New elec­trical system archi­tec­tures make elec­tric vehi­cles more reli­able and safer

An Austrian collab­o­ra­tive project involving Silicon Austria Labs, Infi­neon Tech­nolo­gies Austria, and AVL List has devel­oped inno­v­a­tive solu­tions for modern high-voltage and low-voltage vehicle elec­trical systems. The results enable more compact, reli­able, and fault-tolerant elec­trical systems for future elec­tric vehi­cles.

After a two-year run, the REDSEL re­search project was success­fully completed. The project focused on devel­oping a redun­dant high-voltage/​low-voltage elec­trical system archi­tec­ture that enables a flex­ible and fail-safe power supply in elec­tric vehi­cles. This approach makes it possible to elim­i­nate the need for the tradi­tional low-voltage battery in elec­tric cars in the long term.

“The tech­nolo­gies we’ve devel­oped lay the ground­work for lighter and more robust vehicle elec­trical systems, thereby making a signif­i­cant contri­bu­tion to the advance­ment of elec­tric mobility—all the way to future autonomous appli­ca­tions,”, erklärt DI Albert Frank, Projekt­leiter bei Silicon Austria Labs.

Tech­no­log­ical inno­va­tions for robust vehicle elec­trical systems

At the heart of REDSEL is a redun­dant system archi­tec­ture with active load balancing between two high-voltage batteries, which ensures even load distri­b­u­tion and signif­i­cantly increases oper­a­tional reli­a­bility. This was comple­mented by the devel­op­ment of a power elec­tronics converter with multiple inputs, which—thanks to an inno­v­a­tive magnetic inte­gra­tion concept—could be designed to be partic­u­larly compact, effi­cient, and space-saving.

Tech­no­log­i­cally, the project relied on newest semi­con­ductor solu­tions: On the high-voltage side, 750V silicon carbide MOSFETs (CoolSiC™) were used, while on the low-voltage side, 30V OptiMOS™-7 devices were employed for the first time, offering signif­i­cant effi­ciency advan­tages over previous 40-V solu­tions. Improved elec­trical system spec­i­fi­ca­tions in modern elec­tric vehi­cles enabled the safe use of these early devel­op­ment proto­types.

In addi­tion, a new safety archi­tec­ture for switching and shut­down func­tions has been devel­oped, replacing mechan­ical relays with semi­con­ductor switches. This increases reli­a­bility, reduces the required instal­la­tion space and weight, and enhances the system’s oper­a­tional safety.

Strong industry-re­search collab­o­ra­tion as a key to success

“REDSEL is an excel­lent example of how new, inno­v­a­tive system solu­tions can emerge through collab­o­ra­tion between acad­emic and indus­trial part­ners. The system demon­strator devel­oped for the project impres­sively demon­strates how new vehicle elec­trical archi­tec­ture can be imple­mented more safely and scal­able in the future,”stresses DI Ernst Katz­maier, Projekt­leiter bei Infi­neon Tech­no­lo­gies Austria.

About Silicon Austria Labs (SAL)

Silicon Austria Labs (SAL) is a non-univer­sity re­search center for elec­tronics- and soft­ware-based systems (ESBS). SAL conducts collab­o­ra­tive, appli­ca­tion-oriented re­search in the fields of microsys­tems, sensor systems, power elec­tronics, intel­li­gent wire­less systems, and embedded systems at its loca­tions in Graz, Villach, and Linz. The goal is to develop and imple­ment new tech­nolo­gies along the value chain in collab­o­ra­tion with industry and acad­emia. The owners are the Republic of Austria, the provinces of Styria, Carinthia, and Upper Austria, as well as the Asso­ci­a­tion of the Elec­trical and Elec­tronics Industry.

CONTACT:
DI Dr. techn. Thomas Langbauer
Team Lead Architectures & Topologies (AT)
+43 664 815 78 69
thomas.lang­bauer@silicon-austria.com