To face the challenges of CO2 emission and automated driving, the electrical distribution system (EDS), as the basis of all electronic loads, needs to be continuously changed. Traditional bussed electrical center (BEC) has limited functions such as simple switch and fuse protection, while the full semiconductor solution of smart BEC can provide more accurate diagnosis, faster response, higher reliability with lower power loss and smaller space.
This paper will introduce the practical function of the smart BEC: in normal operation of the car, the voltage and current of the loads can be detected by the smart BEC. Once in abnormal, immediate feedback will be transferred from smart BEC to the whole system and a related response will be triggered in time, while the cost of power harness can also be optimized. In parking mode, the quiescent current of the loads from KL30 can be detected by smart BEC, which could prevent against leakage.
Automated driving is a hot topic, many people focus on functional safety and redundancy of the actuators in the car, which can only be realized by the safe power supply. Therefore, this paper will also describe the fail safe and fail operational of power supply with smart BEC.
Of course, replacing traditional relays with semiconductors will face many challenges, such as the switch off energy for inductive load, inrush current for capacitive load, thermal problem of the system, cost optimization and so on. The paper will introduce the solutions to these challenges. These solutions have practical significance because they are based on analysis of the loads in the real car.
Finally, the paper will show the actual comparison with the traditional BEC and the smart BEC in terms of weight, size, power loss, wiring saving, and cost in the real car.