Battery Power - Winter 2014 - (Page 18)

New Products * ICs & Semiconductors I²C Battery Gas Gauge Operates Up to 20 Volts Linear Technology Corp. has introduced the LTC2943 multicell battery gas gauge that makes direct measurements of 3.6 V to 20 V battery stacks. Absolutely no level shifting circuitry on the supply and measurement pins is required to interface with multicell voltages, so total current consumption is minimized and measurement accuracy is preserved. The LTC2943 is a true high voltage gas gauge that measures charge, voltage, current and temperature to within 1 percent accuracy, all of the essential parameters required to accurately assess battery state of charge (SoC). The LTC2943 is suited for multicell applications, including professional power tools and portable medical equipment. Battery current is measured by monitoring the voltage across an external, high side sense resistor and integrating this information to infer charge. A bidirectional analog integrator accommodates either current polarity (battery charge or discharge), and a programmable prescaler allows for a wide range of battery capacities. Charge, voltage, current and temperature information are communicated to the host system over an I²C/SMBus-compatible 2-wire interface that is also used to configure the gas gauge. The host can program high and low thresholds for all measured parameters, which if tripped, signal an alert using either the SMBus alert protocol or by setting a register flag. The LTC2943 is offered in commercial and industrial versions, supporting operating temperature ranges from 0°C to 70°C and -40°C to 85°C, respectively. The LTC2943 is available in a RoHS compliant, 8-pin 3 mm by 3 mm DFN package. Pricing starts at $2.35 each in 1,000 piece quantities. Cree SiC MOSFETs Revolutionize Shinry Hybrid Electric and Electric Vehicle Power Converters, Achieving 96 Percent Efficiency Cree, Inc. has announced that Shinry Technologies, a high-tech enterprise focused on energy efficient applications in transportation and lighting, employed Cree's 1,200 V C2M family of SiC MOSFETs in its new, high-efficiency, hybrid electric and electric vehicle (HEV/EV) power converters to achieve 96 percent efficiency. According to Shinry Technologies, Cree's C2M SiC MOSFETS also enabled a 25 percent reduction in product size and reduced peak power losses by over 60 percent compared to the traditional silicon versions. 18 Battery Power * Winter 2014 "Our customers care a great deal about efficiency, compact size and system weight and cost," said Dr. Wu Ren Hua, CEO of Shinry Technologies. "The new C2M family of SiC MOSFETs from Cree allows our new HEV/EV power converters for passenger cars and busses to deliver industry-leading efficiency of 96 percent in a compact size that is 25 percent smaller than current platforms not using Cree C2M SiC MOSFETs." Based in Shenzhen, China, Shinry Technologies Co., Ltd. specializes in creating HEV/EV DC-DC converter, on-board charger and rapid charger solutions for a market that demands high reliability, efficiency and compact size. By implementing Cree's advanced second-generation SiC MOSFETs in its latest 3 to 10 kW DC-DC converters designed for use in electric busses, Shinry achieved considerable efficiency improvement and significant size and weight reduction. Introduced in March 2013, Cree's C2M family of SiC MOSFETs have been demonstrated to achieve more than three times the power density of typical silicon technology in standard power supply designs. Cree MOSFETs have been actively employed in solar inverters, industrial power supplies, battery chargers, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and several other applications. These new 1,200 V and 1,700 V MOSFETs allow manufacturers to differentiate their products in the market through significant improvements in efficiency, reliability and/or power density, the latter of which can also lead to reductions in the size, weight, volume and, in some cases, even the total cost of power systems. Boost Battery Life in "Always On" Smartphones, Tablets and Accessories with Ultra-Low Power Microcontrollers Enabling advanced contextual computing functionality in next-generation handheld consumer devices, Texas Instruments (TI) has released the MSP430 microcontrollers (MCUs) that reduce power consumption in "always on" applications such as smart phones, tablets and accessories. Developers who transfer sensor hub, keyboard control and battery/power management functionalities to MSP430F525x MCUs can create portable consumer devices that put powerhungry application processors and touch screen controllers on standby instead of draining the system's battery. MSP430F525x MCUs feature a 1.8V split-rail I/O architecture that allows seamless interface to the application processor without needing an external level shifting circuit. Customers can now create smartphones, tablets and accessories that maintain I/O at 1.8 V while operating the MCU at maximum performance. With a www.BatteryPowerOnline.com http://www.BatteryPowerOnline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Battery Power - Winter 2014

Editor’s Choice
IDT Announces Next-Generation WPC 1.1 Wireless Power Receiver for Portable Applications
NREL to Research Battery Storage Approaches in Support of ARPA-E RANGE Program
Features
UPS Goes Green to Save Green
When Rubber Stamping is Not Enough
Purdue University Project Aims to Mass-Produce ‘Nanopetals’ for Sensors, Batteries
Growth in Battery Industry Sparks the Need for Battery Innovation Center
ORNL-Grown Oxygen ‘Sponge’ Presents Path to Better Catalysts, Energy Materials
New Products
Batteries
ICs & Semiconductors
Charging, Testing & Monitoring
ICs & Semiconductors
Components
Manufacturing
Departments
Industry News
Marketplace

Battery Power - Winter 2014