SLUSAL5C December 2012 – June 2016
PRODUCTION DATA.
NOTE
Information in the following applications sections is not part of the TI component specification, and TI does not warrant its accuracy or completeness. TI’s customers are responsible for determining suitability of components for their purposes. Customers should validate and test their design implementation to confirm system functionality.
The fuel gauge can control a bq2416x Charger IC without the intervention from an application system processor. Using the bq27530-G1 and bq2416x chipset, batteries can be charged with the typical constant-current, constant-voltage (CCCV) profile or charged using a Multi-Level Charging (MLC) algorithm.
Several key parameters must be updated to align with a given application's battery characteristics. For highest accuracy gauging, it is important to follow-up this initial configuration with a learning cycle to optimize resistance and maximum chemical capacity (Qmax) values prior to sealing and shipping systems to the field. Successful and accurate configuration of the fuel gauge for a target application can be used as the basis for creating a "golden" gas gauge (.fs) file that can be written to all gauges, assuming identical pack design and Li-ion cell origin (chemistry, lot, and so on). Calibration data is included as part of this golden GG file to cut down on system production time. If going this route, it is recommended to average the voltage and current measurement calibration data from a large sample size and use these in the golden file. Table 4, shows the items that should be configured to achieve reliable protection and accurate gauging with minimal initial configuration.
A ceramic capacitor at the input to the BAT pin is used to bypass AC voltage ripple to ground, greatly reducing its influence on battery voltage measurements. It proves most effective in applications with load profiles that exhibit high-frequency current pulses (that is, cell phones) but is recommended for use in all applications to reduce noise on this sensitive high-impedance measurement node.
The filter network at the input to the coulomb counter is intended to improve differential mode rejection of voltage measured across the sense resistor. These components should be placed as close as possible to the coulomb counter inputs and the routing of the differential traces length-matched to best minimize impedance mismatch-induced measurement errors.
Any variation encountered in the resistance present between the SRP and SRN pins of the fuel gauge will affect the resulting differential voltage, and derived current, it senses. As such, it is recommended to select a sense resistor with minimal tolerance and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) characteristics. The standard recommendation based on best compromise between performance and price is a 1% tolerance, 100 ppm drift sense resistor with a 1-W power rating.
Similar to the BAT pin, a ceramic decoupling capacitor for the TS pin is used to bypass AC voltage ripple away from the high-impedance ADC input, minimizing measurement error. Another helpful advantage is that the capacitor provides additional ESD protection since the TS input to system may be accessible in systems that use removable battery packs. It should be placed as close as possible to the respective input pin for optimal filtering performance.
The fuel gauge temperature sensing circuitry is designed to work with a negative temperature coefficient-type (NTC) thermistor with a characteristic 10-kΩ resistance at room temperature (25°C). The default curve-fitting coefficients configured in the fuel gauge specifically assume a 103AT-2 type thermistor profile and so that is the default recommendation for thermistor selection purposes. Moving to a separate thermistor resistance profile (for example, JT-2 or others) requires an update to the default thermistor coefficients in data flash to ensure highest accuracy temperature measurement performance.
A ceramic capacitor is placed at the input to the fuel gauge internal LDO to increase power supply rejection (PSR) and improve effective line regulation. It ensures that voltage ripple is rejected to ground instead of coupling into the internal supply rails of the fuel gauge.
A ceramic capacitor is also needed at the output of the internal LDO to provide a current reservoir for fuel gauge load peaks during high peripheral utilization. It acts to stabilize the regulator output and reduce core voltage ripple inside of the fuel gauge.