Automotive power systems are unforgiving electronicenvironments. Transients to 90V can occur when thenominal voltage range is 10V to 15V (ISO7637), along withbattery reversal in some cases. It’s fairly straightforwardto build automotive electronics around this system, butincreasingly end users want to operate portable electronics,such as GPS systems or music/video players,and to charge their Li-Ion batteries from the automotivebattery. To do so requires a compact, robust, effi cientand easy-to-design charging system
The LTC®4099 high effi ciency USB power manager andLi-Ion/Polymer battery charger seamlessly managespower distribution from multiple sources in portableapplications. It is differentiated from other USB powermanagers by its bidirectional I2C port that allows the hostmicroprocessor to control and monitor all aspects of theUSB power management and battery charging processes.In addition, a programmable interrupt generation functionalerts the host microprocessor to changes in device statusand provides unprecedented control of power managementfunctions. This high degree of confi gurability allowspost-layout changes in operation, even changes in thefi eld, and it allows a single qualifi ed device to be usedin a variety of products, thus reducing design time andeasing inventory management.
Most portable computers have built-in sockets to acceptsmall PC cards for use as extended memories, fax modems,network interfaces, wireless communicators and awide assortment of other functions. The Personal ComputerMemory Card International Association (PCMCIA)has released specifications that outline the general powerrequirements for these cards.
For a variety of reasons, it is desirable to charge batteriesas rapidly as possible. At the same time, overchargingmust be limited to prolong battery life. Such limitation ofovercharging depends on factors such as the choice ofcharge termination technique and the use of multi-rate/multi-stage charging schemes. The majority of batterycharger ICs available today lock the user into one fixedcharging regimen, with at best a limited number ofcustomization options to suit a variety of application needsor battery types. The LTC®1325 addresses these shortcomingsby providing the user with all the functionalblocks needed to implement a simple but highly flexiblebattery charger (see Figure 1) which not only addressesthe issue of charging batteries but also those of batteryconditioning and capacity monitoring.
