Gate drivers for EVs offer safety diagnostics, says Allegro
Automotive gate drivers for advanced 48V battery systems offer advanced safety diagnostics in small packages and are ideal for electric vehicles (EVs), says Allegro Microsystems.
The company claims that it has introduced the industry’s largest portfolio of 80V motor drivers for advanced 48V automotive systems. The suite of fully integrated gate drivers address the critical need for flexible and reliable solutions in EVs, with optimised architecture and performance directly impacting vehicle weight, battery/fuel efficiency, and driver safety.
The gate drivers are prepared to suit any load configuration from half bridge with independent high side and low side outputs to three-phase brushless DC (BLDC) control. They have been developed on a high- oltage process node for 48V systems and offer ASIL diagnostics and diagnostic verification enabled with a fully compliant ISO 26262 process.
Included in the new introductions are the AMT49100 and AMT49101 80V safety three-phase gate drivers for electric power steering (EPS) and other safety-critical systems. There is also the AMT49502 80V safety half-bridge gate driver with actuators and solid state relays, the A89503 80V safety half-bridge gate driver with independent high-side and low-side output loads for floating loads, such as seat heaters and catalytic heaters and the A89500 100V high-power half-bridge gate driver in compact DFN package for distributed systems, 48V power inverters, golf carts, and e-bikes
The devices in small packages are designed to meet the rigorous demands of the automotive market by increasing functionality while decreasing PCB footprint.
The 48V gate drivers offer multiple topologies and can support various loads (up to 10kW) from catalytic heaters and actuators to EPS and braking applications.
According to Steve Lutz, product line director at Allegro: “Engineers can now increase efficiency, reduce weight and design size, and achieve a more accurate and higher performance driver experience”.
The 80V automotive gate drivers were developed on an ISO 26262-compliant design process and Allegro’s ASIL gate drivers have over 20 diagnostic features included, allowing the customer to diagnose, verify, and act against system faults.
