Intelligent Battery Protection System for Electric Vehicle Applications

As electric vehicles (EVs) trend toward higher bus voltages and increased load demand, a robust circuit protection strategy becomes increasingly critical to safeguard downstream wiring and sensitive electronic loads against overcurrent events and short-circuit faults. Concerns regarding the reliability and slower response times of traditional electro-mechanical circuit breakers drive designers towards alternative options like solid-state circuit breakers (SSCBs) using wide-bandgap devices such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). SiC-based MOSFET switches are commonly used in circuit breaker applications instead of GaN as it offers higher breakdown voltage, offering additional safety margin during voltage surge caused by the system inductance when the switch is turned off. Additionally, GaN technology has not yet matured enough to provide cost-effective solutions. This paper presents a SiC-based bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker that can be incorporated into electric vehicles offering protection against overcurrents and short-circuit faults. The proposed protection system is experimentally validated with a laboratory prototype at a system rating of 400V, 10A.