Li-ion technology drives forward

Semiconductor supplier STMicroelectronics and Korean chemical company, LG Chem, have joined forces in an attempt to address fuel efficiency and pollution. The battery pack incorporates LG Chem’s lithium ion (Li-ion) battery technology with a management chip manufactured by ST. Li-ion batteries offer high energy to weight ratios with low self discharge while not in use. Traditionally, the use in automotive applications has been limited because the charge/discharge cycle needs to carefully managed to protect the batteries from abuse condition. LG Chem’s Li-ion battery pack overcomes this hurdle by incorporating ST’s management chip, said to enable safe and long term reliability in harsh applications. The chip is manufactured using ST’s bipolar cmos dmos technology which combines digital logic circuits, analogue measurement and power handling transistors in a single silicon chip. Each chip can handle up to 10 Li-ion cells and has an interface for communicating with further ST chips in a system. Around 32 battery management chips can be connected in a cascade to manage batteries that are capable of delivering 1600v to electric motors. Marco Monti, ST’s general manager, power train and safety division, automotive product group said that the reduction in cost and weight enabled the technology to address applications from electric scooters up to heavy lorries. “Reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide emissions is an integral part of ST’s product development strategy,” he explained. “We are proud that we’ve been able to adapt our power management and analogue expertise with LG Chem to create a new solution that will enable Li-ion batteries to address increasingly higher power applications, from e-bikes to the most demanding public transport vehicles.”