Gasgoo Awards 2022 applicant: Smart Electric Center from Aptiv

For the Gasgoo Awards 2022, Smart Electric Center from Aptiv has applied for the Top 100 Players of China's New Automotive Supply Chain. 

Photo credit: Aptiv

Product: Smart Electric Center

Description

Smart electrical centers are power distribution devices in a vehicle that replace traditional melting fuses with smart fusing and electromechanical relays with solid-state switches. Taking this step can help OEMs optimize cable sizes; reduce system cost, weight, and packaging size; and enable intelligent power management features and diagnostics. Solid-state switching also is quieter and consumes less energy than electromechanical relays, and remains robust for millions of duty cycles.

Photo credit: Aptiv

As consumers demand increasingly advanced functionality from their vehicles, the automotive industry is undertaking the biggest transformation in electrical and electronic architecture in its history. Aptiv’s Smart Vehicle Architecture™ shows us where that journey is headed, and every journey begins with a single step. For some OEMs, that first step may be smart electrical centers.

Unique advantages

They also allow for savings in cabling. In the past, wires had to be designed to be larger in diameter than physically needed — typically large enough to comfortably carry 30 percent more current than needed, which would allow enough tolerance for the fuse element at peak load. Smart fusing enables engineers to specify cabling to the physical limit of the load over a specified period of time, which often results in a reduction in the cable size to save cost, weight and space.

Just as importantly, smart electrical centers lead to a much more complete diagnostic picture. A smart electrical center can detect when the wires attached to it are close to failing. It can isolate fault conditions; detect open and short circuits, circuit overloads and underloads; and report all of that diagnostic information back to a central controller — which can in turn communicate that data to the consumer or a dealer for service.

The technology in smart electrical centers is key to ensuring that vehicles meet functional safety requirements. Typically, a smart electrical center is rated ASIL-B as a component, and it can be utilized in conjunction with another Automotive Safety Integrity Level B (ASIL-B)-rated component to form an ASIL-D-rated system. The ASIL-B component rating is accomplished by the improved robustness of solid state components, diagnostics and software implementations.

Application

Smart electrical centers are power distribution devices in a vehicle that replace traditional melting fuses with smart fusing and electromechanical relays with solid-state switches. Taking this step can help OEMs optimize cable sizes; reduce system cost, weight, and packaging size; and enable intelligent power management features and diagnostics. Solid-state switching also is quieter and consumes less energy than electromechanical relays, and remains robust for millions of duty cycles.

Prospects

The benefits of smart electrical centers make the decision an easy one, and the technology is in production today. When the OEM is ready to take the next step in evolving its electrical architecture toward the promise of SVA™, having smart electrical centers in place will ensure an easier transition.