News & Events
Xicor® Introduces Integrated Battery Management Solution X3101
--Battery Management Controller Provides Cell Balancing and Gas Gauging Solution for Next Generation Li-Ion and Li-Polymer Battery Technology
MILPITAS, California November 21, 2002 Xicor, Inc. (Nasdaq: XICO), a leading supplier of programmable mixed-signal integrated circuits, today introduced the X3101 new generation of battery management controllers. The device integrates cell balancing and gas gauge electronics that monitor individual cell voltages and currents for the safe operation of battery packs used in notebooks and industrial applications. The X3101 supports designs to meet SBS (Smart Battery System) standards for the designs of Li-Ion (Lithium Ion) and Li-Polymer (Lithium Polymer) batteries where cell balancing is crucial for proper charging to maximize battery capacity and lifetime.
The X3101 is a 3-cell battery management solution of Xicors previously released X3100, a 4-cell battery management version. The X3100 is successfully designed into many after-market battery packs for key notebook manufacturers and several industrial and medical applications.
"The X3101 is currently being designed into several applications that include prismatic battery packs for notebooks, portable medical devices, and portable instrumentation equipment", stated Tony Ochoa, marketing manager of Standard Linear Products. "The device's flexibility to support software implementation of gas gauge algorithms allows upgrades to battery capacity calculations during manufacturing. For instance, battery pack designers can compensate for variations in cell chemistry vs. temperature. This provides design flexibility and the proliferation of quick-to-market battery pack designs."
Summary of Features: Integrated Battery Management Solutions
Cell Balancing Charge Control Circuits for 3-cell (X3101) and 4-cell (X3100) Li-Ion battery packs. Improves battery life. Measures voltage in each cell and reports the voltage to a separate microcontroller. Accepts commands from a microcontroller to control charge circuits to supply different current to each cell for proper charging to maintain uniform power capacity. This circuitry includes FET control for charge and discharge; and voltage level translation to gauge 12V and 16V battery packs down to individual cell capacity. Also includes a cell charge enable circuit that prevents charging of bad cells.
Gas Gauge and Protection: Voltage and Current Monitors with Safety Control Circuits. Contains integrated differential amplifiers and current sense amplifiers to monitor overvoltage and undervoltage for each individual cell; and overcurrent for the entire battery pack. Provides automatic protection circuits that control the charge and discharge FETs. A built-in programmable gain amplifier allows for a wide range of current-sensing resolution. An analog crossbar switch cancels charge vs. discharge offsets to ensure accurate current measurement. The programmable overvoltage and undervoltage voltage thresholds can be adjusted. A sample rate timer provides for periodic overvoltage and undervoltage measurement. Includes circuits for sleep and wake. Modes to support battery charging and discharging. In sleep mode, the battery pack electronics draw less than 1-microamp of current.
Built-in EEPROM to support SBS standards and Cell history (charge/discharge cycles, extreme conditions data, age). Includes memory block lock circuits to protect valuable memory locations. Other Circuits To Reduce External Components: Integrated voltage regulator, analog multiplexer for the ADC front-end; Load Test Current Generator used during overcurrent protection mode. 24V operation to handle surge currents and battery packs up to 16.8 volts.
Production samples are available for the X3101 in 28-lead TSSOP packaging with prices starting at $3.40 USD in 1,000 unit quantities.
About Xicor
Xicor designs, develops, and markets a wide variety of programmable mixed-signal integrated circuits and nonvolatile memory products used in networking, computing, communication and industrial applications. The Companys products include digitally controlled potentiometers and system management ICs that allow system designers to digitally control analog functions in signal processing, microprocessor monitoring and power management. Xicor product, corporate and financial information is readily available on the World Wide Web at http://www.xicor.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release are forward looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks may include the impact of competing products and pricing, timely design acceptance by our customers, timely ability to ramp new products into volume production, industry wide shifts in supply and demand for semiconductor products, and other risks detailed from time to time in Xicor's SEC filings.
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