EBV presents Infineon advanced E/E architecture and 48V boardnet

Sustainability, reducing the CO2 emission, recuperation of kinetic energy is a must have. Automated driving increases the power demand for actuation and diagnosis capabilities. These are just some of the challenges for the next design of cars. With dual power supply 12/48V it seems to be a perfect match between sustainability and providing the right power needed.

Classic centralized power distribution schemes can no longer fulfill these requirements. Smart, decentralized power distribution architectures, however, provide an alternative approach that allows engineers to address these key design criteria by using the latest semiconductor technologies to replace conventional relays and fuses. The various protection and diagnostic features of a smart switches are essential for modern power distribution systems.

As a new voltage domain for vehicles, today’s selection of 48V micro-hybrid components is limited. But this doesn’t change the fact that you need cost-effective, high performance and well-aligned electrification solutions for your applications. Infineon offers an entire system of chipset solutions, from voltage regulators and transceivers to sensors, microcontrollers and smart power drivers. They’re also pleased to support you with our 48V micro-hybrid system demonstrators for inverters and DC/DC

Discover here the applications and Infineon Solutions that are helping engineers to effectively solve these challenges.
 

48V boardnet & functions

An additional CO2 saving can be achieved by adding an electrical motor to support the various operational states of a car and which allows a recuperation of energy into a battery. This concept led to the development of different types of hybrid electrical vehicles, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, full hybrid electric vehicles and mild hybrid electric vehicles (MHEV) Depending on the type of hybridization a CO2 saving of up to 50% can be reached.

From the commercial point of view the MHEV is the most economical type where invest per saved gram of CO2 is the lowest. The additional applications in a MHEV typically require power compared to applications in a car with just an ICE. To enable and supply these applications used in a MHEV, a higher voltage level is required. As a compromise (trade off) between safety specifications and the power needed an additional power network at 48V was established. In 2016 the first production car with a 48V system architecture entered the market and more and more OEM offer mild hybrid models with a 48V architecture. 

Benefits of 48V:

• The main benefit of a 48V power network with its typical applications is the reduction of the CO2 output
• This is realized mainly by the recuperation of energy but also driving support by the starter generator is a benefit of the 48V network.
• New comfort features which need a higher power density are as well an advantage of the second power network in a MHEV.  
• Further auxiliary applications which consume high power can be moved from the 12V network to the 48V side. This allows realizing of an even more stable 12V power network.

48V Architecture from P0 to P4 generation