Sensata, a sensor, controller and software firm, has introduced a next-generation BMS designed for high-voltage applications, including electric trucks, buses and material handling vehicles. It’s part of the Lithium Balance product line, and will be available in early 2023.

The Lithium Balance n3-BMS is composed of up to 30 Cell Monitoring Units, a Master Control Unit and three CAN communication ports. It works with applications of up to 1,000 V and 2,000 A. Sensata says the previous generation n-BMS can be upgraded to the n3-BMS by replacing a PCB board in the battery system.

The company says the BMS is “functional safety-certified off-the-shelf, significantly reducing the time to market and costs associated with the ISO 26262 certification process.”

“The unique layered software structure of the n3-BMS provides customers with the option to customize the battery management system with their own code and algorithms without impacting the ASIL C certification,” according to the company. “The BMS software architecture consists of a ‘Base Software Layer’ (BSW) and an ‘External Software Layer’ (ESW) which are connected by an open API link layer. Since all the safety-critical functionalities of the BMS are in the BSW layer of the software, developers are free to implement their own software code and algorithms in the ESW without any risk to the ISO 26262 certification of the system.”

Source: Sensata