“Until today, the only isolation available for hybrid car and truck batteries was in the form of optocouplers, which are notorious for being difficult to manage and operate at temperatures over 105°C,” said Robbie McAdam, vice president, Analog Semiconductor Components Division, Analog Devices. “In an application where fuel economy and battery capacity are everything, ADI’s digital isolators not only remove the limitations of optocouplers, they do so at 90 percent less power consumption.”
Digital Isolators Qualified For Automotive Systems are a first says Analog Devices
Tuning its proprietary iCoupler digital isolation technology to meet the reliability and quality needs of emerging electric-hybrid vehicles, Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) is introducing a family of digital isolators designed to operate in today’s electrically challenging automotive environment. Unlike the relatively low-voltage signals powering most in-car entertainment, safety, and power train systems, hybrid-vehicle batteries can operate at voltages in excess of 600 V, which creates a need to galvanically isolate system-critical electronics. Analog Devices’ new ADuM120xW, ADuM130xW and ADuM140xW digital isolators were developed for electric-hybrid vehicle systems, such as motor drives and battery management systems. These new iCoupler products are the first digital isolators to carry an AEC-Q100 qualified –40°C to +125°C automotive temperature rating.