April 15, 2014, Seoul, Korea – Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL, Country Manager for Korea: Yeon-Ho Hwang) today announced the industry's first general-purpose AEC-Q100 certified intelligent battery sensor to combine three measurement channels, a 16/32-bit MCU, and a CAN protocol module into a single package.

Designed to support both existing and new battery chemistry for automotive and industrial applications, the MM9Z1J638 battery sensor measures key battery parameters for monitoring State of Health (SOH), State of Charge (SOC), and State of Function (SOF) for early failure prediction. Its flexible 4-cell front-end architecture supports existing 12V lead-acid batteries as well as new battery applications such as 14V stacked-cell lithium-ion, high-voltage junction boxes, and 24V truck batteries.

Battery failure is one of the leading causes of vehicle breakdowns resulting from electrical system errors. As electrical loads in vehicles rise and new key requirements, such as engine start-stop functions, become increasingly common, the strain on batteries is growing. According to Strategy Analytics, more than 52 million vehicles worldwide are expected to support start-stop (and Idle Stop Go) functions by 2020. Start-stop requirements, along with regenerative braking and intelligent alternator control, are driving the need for more accurate battery status detection to provide early failure warnings.

"The first single-package automotive-grade intelligent battery sensor containing the industry's MCU and CAN components will help automakers cope with the increasing algorithmic complexity and growing data communication as vehicles become more widely connected and intelligent," said James Bates, General Manager of Freescale's Analog and Sensor Group. "In addition, the new MM9Z1J638 battery sensor, which integrates functional safety support, helps ensure vehicle safety even as the complexity of automotive electrical systems increases."

The MM9Z1J638 battery sensor, which integrates a 16/32-bit S12Z microcontroller with 128K Flash, 8K RAM, and 4K EEPROM, along with a CAN protocol module, LIN interface, and a 3-channel analog measurement front-end, combines analog, processor, and communication functions in a single package to help reduce overall component costs and accommodate advanced battery monitoring algorithms. The analog front-end includes two 16-bit ΣΔ (Sigma-Delta) ADCs for simultaneous measurement of battery voltage and current, a third 16-bit ΣΔ ADC for temperature monitoring using the integrated sensor, and redundant measurement validation to support functional safety. The input battery voltage measurement capabilities of the new Freescale product support up to 52V directly to the device and much higher voltage battery configurations when used with an external voltage divider. It operates in low-power mode for most of the time with low operating cycles, helping to lower average system power consumption. The MM9Z1J638 has been fully verified for AEC-Q100 automotive compliance and is designed to meet the strictest automotive standards for ESD, EMC, and zero defect quality levels.