Battery-Protection IC Monitors Li+ Power In Hybrid Vehicles

A high-voltage, 12-channel battery-protection IC for high-cell-count lithium-ion (Li+) battery stacks provides redundant cell monitoring to prevent Li+ batteries from exploding (thermal runaway). Up to 31 MAX11080 ICs can be daisy-chained together to monitor as many as 372 cells. This capability prevents cascading electrical failures and eliminates the expensive isolation components required by discrete solutions. In a typical hybrid car, the IC can reduce the cost of the battery-management system (BMS) by up to 80%. To protect against battery thermal runaway, the MAX11080’s overvoltage detection guarantees less than ±25-mV error over the full AEC-Q100 Type 2 temperature range (-40°C to +105°C). In addition, the IC offers a 10x reduction in power consumption (80 µA, operating mode) to conserve battery life. A built-in shutdown feature reduces consumption to 2 µA of leakage, allowing the pack to be stored for many years with very little battery drain. The MAX11080 has 16 selectable overvoltage thresholds, as well as 8 selectable undervoltage thresholds. A programmable detection-delay feature allows the user to filter out transient events in the battery pack to eliminate false overvoltage or undervoltage alarms. The MAX11080 comes packaged in a 38-pin TSSOP. Prices start at $3.92 in 100-piece quantities. MAXIM INTEGRATED PRODUCTS, Sunnyvale, CA. (800) 998-8800.