Power management and analog solution provider Intersil has introduced a 12-cell battery pack monitor that provides cell balancing and voltage and temperature monitoring to safeguard Li-ion battery packs in electrified vehicles.

The new ISL78610 monitors and balances up to 12 cells with accurate voltage readings and diagnostics, enabling system designers to make informed decisions based on absolute voltage levels, rather than simply an error message indicating an out-of-range condition. It includes a voltage reference, a 14-bit analog-to-digital converter and registers for control and data, and can connect directly to a microcontroller through its 2.5 Mbps SPI interface. The device also offers four external temperature inputs, and includes fault detection and diagnostics for all key internal functions.

System designers can use the ISL78610 as a standalone monitor or as a redundant back-up device when combined with Intersil’s ISL78600 multi-cell battery manager.

Together, the ISL78610 and ISL78600 offer internal and external fault detection such as open wire, over and under voltage, as well as temperature and cell balancing faults to mitigate battery pack failures. Multiple devices can be daisy-chained to support systems with up to 168 cells using a proprietary communications system.

Source:Intersil via Green Car Congress