TI Expands Battery Fuel Gauge Family For Smart Phones And Mobile Internet Devices

System-side and pack-side Impedance Track(TM) fuel gauge ICs with integrated LDO simplify power management design

DALLAS - Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) introduced today two new battery fuel gauge devices with integrated low-dropout regulators (LDOs) for smart phones, mobile Internet devices and media players with embedded or removable batteries. The new system-side and battery pack-side fuel gauges build on TI’s popular family of integrated circuits (ICs) that predict battery life with 99-percent accuracy to extend run-time, protect data and provide a better user experience.




The bq27510 system-side battery fuel gauge with Impedance TrackTM technology incorporates a LDO and can be powered directly from the battery cell with less external circuitry, regardless of system voltage. In addition to simplifying design of the fuel gauge into the host system, it accurately measures remaining capacity data from a device’s single-cell Li-Ion battery to predict remaining battery capacity under all conditions, even as a battery ages. See: www.ti.com/bq27510.

In addition to the system-side battery fuel gauges, TI’s new bq27540 device resides directly on the embedded or removable battery pack to intelligently manage available power that resides in the battery. The bq27540 will support SDQ, HDQ and I2C communication protocols to allow the system to read important information from the battery.

Accurate battery data helps systems optimize power better

Accurate fuel gauging helps systems intelligently manage available power, alert the user of system operating-time, and extend the run-time of the system as far as possible. Mobile application processors, such as TI’s OMAPTM 3 platform with SmartReflexTM power and performance technologies, rely on accurate battery data to better optimize the mobile device’s complete power operating system. As with the bq27500, the bq27510 and bq27540 provide an accurate reserve energy warning, which allows a system to save data to non-volatile memory before the system shuts down, so work is not lost when a battery runs to empty.


GSMA Mobile World Congress

TI will demonstrate its battery fuel gauge technology, power management ICs and high-performance audio products at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest wireless communications conference and exhibition, in Barcelona, February 11-14, 2008 (TI booth #8A84).


Pricing and availability

The bq27510 and the bq27540 are sampling today, with volume production expected in the second quarter of 2008. Available in a space-saving 12-pin, 2.5 mm x 4 mm SON package, both devices’ suggested retail price is $1.35 each in 1,000-piece quantities. Evaluation modules of the bq27500, bq27510 and bq27540, design application notes, user guides and TI’s bqEASYTM software design tool are available through power.ti.com.