Design and Analysis of High-Voltage Smart Fuse for EV Applications

The trend towards higher voltage electric vehicle (EV) architectures demands safety improvements and the development of faster protection devices. Traditional fuses which rely on the melting of a conductor caused by current surges have prolonged response times, variability, non-reusability, and imprecision of the protection region. In this paper, an electronic fuse with 1000x faster response, precise protection, operating point independence, digital reset ability, and smart features is developed to replace traditional fuses in the same footprint. This maintenance-free solid-state fuse with several intelligent features uses a high-voltage SiC MOSFET controlled by an onboard sensing circuit and a low-cost microcontroller to allow or block currents based on predetermined safe operating limits.