Infineon Technologies is targeting the automotive battery management sector with its PSoC 4 HVPA-144K microcontroller, which combines high-precision analogue and high-voltage subsystems into a single chip.
Infineon Technologies, a global semiconductor company, has launched the PSoC 4 High Voltage Precision Analog (HVPA)-144K microcontroller. This advanced microcontroller is designed specifically for the automotive battery management sector, integrating high-precision analogue and high-voltage subsystems into a single unified chip.
The PSoC 4 HVPA-144K microcontroller is engineered to provide a comprehensive embedded solution for monitoring and managing automotive 12 V lead-acid batteries, which are essential for powering the electrical systems of vehicles. This microcontroller is compliant with ISO26262 standards, offering a compact and secure solution for intelligent battery sensing and management in contemporary vehicles.
Featuring dual high-resolution sigma-delta ADCs and four digital filtering channels, the PSoC 4 HVPA-144K delivers precise measurements of a battery’s state-of-charge (SoC) and state-of-health (SoH). It achieves this by accurately tracking key parameters such as voltage, current, and temperature with an exceptional accuracy rate of up to ±0.1 per cent. Additionally, the microcontroller includes two programmable gain amplifiers (PGAs) with automatic gain control for seamless, software-independent management of the analogue front end. The device also utilizes shunt-based current sensing, offering higher accuracy compared to traditional Hall sensors.
This microcontroller is equipped with an integrated 12 V LDO that is tolerant up to 42 V, allowing it to be directly powered by the vehicle’s 12 V lead-acid battery without external power sources. It also includes an integrated transceiver for direct LIN bus communication and meets the ASIL-C functional safety requirements according to ISO26262.
The core of the PSoC 4 HVPA-144K is an Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU, which operates up to 48 MHz and is supported by up to 128 KB of code flash, 8 KB of data flash, and 8 KB of SRAM—all protected by ECC. The microcontroller also features several digital peripherals, including four timers/counters/PWMs and a configurable serial communication block that supports I2C, SPI, and UART protocols.
Infineon provides extensive support for this microcontroller through its Automotive Peripheral Driver Library (AutoPDL) and Safety Library (SafeTlib), both of which are developed in compliance with the automotive software development process, A-SPICE standards, and MISRA 2012 AMD1 and CERT C guidelines. These libraries are also ISO26262 compliant.
With the release of the PSoC 4 HVPA-144K, Infineon is not only addressing current needs in automotive battery management but also preparing to expand its portfolio to include systems for managing Li-ion batteries in electric vehicles (EVs). This expansion will cover a range of products suitable for high voltage (400 V and above) and low voltage (12 V/48 V) applications, thereby supporting the broader adoption of EVs in the future.
