Li-Ion battery pack manager provides a rich array of features

The bq40z50-R2 device, from Texas Instruments, incorporates patented Impedance Track technology. It is a fully integrated, single-chip, pack-based solution that provides a rich array of features for gas gauging, protection, and authentication for 1-series, 2-series, 3-series, and 4-series cell Li-Ion and Li-Polymer battery packs. Using its integrated high-performance analog peripherals, the device measures and maintains an accurate record of available capacity, voltage, current, temperature, and other critical parameters in Li-Ion or Li-Polymer batteries, and reports this information to the system host controller over an SMBus v1.1 compatible interface. The device supports TURBO Mode 2.0 by providing the available max power and max current to the host system. The device also supports Battery Trip Point to send a BTP interrupt signal to the host system at the preset state of charge thresholds. The device provides software-based 1st- and 2nd-level safety protection against overvoltage, undervoltage, overcurrent, short-circuit current, overload, and overtemperature conditions, as well as other pack- and cell-related faults. SHA-1 authentication, with secure memory for authentication keys, enables identification of genuine battery packs. The compact 32-lead QFN package minimizes solution cost and size for smart batteries while providing maximum functionality and safety for battery gauging applications.