EDN's 19th Annual Innovation Awards Finalists

EDN Staff - February 2, 2009

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Category: Battery ICs
Finalist: bq27500 system-side impedance-track battery-fuel-gauge IC (Texas Instruments)

How much battery life really remains? Texas Instruments answers the question by introducing the bq27500, its system-side fuel gauge IC with Impedance Track™ technology for smart phones and other handhelds. Its 2.5 mm x 4 mm gauge predicts battery life with 99-percent accuracy to extend run-time, protect data and provide a better user experience for mobile handheld users.

The system-side bq27500 directly measures the effect of a battery’s discharge rate, temperature, age and other factors to accurately predict remaining life within one percent error. Furthermore, the bq27500 also provides an accurate reserve energy warning, which allows a system to save data to non-volatile memory at the end of a battery’s discharge, so work is not lost when battery life runs out. Finally, the system-side implementation allows a handheld manufacturer to cut costs by designing an end-equipment that does not need extra electronics added to the battery pack. With the number of handheld devices predicted to rise dramatically over the next year, an accurate battery fuel guage is a must for manufacturers looking to squeeze the most battery power out of their products.