12V Heating Systems
Automotive heating systems
ST’s heating system solution - based on a VIPower® Zero series power stage and SPC56 32-bit microcontrollers - provides an outstanding level of comfort, with an accurate and efficient temperature control. Complementary devices are also available for power management and ESD protection. ST’s VIPower® Zero series and SPC56 MCUs are specially designed for guaranteeing robustness in harsh environments and conditions.
ST, leading supplier of IC solutions for Smart Driving and IoT, provides a dedicated offer to drive and control the most modern heating systems, not only in cars, but also in everyday applications:
Smart Driving:
- Seat heater
- Glow plug driver
- Cabin heater
- Windshield defroster
- Heated/Cooled compartments
ST’s heating system solution - based on a VIPower® Zero series power stage and SPC56 32-bit microcontrollers - provides an outstanding level of comfort, with an accurate and efficient temperature control. Complementary devices are also available for power management and ESD protection. ST’s VIPower® Zero series and SPC56 MCUs are specially designed for guaranteeing robustness in harsh environments and conditions.
These features are crucial in automotive applications, while they add value also in IoT applications, such as body warmers, gloves, jackets, bottle warmers, pail warmers, drawer warmer materials, tote heaters, tank and canister heaters, heated equine rugs, etc.
ST’s heating system solution - based on a VIPower® Zero series power stage and SPC56 32-bit microcontrollers - provides an outstanding level of comfort, with an accurate and efficient temperature control. Complementary devices are also available for power management and ESD protection. ST’s VIPower® Zero series and SPC56 MCUs are specially designed for guaranteeing robustness in harsh environments and conditions.
These features are crucial in automotive applications, while they add value also in IoT applications, such as body warmers, gloves, jackets, bottle warmers, pail warmers, drawer warmer materials, tote heaters, tank and canister heaters, heated equine rugs, etc.
Smart Power high-side switches provide:
- Reduced switching losses for achieving better efficiency and better EMI performance
- Embedded protections avoiding device destruction due to excessive current, voltage, or temperature
- Means to return status information to the logic controller
VIPower high-side drivers integrate digital control, output sensing, diagnostics, and protection features (overload/overcurrent/over-temperature/overvoltage).
Benefits over a discrete design:
- Simpler design
- Lower bill-of-material
- Reduced board space
- Increased circuit reliability
- Reduced assembly costs
It is worth considering how to configure the drivers in a safe way. Indeed, in HSD mode, the current flows from a high-side source current to the load. While the low-side type connects or disconnects the load to ground. Short-to-ground of the load is a more likely system failure mode compared to short-to-battery.
This is the reason why a growing number of designers prefer HSD over LSD for their circuits.
Automotive Microcontrollers | VIPower Zero SeriesHigh side drivers | Power management ICs | ESD Protection ICs |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPC56 32-bit B-Line MCUs | VN7007AH/ VN7007ALH (RDSon 7mΩ) | ESDCAN01-2BLY in SOT23-3L for cars ESDCAN03-2BWY in SOT323-3L for cars ESDCAN05-2BWY in SOT323-3L for trucks |
ST's solution kits include all boards you need to evaluate your application.
By selecting one of the solution kits you'll find the SPC5 motherboard, an adapter to connect the motherboard to one of our Easyboards for high-side drivers, and the Easyboard of interest.
| Solution kits | High-side driver | RDS(on) typ |
|---|---|---|
| SL-AU-VN7007AH | VN7007AH | 7 |
| SL-AU-VN7007ALH | VN7007ALH | 7 |
| SL-AU-VN7004CH | VN7004CH | 4 |
| SL-AU-VN7004CLH | VN7004CLH | 4 |
| SL-AU-VN7003AH | VN7003AH | 3 |
| SL-AU-VN7003ALH | VN7003ALH | 3 |
TwisterSIM simulator for VIPower M0-7 high side drivers allows to simulate load-compatibility, wiring harness optimization, fault condition impact analysis, diagnostic behavior analysis and Dynamic Thermal performance.
Here below you can see the complete list of evaluation boards included in our solution widgets:
- Motherboard: SPC56B-Discovery for SPC56 MCU
- Adapter Board: SPC5-EV-ADIS connected to MCU board and able to host a single VIPower board
- VIPower boards: EV-VN700x “Easy Boards” equipped with a dedicated Graphical User Interface
