MOSFET protects ECUs against reverse-battery connection

30th October 2015

Barney Scott

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Diodes Incorporated has announced the DMP4015SPSQ 40V P-channel MOSFET, designed to protect automotive Electronic Control Units (ECUs) against the risk of reverse-battery connection. ECUs are used in a growing number of automotive control applications and, with some vehicles deploying up to 80 ECUs, the need to protect each one demands a simple and cost-effective solution, which this MOSFET provides.

The DMP4015SPSQ MOSFET acts as an ideal diode, allowing current to flow when the battery is correctly connected and blocking the current when the battery is accidentally connected in the reverse direction. Driving this device only requires a minimal number of passive components. By comparison N-channel MOSFETs require a charge pump to provide the gate drive voltage, adding complexity, cost and component count. Eliminating the switching topology of a charge pump also avoids issues with EMI emissions.

The avalanche rugged DMP4015SPSQ is 100% Unclamped-Inductive Switch (UIS) tested to ensure the MOSFET will withstand the worst-case ISO7637 energy pulse that would occur if the supply was disconnected while powering an inductive load. The low RDS_(ON) of the DMP4015SPSQ, less than 11mΩ, ensures that power loss is minimised, resulting in lower temperature operation; this eases thermal design considerations and improves reliability. The parallel configuration of several MOSFETs can further reduce power losses, by a factor of n2.

The DMP4015SPSQ is offered in a PowerDI 5060 package priced at $0.38 each in 1,000 unit quantities. Also available, for the same application, are the DMP4015SK3Q in TO252 (DPAK) package and DMP4015SSSQ in SO-8 package.