Electric and hybrid vehicle use is rapidly on the rise. According to a recent report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), electric cars could make up 57% of all passenger car sales worldwide. With that rise in electric vehicle (EV) use comes the need for advanced surface-mount fuse technology and highly reliable circuit protection for high-stress automotive applications. Enter AEM.
AEM Components, a high reliability component solutions, manufacturing, and distribution provider, offers innovative circuit solutions that protect against catastrophic failures or shorts in EVs. The manufacturer offers AEC-Q200 qualified and IATF-16949 certified surface-mount fuses, setting a new standard for reliable performance in demanding automotive applications. AEM offers AirMatrix wire-in-air fuses and SolidMatrix body fuses for optimum performance under the hood or in the cabin.
How the AirMatrix Pushes the Performance Envelope
AEM’s AirMatrix is uniquely constructed to achieve high performance in high-stress conditions. How? The fuse element in the AEM AirMatrix component features a hermetically-sealed wire-in-air structure. It’s uniformly straight across the cavity and externally bonded to the endcap to ensure consistent electrical performance. This is different from other conventional wire-in-air fuses as they utilize a solder bead inside a ceramic tube, resulting in non-uniform positioning of the fusible element. Under high-stress conditions, the solder can vaporize, adding a secondary conductive path with serious consequences.
To demonstrate its ability to withstand high-stress conditions, the AEM AirMatrix fuses and conventional wire-in-air fuses were put to the test – recreating what would happen if there was a serious high voltage, high-current short-circuit event in an EV battery system.
The result? The AEM AirMatrix did its job. It withstood 450V/450A conditions without any external damage and maintained its mechanical integrity, while the fuses with conventional structure at 250V/250A and 450V/450A exhibited catastrophic results. The current flow through the AirMatrix fuse dropped to zero, while the conventional fuses displayed secondary current flow that ultimately resulted in PC board damage.
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