Renesas Electronics Corporation

Ryosuke Enomoto

Daisuke Kato

Junko Kimura

Toshitaka Ukai

Akiko Fukute

Lin Xing

In battery voltage monitoring ICs for measuring voltages of unit cells of an assembled battery, communication with a system control unit is realized in consideration of fail-safe. The system control unit and the battery voltage monitoring ICs are coupled to each other by a communication path using a daisy chain. Each battery voltage monitoring IC has a placement setting pin designating, by a binary code, a unit cell group to which the IC is coupled, in the unit cell groups. When it is detected that the Hamming distance between the code indicative of coupling to a group of the highest potential or a group of the lowest potential and a state actually set in the placement setting pin is 1, some failure such as line disconnection, short-circuit, or the like in the placement setting pins is detected, and the communication path is interrupted.

Semiconductor device and battery voltage monitoring device

In a battery monitoring system included in a secondary battery, high-accuracy charge control is enabled at low cost. A semiconductor device includes: a drive unit which drives a transistor for controlling the charge current of a secondary battery and which is configured to be capable of selecting one of plural different voltages as a drive voltage (VGC) for turning on the transistor; and a data processing control unit which performs program processing. The data processing control unit generates condition information including information about the battery level of the secondary battery based on measured values of the secondary battery voltage and current and adjusts the charge current of the secondary battery by changing the drive voltage selection.

Semiconductor device and battery pack

A semiconductor device for battery control includes a CPU, a first bus coupled to the CPU, a second bus not coupled to the CPU, and a protective function circuit for protecting a battery from stress applied thereto. The semiconductor device also includes a non-volatile memory storing trimming data, a trimming circuit to perform trimming required to allow the protective function circuit to exert a protective function, and a bus control circuit capable of selectively coupling the first bus and the second bus to the non-volatile memory. The semiconductor device further includes a transfer logic circuit which causes, by making the bus control circuit select the second bus, a trimming data transfer path leading from the non-volatile memory to the trimming circuit to be formed and the trimming data stored in the non-volatile memory to be transferred to the trimming circuit without involving the CPU.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Ryosuke Enomoto