HELLA wins innovation award for its high-voltage battery management system in China

Lippstadt/Shanghai, 10 November 2022 With the trend towards low carbon concepts and a green supply chain, companies in the automotive industry are actively embracing the concept of sustainability already during development. In this context, one of the most important challenges is the integration of high-voltage electronics. The automotive supplier HELLA, who operates under the FORVIA umbrella brand, is actively promoting the development of vehicle electrification, and provides comprehensive support for OEMs at all stages of electrification with a wide range of technologies, from hybrid vehicles to fully electric vehicles. Among other things, HELLA's high-voltage battery management system solution can further enhance the safety and performance of electric vehicles. For this, HELLA has now received the Industry Development Innovation Award by Automobile & Parts, a well-known industry magazine in China., HELLA was recognized for its advanced and excellent performance and one of the most innovative projects in the automotive industry.

"We are delighted that our high-voltage battery management system solution has received an award from a highly respected trade magazine," says Wei Yu, Senior Vice President of the HELLA Electronics Technical Center APAC. "Acting in a sustainable and responsible manner has been a high priority for HELLA for decades. As a technology leader, HELLA is committed to actively shape the future of mobility and contribute to reduce emissions on the road with sustainable product solutions. Our high voltage battery management system solution will play an important role in this."

HELLA's high-voltage battery management system solutions are equipped with industry-leading core components, including high-voltage battery management unit (BMU), high-voltage current sensors (HVCS), and insulation monitoring devices (IMD) which are based on active/passive measurement technology. Among them, the high-voltage battery management system monitors the voltage, temperature and current of lithium-ion batteries and performs a variety of safety-related functions. It can be integrated into a wide range of relevant power electronics independent of the battery technology used. Thanks to its modular and scalable design, it can be applied to different batteries and vehicles because of its highly flexible design. HVCS is a further evolution which is based on the intelligent battery sensor (IBS, whose main purpose is to detect the lead-acid battery status of conventional 12V start-stop systems), a key product that has been produced more than 10 million times. As a technology that has stood the test of time on the market, it ensures the safe functioning of lithium batteries. IMD is designed to support not only the traditional passive insulation detection that relies on high-voltage signals, but also active detection methods that support signal injection. At the same time, as one of the developers for the ISO 26262 functional safety standard, HELLA has an in-depth understanding of functional safety and the ability to design high quality and reliable BMS as a safety related product.

HELLA's high-voltage battery management system solution enables accurate measurements to provide a solid foundation for monitoring and optimal control of the battery; the generous hardware resources utilized meet electrical architecture design and functional requirements. Its unique high-voltage safety mechanisms can ensure the reliability of the diagnostic results. The synchronization mechanism ensures the algorithms real-time efficiency, which for example includes power calculation. The high/low-voltage isolation design ensures the safe running of the system. The passive balancing design is simple and reliable. Active insulation enables more precise and faster measurement results. Basic software design conforming with the AUTOSAR 4.3 standard provides a variety of collaboration models for the algorithm and other application software development. HELLA has also adopted a multi-track strategy for its high-voltage electronic system solutions, where components can be assembled based on existing modular systems and quickly integrated into the vehicle via plug-and-play integration.

HELLA's BMS is well recognized by well-known automobile manufacturers in Europe. In order to better serve local OEMs and the Chinese market, HELLA is further increasing its investment in the development activity of BMS by establishing a localized R&D team in China to develop customized BMS for the Chinese market.