Date: 09/10/2008

Smart battery management ICs for multi-cell lithium battery systems

Texas Instruments introduced three new smart battery management integrated circuits that improve measurement and protection of multi-cell, lithium-based battery packs.
The three new devices are:
1. bq78PL114 battery management controller
2. bqPL900 lithium-based battery protector and
3. bq76PL102 dual-cell battery monitor

These scalable battery management controllers support 4- to 12-cell rechargeable lithium batteries used in mainly uninterruptible power supplies and applications.
The bq78PL114 battery management controller provides complete lithium battery system control, monitoring and safety functions for 4-series cells. The device integrates accurate battery fuel gauge technology with efficient cell balancing, short-circuit detection and battery protection. It is user-configurable by using TI's programmable GUI.
The bq76PL102 dual-cell battery monitor, which performs simultaneous voltage and temperature monitoring of each cell and reports those parameters over communications interface. By this interface, a designer can combine multiple bq76PL102 monitor devices with the bq78PL114 controller to create a smart battery solution for up to 12 rechargeable cells
Partitioning of the battery monitoring function cell-by-cell enables a more accurate state of charge measurement. The bq78PL114-based system incorporates PowerPump cell balancing technology, which uses a charge-transfer methodology that does not waste excess energy as heat, but moves energy dynamically from cell to cell with very high efficiency. Precise balancing occurs at every stage of operation - at charge, discharge and rest.
The bq77PL900 is a lithium-based battery protector and analog front end for 5- to 10-cell battery systems, which includes an I2C interface for communication with a host controller. It can also operate as a stand-alone battery protection circuit. The device integrates a 5-V and a 3.3-V LDO to help power the host controller or other circuits in the system
The bq77PL900 also provides full safety protection for over-voltage, under-voltage, over-temperature and overcurrent in discharge and short circuit during discharge conditions.

Packaging: bq78PL114 : 48-pin, 7 mm x 7 mm QFN package
bq77PL900 : 48-pin SSOP package
bq76PL102 : 16-pin, 3 mm x 3 mm QFN package

Pricing: bq78PL114 : $5.65 in 100-piece quantities
bq77PL900 : $3.70 in 100-piece quantities.
bq76PL102 : $1.90 in 100-unit quantities.
Availability: The bq78PL114 and the bqPL900 are available in volume today
The bq76PL102 is currently sampling with expected availability later in
the fourth quarter

For more details visit: http://www.power.ti.com