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ROHM
2020/05/14
New 2.8W High Power Speaker Amp ICs for Advanced Instrument Clusters
Optimizing for voice output for autonomous driving systems and ADAS
ROHM recently announced the AEC-Q100 qualified 2.8W output Class AB monaural speaker amplifiers the BD783xxEFJ-M series (BD78306EFJ-M, BD78310EFJ-M and BD78326EFJ-M) ideal for instrument clusters - used in vehicles equipped with autonomous driving and ADAS.
In recent years, technological innovations in the automotive field - such as autonomous driving and ADAS – make it necessary to generate a wider variety of sounds, such as warning alerts for lane departure and obstacle detection. As a result, even audio output systems in the instrument cluster are utilizing speaker amps to generate sound with an MCU, instead of relays and electronic buzzers that produce blinker and warning sounds. However, until now it was difficult to ensure safe, stable sound output at loud volumes.
ROHM developed the BD783xxEFJ-M series for vehicle clusters requiring various sound outputs at high volume, including warning sounds, turn signals, welcome tones, and voice guidance. Also, adopting a new type of over current protection (OCP) circuit provides protection against output shorts (damage due to accidental terminal contact) that was difficult to achieve in the past, making it possible to deliver high 2.8W output. Thermal shutdown and under voltage lock out (UVLO) are also built in to ensure high reliability protection against abnormal conditions.
What’s more, qualification under the automotive reliability standard AEC-Q100 and support for high temperature operation up to 105℃ enable stable voice output without compromising functionality even under severe conditions.
Going forward, ROHM will continue to contribute to greater safety and comfort by developing high quality, high reliability products for the automotive field where sound diversification is increasing.
Key Features
With conventional over current protection circuits, the maximum output is limited, since the operating threshold of the protection circuit must be set to a value smaller than the maximum current the speaker amp can provide.
In contrast, ROHM’s new overcurrent protection circuit eliminates the need to limit the output by preventing waveform distortion even at high output. This allows the BD783xxEFJ-M series to provide over current protection from output shorts which was difficult to achieve in the past while enabling high output (2.8W max. at 4Ω load and 10% distortion).
2. Ensuring high reliability in vehicle applications
The BD783xxEFJ-M series is qualified under automotive reliability standard AEC-Q100 and supports a maximum operating temperature of 105ºC. At the same time, adopting a power package reduces heat generation even at high volumes, resulting in stable audio output without compromising functionality - even under severe conditions. An in addition to over current protection, thermal shutdown and under voltage lock out are built in that prevents damage caused by abnormal heat generation and unexpected popping/cracking noise during battery interruptions.
Installed on Cypress Semiconductor’s Reference Board
ROHM’s BD783xxEFJ-M series of speaker op amps are mounted on Cypress Semiconductor’s TraveoTM Cluster MCU Family S6J3360 Series Evaluation Board for automotive applications, allowing for easy evaluation under conditions similar to actual use.
Click on the URL below for more information on the S6J3360 Series.
https://www.cypress.com/products/traveo-s6j3360s6j3370-simple-graphics-arm-cortex-r5-mcu
Application Note: Traveo
https://www.cypress.com/documentation/application-notes/an218589-external-circuit-pcmpwm-sound-system-traveotm-mcus
Application Examples
- Automotive instrument clusters
- Vehicle emergency call systems
- ADAS-related applications requiring voice functionality
(Source: ROHM website))
