Drop-in replacement for the existing LTC6804... Lower cost & enhanced safety features

Linear Technology Korea (CEO Hong Sa-kwak) announced the launch of a new drop-in high-voltage battery stack monitor (product name: LTC6811) that can replace the existing LTC6804.

This product offers high performance at a price 25% lower than existing products. The LTC6811 is an integrated battery measurement IC suitable for hybrid/electric vehicles, integrating a deep buried Zener voltage reference, a high-voltage multiplexer, a 16-bit delta-sigma ADC, and a 1Mbps isolated serial interface.

The LTC6811 can measure the voltage of up to 12 battery cells connected in series with superior precision within 0.04%. The LTC6811 provides excellent noise attenuation capabilities because one of eight third-order low-pass filters can be programmed. When used in the fastest ADC mode, all cells can be measured within 290 µsec.

For high-capacity battery packs, multiple LTC6811 products can be connected to each other and operate simultaneously using Linear Technology's proprietary 2-wire isoSPI™ interface. The built-in interface supports data rates up to 1 Mbps and provides electrically isolated, RF noise-resistant communication capabilities. Multiple LTC6811s connected by twisted pair wires are daisy-chained to a single host processor, allowing for the measurement of high-voltage battery stacks of hundreds of cells.

The LTC6811 is the successor to the third-generation battery monitor IC product, which has been verified in actual production vehicles, and is designed to fully meet the environmental conditions, reliability, and safety requirements demanded in automotive and industrial applications. The LTC6811 is fully designed to operate in a temperature range of -40°C to 125°C.

This product is designed for systems compliant with the ISO 26262 (ASIL) standard and provides an extended error range through redundant voltage references, logic test circuits, cross-channel testing, open-wire detection capabilities, a watchdog timer, and packet error checking on the serial interface.

In existing designs using Linear Technology's LTC6804 battery stack monitor, the LTC6811 can be used as a drop-in replacement that adds filter cutoff frequency, adds passive and active balancing control functions, new ADC commands, and an enhanced error reach for functional safety.

The LTC6811 is fully supported by Linear's Linduino™ technology, an Arduino-based microcontroller board and software library. This microcontroller board includes an electrically isolated USB port and connects directly to the LTC6811 demo board, providing a simple platform for evaluating and developing the LTC6811.

The LTC6811 is available in a small 8mm x 12mm surface mount SSOP package. It is priced at $8.19 per unit in 1,000-unit quantities, and samples and demo boards are available at www.linear.com/product/LTC6811.