries, source: ENNOVI

In this regard, she emphasized that ENNOVI-CellConnect-Round is a battery interconnection system tailored by ENNOVI for cylindrical cells. The system is designed to help electric vehicle manufacturers solve the problem of reliable battery connection.

As shown in the figure below, the CCS structure of square cells and cylindrical cells are similar. ENNOVI's battery interconnection system ENNOVI-CellConnect-Prism for square cells supports advanced cell-to-package and cell-to-base configurations, and is designed to accelerate time to market and improve cost-effectiveness using ENNOVI's proprietary one-stop lamination process.

CCS structure of square battery cell, source: ENNOVI

In addition to the products, Chen Le believes that ENNOVI is more proud of its craftsmanship. In 2023, ENNOVI introduced the lamination process. The one-stop lamination combines the aluminum bar of the high-voltage part, the copper wire in the FPC or FDC of the low-voltage part, and the copper Busbar on both sides of the input and output ends into one assembly, which brings obvious cost advantages. In 2024, ENNOVI's process went a step further and used cold pressing technology for insulation coating. Compared with the common hot pressing or plastic bracket assembly on the market, cold pressing is a process method with the shortest assembly time and the fastest cycle, and the process time is only about 20% of the hot pressing process.

ENNOVI battery interconnect system technology roadmap, source: ENNOVI

In addition, ENNOVI has also launched a low-voltage acquisition line flexible circuit solution using the die-cutting FDC process to replace FPC, which has significantly reduced the production cycle and process, reducing the process time by at least 25% compared to FPC.

Comparison between FDC process and FPC process, source: ENNOVI

Power Components Design Solutions

At present, the level of intelligence of electric vehicles is getting higher and higher, and the mileage of driving is gradually increasing. This makes the design of solutions for electric vehicles vulnerable to the influence of small spaces. Integrated technology has become the core technology of electric vehicle manufacturing. Qiu Kunyin, product manager of ENNOVI power interconnection product line in China, said that the ENNOVI team is committed to developing and providing high-quality power interconnection solutions to contribute to the development of new energy vehicles. "We design customizable power component solutions that can provide high power in a small space and a short time."

According to him, ENNOVI can provide green, efficient and interconnected solutions for applications such as inverters , converters , electric traction motors, on-board chargers and electric power steering. Product types include phase busbars, motor stator busbars, flexible busbars, power busbars connectors , AC and DC molded busbars, high-power connectors and power module lead frames.

The ENNOVI motor stator busbar consists of flexible phase-to-phase connectors, linear accessories for hairpin motors, copper pad accessories and high-performance plastics. It is strong, lightweight and fully customizable. When talking about customization, Qiu Kunyin pointed out that "full customization really takes into account different users, different applications and special needs. Whether it is size, shape or connection method, ENNOVI can design according to the specific requirements of customers to ensure that the product can operate in the best condition."

Motor stator busbar, source: ENNOVI

Qiu Kunyin emphasized that ENNOVI strives to ensure that every product can lead the industry standard and continuously improve the limits of new energy vehicles. This concept is also reflected in the products he introduced. In addition to the motor stator busbar just mentioned, the ENNOVI phase busbar system is known for its durability and provides a multi-phase power interface that can connect AC output with almost all types of electric drive inputs to meet the core requirements of the new generation of electric vehicles; ENNOVI flexible busbar is a very revolutionary design product that successfully solves many long-standing challenges in the electric vehicle field, such as vibration absorption, stress absorption, thermal expansion response, and tolerance problems faced during assembly; ENNOVI BusMate® power busbar connector is designed for power steering systems, traction drive systems, power conversion systems, inverter systems and power distribution systems. It is an efficient power interface with a unique busbar blade floating connection technology that can ensure the reliability of the connection when the busbar is not properly in place or even twisted. Even in the process of repeated thermal expansion and contraction, the floating connection technology can maintain stable electrical characteristics and connections.

Signal Interconnect Design Solutions

In the process of designing smart electric vehicles, interconnection is also a very important technology. For example, a well-designed high-voltage interconnection solution can differentiate electric vehicles in terms of power drive. At the media communication meeting, Ling Zhi, product manager of ENNOVI's signal interconnection product line in China, mainly introduced the company's signal interconnection design solution. She said that the signal system is like the nervous system of a car, which is used to efficiently transmit electrical signals between different electronic components. The signal connectors used in it play a very critical role in vehicle-mounted communications . ENNOVI's signal interconnection products have a variety of automotive-grade crimping terminals of various specifications . According to reports, ENNOVI's signal interconnection products are mainly used in actuators, sensors, controllers , and electric powertrains. Product types include radar interconnection, multi-pin headers and integrated connector housings, multi-row board-to-board connectors , lidar interconnection, ENNOVI-NET automotive Ethernet connectors, and low-voltage connectors. Ling Zhi introduced several of ENNOVI's most innovative signal interconnection products. First of all, ENNOVI’s patented fisheye terminal crimping technology is a solution for achieving solderless connection between terminals and printed circuit boards. It can replace traditional welding terminals, is more environmentally friendly, has higher reliability and better quality performance.