Collaborating for over two decades now, the two companies claim to have reduced the size of both the HELLA module and the onsemi IC with innovative design methods
Leading power and sensing tech company onsemi recently announced the shipment of its one billionth Inductive Sensor Interface Integrated Circuit (IC) to HELLA, an international automotive supplier operating under the umbrella brand FORVIA. As per the released note, the IC designed by onsemi is being used in HELLA’s Contactless Inductive Position Sensor (CIPOS) technology for automotive x-by-wire systems. First collaborated in 1999, the partners claim to have then released the very first automotive inductive position sensor. Since then, onsemi has provided HELLA with three generations of inducting positioning interfaces, as mentioned in the official release.
It is learnt that CIPOS is a registered inductive technology used in passenger and commercial vehicles for drive-by-wire systems such as accelerator pedal sensing, steering and torque sensors, as well as actuators for pressure boost and turbos. The press note read that the IC designed by onsemi is the central element of the HELLA solution and, together with the connected coil structure, forms the inductive position sensor. The contactless solution guarantees the lifetime accuracy of the CIPOS system which, the company claims, is also immune to stray magnetic fields, a key asset for an automotive industry driven towards electrification. As per onsemi, major automotive OEMs are utilizing this technology.
The head of the Sensors business field at HELLA, Marco Döbrich commented, “We have benefitted from onsemi’s technologies and development expertise for many years, which has allowed us to make CIPOS a market-leading sensing solution. The ICs’ quality levels are outstanding, and our far-sighted capacity planning with onsemi enables us to plan ahead but stay agile in a tough market.”
“Without our teams understanding each other’s technologies and processes at such precise levels, we could not have reached this significant milestone with HELLA. But we won’t stop here and are already working on a fourth generation of inductive positioning sensor technologies. This generation will include system-level improvements especially in the areas of Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASIL-x) as the industry moves ever closer to fully autonomous driving,” stated Sudhir Gopalswamy, senior VC & GM of Advanced Solutions Group, onsemi.
It is noteworthy that onsemi had recently announced its strategic collaboration with German automaker Volkswagen AG (VW) to provide modules and semiconductors for its electric vehicle (EV) traction inverter solution.
Phoenix-based onsemi is working in the automotive and industrial end markets. It focuses on vehicle electrification and safety, sustainable energy grids, industrial automation, and 5G and cloud infrastructure.
Since the beginning of February 2022, HELLA and Faurecia have been operating under the umbrella brand of FORVIA. Together, they claim to form the seventh-largest automotive supplier worldwide.
