Mercedes-Benz develops a power converter that controls individual battery cells

Mercedes-Benz has presented the Power Converter, a technology for future EVs that uses programmable micro-converters to control the energy flows of individual battery cells.

The Power Converter is designed to provide a constant high-voltage output of up to 800 V, regardless of the cells’ state of charge or aging. The version presented delivers up to 3 kW of power and supports AC and DC applications.

Mercedes-Benz says multiple Power Converters could be used together, directly at the level of individual battery cells or cell groups. Connected in parallel, the converters would regulate the energy flows individually and jointly provide a stable high-voltage DC output. This would allow the overall power output to be adapted to different vehicle and system requirements. The high-voltage output would then no longer be directly determined by the number of cells connected in series, but by the decentralized converters and their software-based control.

Mercedes-Benz says that in future vehicle architectures, the Power Converter could combine several separate functions into a single hardware unit. It could also allow batteries and power electronics to be designed with greater flexibility, efficiency and compactness. The technology could support bidirectional charging such as Vehicle-to-Home and Vehicle-to-Grid, and it could improve range and ease the modularization of powertrains for battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

Source: Mercedes-Benz