The Grid Wireless BMS built with ultra-wideband tech access to vehicles, such as keyless entry, as it is short-range and more difficult to intercept than other wireless technologies. The signals do not penetrate outside the pack, avoiding interference with other wireless systems. The chips operate from 3.1-10.6 GHz with 500 MHz bands. The transceivers can be simpler than the chips used for keyless entry as the ranging and sensing functions are not needed. “Our wireless BMS system is the industry’s first to include UWB technology, offering manufacturers the most advanced technology to power tomorrow’s EVs,” said Naomi Smit, GM & VP battery management systems at NXP. “Trimension UWB delivers simple, safe and robust wireless communications within the BMS, outperforming existing narrowband-based solutions. We are proud to work with our customers to make the wireless promise a reality.” The Trimension UWB is part of NXP’s FlexCom chipset, which supports both wired and wireless BMS configurations with common software architecture and safety libraries. It will be available for evaluation and development in the second half of 2025. The FlexCom BMS chipset includes a chip for a battery junction box that provides accurate voltage and current measurements with chassis isolation. BATTERIES 8 AIRCRAFT MW-class motor electric aircraft takes off with 3300 bhp Wright Electric has finished assembling its second-generation megawatt-class motor, the WM2500, writes Nick Flaherty. The motor has been built with support from the US ARPA-E ASCEND research programme and NASA, and it is spinning freely after being assembled in December. The 2.5 MW motor has more than 3300 bhp and is specifically designed for electric aircraft engines. It has a peak power of 2 MW at 800 VDC and 2.5 MW at 1200 VDC from eight high-frequency integrated inverters, each rated to 250 kW. These use in-slot cooling to achieve efficiency of 99.5%. Running at a speed of 7,500 rpm, the motor produces 2,550 Nm of rated torque. The WM2500 is designed to replace the engine core of a jet engine, enabling existing aircraft with over 100 passengers to be converted to electric operation. It can directly drive a ducted fan or power a propellor through a single-stage gearbox, and it forms the core of a C-130 hybrid-electrification programme. This is converting a Hercules aircraft to hybrid operation with two electric engines and two conventional ones. The motor can also be used as a 4 MW class turbogenerator. The WM2500 is now undergoing testing at the Wright laboratory in Albany, US, before heading to NASA’s NEAT facility for altitude chamber testing. Propulsion test-stand testing will follow with aircraft ground and flight testing. Wright Electric has developed its own aircraft engine test cell to characterise the performance of megawatt-class electric aircraft propulsion systems using the C-130 propellors. NXP Semiconductor has developed the first battery management system (BMS) using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, writes Nick Flaherty. Using wireless connections between battery cells and the BMS in a pack simplifies assembly and enables better energy density. It also removes the weight of the wiring harness and eliminates connectors. However, many wireless BMS implementations based on narrowband radio-frequency connections at 2.4 GHz, such as Bluetooth, suffer from interference. The UWB technology developed by NXP provides higher resistance to reflections and frequency-selective fading in the pack to enable more robust and reliable transfer of cell data, such as voltage and temperature measurements. High-bandwidth pulses carry the data. UWB is already used for secure January/February 2025 | E-Mobility Engineering UWB for battery management (Image courtesy of NXP Semiconductors) A 2.5 MW electric motor (Image courtesy of Wright Electric)
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