Automotive secondary power distribution unit
Reduce wire harness complexity in automotive applications with decentralized architectures and electrified secondary power distribution modules
Wire harness optimization is a key challenge for designers, with a solution found in transforming automotive power distribution from centralized to decentralized architecture with electrified power distribution centers. Infineon offers a complete chipset solution for secondary power distribution centers (PDC), enabling reliable and compact secondary distribution with supply, control, communication, sense, and actuation functions.
Discover the benefits of secondary power distribution centers (PDC)
By its very definition, secondary power distribution is supplied electricity from a primary power distribution unit, which itself takes power from the LV battery. The function of secondary power distribution units is to control the power supply to electronic control units (ECUs) for the main car functions and directly supply major loads. Traditionally, this is realized as relay-and-fuse boxes, with their location being restricted to easily accessible areas, enabling fuse replacement in case of malfunction. To enable higher reliability, diagnostic capability, protection features, and smaller size, secondary distribution is getting partly or fully electrified. An electrical secondary automotive power distribution is no longer called a relay-and-fuse box, but is commonly referred to as secondary power distribution units (PDU) or power distribution centers (PDC). Such automotive PDCs can be located anywhere in the vehicle, even in non-accessible areas and thus, enable the decentralization of the power distribution architecture. Within zone architectures, the secondary power distribution module is typically integrated into the infrastructure of the zone control unit.
Infineon's Power Distribution solutions - A platform-ready portfolio
Secondary power distribution units require scalable and flexible semiconductor chip-set solutions, accounting for varying degrees of electrification and diverse currents per output. Infineon offers the broadest portfolio for designing scalable and flexible automotive PDCs. Our PROFET™ smart power switches, MOSFETS and corresponding gate drivers are best-in-class in terms of current scalability and adaptability. While the AURIX™ family enables integration of sPDU functions with high-end computing performance applications, such as zone controllers, the TRAVEO™ microcontrollers serve as a complementary low-end alternative for price-performance optimized power distribution. Various other components, such as Infineon's OPTIREG™ power supply solutions and communication transceivers complement the portfolio and enable a highly interoperable chipset for secondary power distribution units. Pin-to-pin compatibility is ensured throughout various product families to enable easy adaptation of your designs to a variety of needs and for migration to the next generation of secondary automotive power distribution module.
Easily adoptable ISO-26262 automotive PDC solutions
Infineon's AURIX™ microcontrollers are best-in-class for ASIL-D functional safety designs and are complemented by the TRAVEO™ family for ASIL-B needs (partly with ASIL-D island). Corresponding OPTIREG™ power supply solutions come with easily-implementable safety manuals, enabling not only a safe design, but also a quick realization of functional safety goals. The PROFET™ smart power switches are ISO-ready and partly ISO-compliant with plenty of safety documentation available, allowing the overall easiest functional safety design in the market.
Enabling fail-operational power supply in secondary power distribution
Automotive E/E architectures are evolving rapidly, with the automotive power distribution unit becoming the backbone of a fail-operational power supply. To enable mega trends such as the "software-defined vehicle", electromobility and the introduction of X-by-wire & ADAS/AD, smart power switches are being employed. These semiconductor-based devices, sometimes also refered to as "e-fuses", function as so-called safety elements, effectively replacing fuses, however with better performance, such as faster failure isolation (<100-500 µs) and additional features. Smart power switches thus enable ASIL-D power supply and bring along other benefits, such as online diagnostics and resetability, ultimately enabling the shift to zone architectures.
Infineon's smart power switches offer seamless platform scalability, adjustable wire and load protection, capacitive charging, minimal power dissipation, as well as low-power parking mode and many more. They are optimized for easy "functional safety" designs, with a focus on ASIL-D compliance and comprehensive safety documentation.
48 V secondary power distribution units
Upgrade your 12 V electrical systems and automotive secondary power distribution with Infineon's solutions to meet the escalating power demands for cutting-edge features such as ADAS, autonomous driving (AD), central computing, electrical power steering or steer-by-wire, electro-mechanical braking or brake-by-wire, infotainment, and more.
The adoption of a 48 V based system emerges as the most efficient and compliant approach for the transportation and utilization of electrical energy within the regulatory framework, particularly with regard to contact protection ISO 6469-3. This has spurred significant discussions regarding a comprehensive strategy at the BEV car level, aiming to achieve substantial system-wide cost savings through significant enhancements in efficiency, power losses, and wire harness optimization – encompassing aspects such as cost, weight, complexity, routing, manufacturing, and assembly – all achievable with a 48 V secondary power distribution or a mixed-48 V/12 V secondary power distribution, including a 48 V/12 V DC-DC converter.
How to get started with your secondary PDC design
When designing power distribution systems, customers face a variety of challenges. They need to introduce fail-operational concepts for a dependable power distribution through the use of semiconductor-based safety elements in the secondary power distribution units. They have to optimize the overall system as such, that wire harness complexity is reduced, the increasing power demand of BEVs is satisfied and platform re-use becomes possible. And finally, they have to design the system as such, that it is easily scalable and fits the various needs of different vehicles or platforms.
Infineon provides a series of self-support collaterals, such as a configurable blockdiagram to aid the selection of fitting products, whitepapers, application notes, evaluation kits and datasheets. Additionally, Infineon benefits from it position as market leader for automtive and has - over the years - built a strong bottom-up product-to-system expertise. Please contact your Infineon contact if you would like to engage further.
If we have a look at the generations of the Power Distribution System, the decentralization and partly or fully electrification of the secondary power distribution starts already in generation 2:
On the one hand side, ADAS/AD requirements are forcing the electrification of the primary power distribution with the introduction of safety elements. On the other hand, the transformation of the IVN to domain/ zone architecture is providing a decentralized infrastructure to electrify the secondary power distribution.
The electrical part of the secondary power distribution is no longer called relay & fuse box, but secondary Power Distribution Centers (secondary PDCs), which can get located anywhere in the vehicle, even in non-accessible areas.
If we have a look at the generations of the Power Distribution System, the integration of the secondary power distribution and IVN is realized in generation 3 with zone controllers:
Characteristic for the generation 3 is the transfer of the former secondary power distribution into
the primary power distribution and mainly into the Zone Controller and fully electrified:
The corresponding functional block of the zone controller is very similar to a Body Control Module with integrated gateway, but every OEM has its own flavors and degree of domain integrations.
Today, one of the major challenges facing designers is the need of wire harness optimization to reduce its significant cost, length, weight and complexity. A possible solution is the transformation of the power distribution system from a centralized to a decentralized architecture.
- We will demonstrate this advanced feature using our Infineon PROFET™ Load Guard demonstrator, providing you a visual representation of the feature in action.
- Additionally, we will explore the various use cases in modern vehicle power distribution systems.
In this training, you will:
- Indicate what an electrical power distribution center is and describe what solutions Infineon offers for
- Explain why relays and fuses are being replaced with semiconductors and identify the devices that Infineon provides for replacing
Description:
- Explain how the major automotive trends are shaping the evolution of electrical and electronic or E/E architectures in cars
- Identify the trending E/E architecture concepts and their impact on networking technologies and recognize the solutions that Infineon provides to support current and future E/E architectures
In this training, you will:
- Understand what a body control module is and what solutions Infineon offers for standard and high-end body control modules
- Discover why relays and fuses are being replaced with smart switches and identify Infineon's alternative devices
