All-in-one solutions for lithium-ion battery pack management were introduced by Renesas Electronics for a variety of battery-powered consumer products, including robotics, drones, e-bikes, and vacuum cleaners. The R-BMS F (Ready Battery Management System with Fixed Firmware) will drastically lower the learning curve for developers by offering pre-validated firmware, allowing for the quick design of secure, energy-efficient battery management systems.
Renesas’ industry-leading fuel gauge ICs (FGICs), an integrated microcontroller (MCU), an analog battery front end, pre-programmed firmware, software, development tools, and comprehensive documentation are all included in R-BMS F solutions, which are designed for lithium-ion batteries in both 2-4 and 3-10 cell series (S).
These solutions are available in comprehensive evaluation kits that are currently available for shipment.
Pre-programmed Firmware to Simplify Development
Because it is used to actively balance the voltages of the individual cells, detect defects, and monitor the batteries’ state of charge (SoC), state of health (SoH), current, and temperature, firmware is crucial to battery management systems.
The highly specialized knowledge required to create control algorithms that maintain the batteries in a safe temperature range and guarantee sufficient battery life over numerous charge/discharge cycles, however, may occasionally be lacking among consumer electronics engineers.
Renesas R-BMS F solutions contain built-in, pre-tested firmware tailored to function with the FGIC’s on-board MCU. The firmware includes critical pre-programmed functions to maximize battery life and ensure safe operation.
These consist of voltage and temperature monitoring, current control, and cell balancing. For added flexibility, the battery management system lets developers set many parameters to meet specific requirements and adjust the solution for different cell chemistries via a graphical user interface (GUI), without the need for a full integrated development environment (IDE).
All-Inclusive Evaluation Kits Ready to Ship
Both R-BMS F solutions contain a full evaluation kit, which has all the hardware, software, tools and documentation required to start developing. The underlying hardware powering the R-BMS F is Renesas’ FGIC solution, which combines an analog battery front end and an ultra-low-power RL78 MCU into a single, small package.
The analog portion provides accurate measurements of cell voltage, current and temperature, as well as controlling the external MOSFETs and converting analog data to digital signals. The digital section is where synchronous functions reside, including the main CPU, clocks, timers and serial interfaces.
Also included in the evaluation kits are: pre-programmed firmware stored in embedded flash memory with the flexibility to set the battery pack and cell chemistry parameters; the USB System Management Bus (SMBus) interface; GUI-based software; cables to communicate with the host system; dedicated development tools for parameter setting; and full documentation, including schematics and an engineering bill of materials (eBOM).
With these resources, developers can confidently innovate intelligent power management systems that safely monitor battery usage and provide longevity, while reducing their impact on the environment. Renesas plans to include turn-key R-BMS F solutions in all future FGICs.
2-4 Cell Series Solution (RTK0EF0163DK0002BU)
The R-BMS F for 2 to 4S cell (~8V to 16V) solutions (targets small vacuum cleaners, robotic vacuums, consumer and medical devices and runs on Renesas’ RAJ240055 Li-ion battery FGIC. Renesas offers Smart Robot Vacuum Cleaner | Renesas by combining this FGIC with other devices from its portfolio.
3-10 Cell Series Solution (RTK0EF0136DK0002BU)
The R-BMS F for 3 to 10S cell (~12V to 40V) solutions runs on Renesas RAJ240100 and RAJ240090 Li-ion battery FGICs, with target applications including e-bikes, e-mobility, vacuum cleaners, robotics, drones and industrial, consumer and medical systems.
Renesas has combined these FGICs with other devices from its portfolio to Wall to Battery Low Power Energy Storage System and USB-PD All in One Battery and Charging Solution.
These Winning Combinations are technically vetted system architectures from mutually compatible devices that work together seamlessly to bring an optimized, low-risk design for faster time to market.
Renesas offers more than 400 Winning Combinations with a wide range of products from the Renesas portfolio to enable customers to speed up the design process and bring their products to market more quickly. They can be found at renesas.com/win.
Leadership Comments
“One of the biggest bottlenecks for designing advanced power management solutions is the complex task of firmware development and validation,” said Chris Allexandre, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Power at Renesas. “Not everyone has the expertise or in-house resources to write their own algorithms. Our all-in-one R-BMS F battery management system eliminates this process and provides market-ready power solutions that work without requiring specialized technical knowledge of MCU programming or advanced battery management design.”
Renesas will showcase a live demonstration of the new BMS solutions at the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) in Atlanta, GA, March 16-20 at the Renesas booth (Booth # 2021).
Availability 
Both R BMS-F solutions are available today in production volumes. More information about the 2-4S cell (RTK0EF0163DK0002BU)and 3-10S cell (RTK0EF0136DK0002BU) R-BMS F solutions is available.
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