Li-Ion Battery Management

Electric or hybrid vehicles offer a viable means of increasing the efficiency of today's cars and thus tackling the dual problems of fuel consumption and CO² emissions. At the heart of electric or hybrid engines is a powerful battery. New generations of Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) batteries are up to 30% smaller and 50% lighter than conventional Nickel Metal Hybrid (NiMH) batteries. These Li-Ion batteries offer concrete advantages in terms of size, weight, recharge speed, life span, and resistance to memory effects.

Atmel is currently the only supplier providing a complete 2-chip protection solution for highest safety levels. Its new Li-Ion battery management chipset targets high-cell-count automotive and industrial applications such as electrical/hybrid vehicles, e-bikes or uninterruptible power supplies. Thanks to its hot plug-in capability, its integrated AD converters with a threshold frequency lower than 30 Hz, saving external filters, and the stackable microcontroller power supply, the ATA6870/71 chipset needs remarkably less external components than comparable solutions. Along with Atmel's cost-efficient 30-V CMOS technology, this results in cost savings of up to 60% compared to existing solutions.

The ATA6870 is industry's first battery management IC that includes all functionalities needed to control a high-cell-count Li-Ion battery. To prevent Li-Ion battery damage due to overcharging or deep discharge, Atmel provides a special safety strategy with its secondary protection device, the ATA6871. It monitors the battery cells with regard to over-/undervoltage and overtemperature, and prevents Li-Ion batteries from thermal runaway or exploding.