Abstract
During the 80's the well-known advantages in terms of fuel economy made the diesel engine increasingly attractive for the passengers car especially in Europe.The stringent exhaust emission regulation has raised the need for high performance diesel engine research. Fiat was a key player with its Unijet system development. The last improvements, 20% fuel consumption and 30% CO 2 emission reduction, appear with the high pressure injectors.
They allow a better control of the injected fuel quantity.This diesel direct injection (DDI) system requires a complex electronic control unit with many sensors and specific semiconductors. Mixed signal analog and smart power products are key enablers to the performance and cost of such DDI system. For this purpose, the feasibility to extend the high voltage of Motorola latest SMARTMOSª technology from 65V to 120V is studied.
Collaboration at system level between Fiat CRF, Magneti Marelli and Motorola Semiconductors has enabled the definition and development of specific integrated circuit for DDI and 42V. The 'Power Swan' 42V SMARTMOSª device is targeted to new ECU power management. From the 12V/42V it provides various voltages (5V, 3.3V, 2.6V) for the microcontroller core, I/O, external flash memory and sensors. It also integrates a boost converter. While the PowerSwan is the basis of this collaboration to provide a demonstrator, other output devices, injector driver chipset, are under development.
System, loads and technology knowledge of the three partners are key for answering to this new automotive demand.