Modular reference design for range of applications saves BOM

Renesas Electronics Corporation offers a 48V Mobility Winning Combination Solution that assists customers to accelerate the development of e-scooters, e-bikes, UPS and energy storage systems. This reference design employs a modular approach in hardware and software to showcase core and optional functional blocks that may be adopted for many 24V-48V applications including lawn mowers, robot cleaners, electric carts, power banks, power tools, and more. It also uses 15 of the company's ICs, including three key devices: the ISL94216 16-cell battery front end, robust HIP2211 100V MOSFET drivers, and RX23T 32-bit MCU for motor control. The solution is powered from a 25AHr Li-ion battery that drives a 1600W inverter to achieve speeds up to 5000rpm.

“Micromobility options like e-scooters and e-bikes offer an attractive, low-carbon footprint vehicle for first-mile and last-mile travel. Rising demand for these applications is driving new battery management capabilities as cell balancing plays an increasingly critical role in recharging,” said DK Singh, director, Systems and Solutions Team at Renesas. “Our new 48V mobility winning combination solution combines Renesas’ advanced BFE, industry-leading MCUs, along with analog and power devices, and innovative motor control technology to help customers speed up the development of their high power and torque e-scooters and e-bikes.”

The solution comprises two boards that satisfy the higher battery cell count and power levels mobility applications demand. The BFE and charger board targets larger, higher voltage battery packs. The motor control and inverter board provide synchronised current/voltage measurements and drivers that are PWM to actuate the motor and monitor motor status. The algorithm with the hardware is excellent for driving BLDC motors. Also, two optional boards are offered: the wireless charging receiver board and the BLE 5.0 control board.

For system control, the solution employs a cost-optimised, energy-efficient RX23T MCU with built-in FPU and six high-performance timers specially tooled for complex inverter control algorithms. These particular features and modular design aids engineers to considerably lessen the man-hours in software/hardware development and debug. Also, unlike other large cell count single-chip battery managers, the highly integrated ISL94216 provides numerous features that balance and monitor system conditions to enhance battery life and safety, independent of the MCU. The winning combination solution also employs the ISL81601 60V bidirectional four-switch synchronous buck-boost controller for ultra-fast charging. The controller’s CC/CV charger profile is implemented through the system MCU.