HMI’s HL8518 is a single-channel high-side power switch for automotive low-watt lamps, high-side relays and valves, and other general loads. The device integrates a power FET and charge pump, providing a typical on-resistance of 80 mΩ. The HL8518 operates from 3.5 V to 40 V and provides 3-V/5-V compatible logic inputs. Current limiting is programmable via an external resistor. AEC-Q100 Grade 1 qualified, the switch operates over a temperature range of -40°C to +125°C and has a low standby current of <0.5 µA. Protection functions of the HL8518 include overvoltage, short-circuit, undervolta ..read more

Tailored for automotive motor control, the TLE9140EQW gate driver from Infineon eases the migration of systems from 12 V to 24 V or 48 V. The IC drives three-phase bridges for brushless DC motors commonly found in automotive applications, such as engine cooling fans, water pumps, oil pumps, and HVAC modules. Part of the MOTIX family of motor control solutions, the TLE9140EQW gate driver can be paired with Infineon’s MOTIX TLE987x and TLE989x 32-bit motor control MCUs. The driver accommodates a wide input voltage range of 8 Vsm to 72 Vsm and offers high-voltage robustness up to 110 V. It also ..read more

ST’s LDH40 and LDQ40 voltage regulators deliver up to 200 mA and 250 mA, respectively, for use in industrial and automotive applications. The LDH40 regulator provides an adjustable output voltage from 1.2 V to 22 V. Variants of the LDQ40 regulator offer either an adjustable output from 1.2 V to 12 V or a fixed output at 1.8 V, 2.5 V, 3.3 V, or 5.0 V. Output voltage tolerance is ±0.5% at 25°C and ±1.5% over temperature. These two low-dropout (LDO) regulators start up from an input as low as 3.3 V and operate with up to 40 V applied. To help conserve battery energy in always-on standby systems ..read more

Introduction Electric vehicles (EVs) typically feature a large DC link capacitor (CDC LINK) to minimize voltage ripple at the input of the traction inverter. When powering up an EV, the purpose of precharging is to safely charge up CDC LINK before operating the vehicle. Charging CDC LINK up to the battery stack voltage (VBATT) prevents arcing on the contactor terminals, which can lead to catastrophic failures over time. The conventional precharge method involves implementing a power resistor in series with the CDC LINK to create a resistor-capacitor (RC) network. However, as the total CDC LIN ..read more

Automotive ethernet is increasingly utilized for in-vehicle electronics to transmit high speed serial data between interconnected devices and components. Due to the relatively fast data rates, and the complexity and variation of the networked devices, signal integrity issues can often arise. This article outlines several real-world challenges and provides insight into how to identify and debug automotive ethernet physical layer signal integrity problems using an oscilloscope. The following is a case study of automotive ethernet debugging performed at Inspectron, a company that designs and man ..read more

Toshiba’s SmartMCD series of gate drivers with embedded MCUs offers sensorless control of three-phase BLDC motors in automotive applications. The first entry in the series, the TB9M003FG combines a 32-bit Arm Cortex-M0 core, 64 kbytes of flash memory, and power control functions for driving N-channel power MOSFETs in drive systems for water pumps, oil pumps, fans, and blowers. The integration of a microcontroller helps reduce design size and component count, while enabling complex motor control. To minimize the load on the MCU, the gate driver employs a vector engine and hardware for sensorl ..read more

Aspinity has launched a dashcam evaluation kit and a suite of smart analogML algorithms for parked vehicle monitoring. The hardware/software offerings leverage the company’s always-on AML100 analog machine learning processor. The near-zero power AML100 enables continuous monitoring for extended periods without impacting the vehicle’s battery or requiring an external power source. The company recently demonstrated a dashcam with a single microphone and an AML100 processor. The setup uses an acoustic-only trigger and analogML algorithms trained to identify automotive security events. According ..read more

At this year’s APEC in Long Beach, California, Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe’s speech was a major highlight of the conference program. Lowe, the chief of the only vertically integrated silicon carbide (SiC) company and cheerleader of this power electronics technology, didn’t disappoint. In his plenary presentation, “The Drive for Silicon Carbide – A Look Back and the Road Ahead – APEC 2024,” he called SiC a market hitting the major inflection point. “It’s a story of four decades of American ingenuity at work, and it’s safe to say that the transition from silicon to SiC is unstoppable.” Figure 1 L ..read more

Electronics design engineers bear the responsibility of overcoming the world’s concerns with electric vehicle (EV) power sources. Lithium-ion batteries are heavy, put pressure on natural resources, and sometimes are slow to charge. The logical next step in EV development is using ultracapacitors as a complementary power source for when there are not enough batteries to go around, allowing electrification to scale and tone down the detractors of modern charging electronics. Looking to ultracapacitors may remove some of the market uncertainties surrounding other EV power generators. The electro ..read more

Step-down converters’ switch-node voltage waveform defines the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) behavior for automotive CISPR 25 Class 5 measurements. The ringing frequency in the switch-node waveform is an important signal on the EMC receiver, where a higher ringing amplitude on the switch node often causes EMC issues. Understanding the switch-node waveform enables predicting the converter’s EMC characteristics as well as optimizing EMC filter design at an early design stage. This article compares three automotive step-down converters to provide practical advice on using switch-node wavef ..read more