Intelligent Battery Sensor

The increase of electronic equipment in the car is undiminished since many years now. Fifteen years ago, premium vehicles got along with about 12 up to 15 control units, now up to 70 control units can be found in every vehicle of this segment. Not only rear window heating, antilocking systems and electronic stability programs but also additional comfort functions like radio remote keys, seat heating, navigation systems and air conditioners add to this trend. Further innovations like stop/start and recuperation result in a furthermore increased energy conversion and additional strain to the battery.

Still, only the battery as passive energy storage is available for the continuously increasing number of electric consumers. Formerly, the batterie's main task was the (short-time) power output for the motor start. Now, the battery in modern vehicles has to provide for the continuous power supply of all electric aggregates.

The survey of current breakdown statistics shows that a sufficient energy supply of the vehicle is not always guaranteed. According to ADAC-breakdown statistics, almost 36% of all breakdowns are based on the general automotive electronics. In this connection, the part of defective resp. discharged batteries is the largest, namely about 60%.

Thus, the battery as energy storage and its inspection via battery diagnostics becomes more and more important. The energy management balances the electric energy requested by the consumers with the energy supplied by the alternator and the battery. Thus, the energy management provides a balance between produced, stored and needed energy. It is the primary aim to guarantee the vehicle's starting capability at any time. The key component for this purpose is the Intelligent Battery Sensor IBS which we developed in cooperation with Autokabel and BMW.