As levels of functionality in 2.5G and 3G mobile handsets and personal digital assistants (PDAs) increase, an accurate account of remaining battery power is critical, especially before an important wireless transaction. Texas Instruments has launched the industry's first fully integrated battery fuel gauge for single-cell lithium-ion (Li-Ion) and lithium-polymer (Li-Polymer) battery packs to calculate remaining battery capacity and system run-time.
"As battery-powered consumer devices become more complicated and dynamic, designers of those products will require the right intelligent hardware to provide accurate information about the battery and system run-times to better manage available power," said Peter Fundaro, worldwide marketing manager for TI's battery management products. "With today's announcement, TI simplifies the design of a cost-effective accurate battery fuel gauge in single cell applications by offering a solution that performs all the necessary intelligent calculations on-chip, significantly reducing the amount of calculations performed by the host-side microcontroller."
Unlike a standard battery monitor, the bqJunior battery fuel gauge incorporates an on-board processor to calculate the remaining battery capacity and system run-time (time to empty). The device measures the battery's charge and discharge currents to within one percent error using an integrated low-offset voltage-to-frequency converter. A separate analog-to- digital converter on the integrated circuit is used to measure battery voltage and temperature. Using the measurement inputs, the bqJunior runs an algorithm to accurately calculate remaining battery capacity and system run- time.
The fuel gauge operates directly from a single Li-Ion cell and operates at less than 100uA."
Posted to the site on 21st February 2003
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/8348.php