Renesas’ New Automotive Intelligent Power Device Enables Safe and Flexible Power Distribution in Next-Generation E/E Architectures

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced a new automotive Intelligent Power Device (IPD) that will safely and flexibly control power distribution within vehicles, addressing the requirements of next-generation E/E (electrical/electronic) architectures. The new RAJ2810024H12HPD is available in the small TO-252-7 package and reduces the mounting area by about 40% compared to the conventional TO-263 package product. In addition, the advanced current detection function of the new device allows highly accurate detection of abnormal currents such as overcurrent. Since the new IPD detects abnormal currents even at low loads, it allows engineers to design highly safe and precise power control systems that can detect even the smallest abnormalities.

The new IPD was developed to address the growing requirements as E/E architectures continue to evolve. In a conventional distributed E/E architecture, power supply from the battery is distributed to each Electronic Control Unit (ECU) via long, thick wires from a power box consisting of mechanical relays and fuses. IPDs have a longer life and are maintenance-free compared to mechanical relays, so they can be placed anywhere in the vehicle. As the automotive industry moves toward centralized or zone-oriented E/E architectures, IPDs are becoming an ideal choice for building efficient and flexible power supply networks since they use shorter, thinner wires. Renesas’ IPD in particular provides a more efficient, safer and smaller solution for power distribution control (more info).