TI introduces industry’s highest accuracy lithium-ion battery monitor for electric mobility, power tools and UPS

Intelligent IC extends battery pack lifetime, energy delivery and system safety

DALLAS (May 19, 2011) – Texas Instruments Incorporated today introduced a battery management integrated circuit that increases the life of rechargeable lithium-ion battery packs and maximizes available energy for hybrid and electric vehicles, power tools and uninterruptible power source (UPS) applications. The stackable bq76PL536 battery monitor, balancer and protector incorporates analog-to-digital converters for independent cell voltage and temperature protection, cell balancing and isolated chip-to-chip communication. The device intelligently measures battery cell voltages to 1-mV accuracy, which is needed for demanding new lithium chemistries. For information or to order, visit www.ti.com/bq76pl536-pr. For the AEC-Q100 automotive-qualified version, see www.ti.com/bq76pl536Q1-pr.

The bq76PL536 also provides full secondary protection for over voltage, under voltage and over temperature conditions. When safety thresholds are exceeded, the device sets the fault and alert outputs independently of the normal communication channel. No external components are needed to configure or enable the protection features.

Key features and benefits

• ±1-mV typical voltage measurement accuracy increases battery gas gauging accuracy to determine remaining capacity, cell-balancing efficiency and system safety.
• Integrated secondary level of protection for over-voltage, under-voltage and over-temperature conditions increases safety without adding component cost
• Vertically stackable to monitor up to 192 cells without additional isolation components between ICs.
• High-speed 1-Mb/s serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus operates between each bq76PL536 to provide reliable communication.
• AEC-100 production flow, reliability and testing for automotive applications.
• Cell-balancing drivers extend the available capacity and lifetime of the battery pack by maintaining state of charge and capacity balance.

Tools and support

TI offers a variety of tools and support to speed the implementation of the bq76pl536 family of devices:

bq76pl536EVM-3 evaluation module: www.ti.com/bq76pl536evm-pr.
bq76pl536EVM-3 evaluation software: www.ti.com/bq76pl536evm3software-pr.
bq76536PGM-1 programmable board: www.ti.com/bq76pl536board-pr.
bq76pl536-1 programmable software: www.ti.com/bq765pl536progsoft-pr.

Availability and pricing

The bq76PL536 and bq76PL536-Q1 battery monitors are available now in a 64-pin HTQFP package; suggested resale pricing starts at $4.30 in quantities of 1,000.