SUPSPULPIEPRL SUPPLIER IENRT INTERVIEW:EINRTVEIERWVI:E MWE:MERSEN
R MSEERNSEN
Protect and serve
For electric vehicle power systems, fi nding reliable
solutions for battery and circuit protection is a must
WORDS: KARL VADASZFFY
As power ranges of electric vehicles
increase, so too do the challenges
placed on power systems, which
means that carefully chosen and
eff ective protection is essential.
Mersen, a French-headquartered, listed
company, off ers fi ve dedicated lines of products
that serve the EV market: DC-rated fuses for
battery and auxiliary circuit protection, DC
pyro-based hybrid fuses for advanced battery
overcurrent protection, laminated bus bar with
monitoring features for battery and inverter
connection; battery water cooling solutions,
and capacitors (fi lm and electrolytic).
With more than 53 industrial sites and 7,000
employees, the global company is involved in
two fi elds of activity: advanced materials
(mainly graphite-based) and electrical power.
In 2018, it achieved a revenue of US$1bn
(€879m), which Dr Philippe Roussel was
integral in securing.
Dr Roussel, a graduate from the University
of Lyon in electronics and microelectronics,
received a PhD in integrated electronics
systems from the Applied Sciences National
Institute (INSA), also in Lyon. He joined
Mersen in 2014 as VP of global strategic
marketing for its power electronics products.
First up, he discusses Mersen’s DC fuses. An EV
pack-fuse (battery pack fuse) and M-fuse (battery
module fuse) up to 1000VDC are ultra-fast-acting DC
fuses designed to address specifi c needs in EV/HEV
and battery storage systems. “With complete
protection from 100VDC to 1000VDC, and up to
600A with minimum breaking capacity (MBC) of less
than 3kA for perfect matching with DC contactors,
these fuse families have been fully tested in DC
conditions to guarantee fast and reliable protection
under large fault currents,” Roussel explains.
Mersen’s Xp hybrid pyro-fuse is part of the Xp
series, which is based on a pyrotechnic heart
associated with a fuse. It off ers very fast operating
times, extremely low watt losses, and high cycling
performances, up to 1000VDC. “Additionally, it has
the capability of being self-triggered through its
patented technology, which means it does not need any
external power in order to operate,” Roussel comments,
Also available is a monitoring bus bar for battery cell
connection and sensing. Mersen’s MABB smart bus bar
technology off ers high power connection and small signal
sensing (individual cell voltage and local temperature), both
embedded in a single bus bar. Roussel explains that this
results in an easy assembly process, no wiring errors, and
a high resistance to both shocks and vibrations. The
company has also released the MHi-T105 and MHi-T130
series, a new bus bar family off ering a fully qualifi ed
142 // July 2019 // www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com
Mersen’s bus bar has
monitoring features for
battery and inverter
connection
Mersen’s EV pack
fuse MEV80S400-S,
800VDC
/www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com