Atmel releases battery management devices

Atmel Corporation has announced a range of single-chip Li-ion battery management devices.

Combining Atmel's high voltage manufacturing process and AVR microcontroller technology, the new range gives a high analogue accuracy at very low power consumption, while ensuring that portable handheld applications have all the necessary safety functions.

Li-ion batteries are popular in applications such as mobile phones, media players, digital still cameras, PDAs or notebooks.

While they offer high energy density, low weight and volume, they require careful monitoring and charging control to ensure safety and optimum life time.

Safety is a major criterion for battery usage.

Atmel has been working with key battery manufacturers and is now offering a full range of microcontrollers dedicated to Li-ion battery management supporting one to four cells.

This product range offers a set of features to optimise performance and safety.

By giving accurate voltage measurements it is possible to accurately control the charge and discharge cut-off voltages.

The accuracy is achieved using Atmel's method for calibrating the voltage reference in conjunction with high resolution Delta Sigma analogue-to-digital converters for voltage measurement.

The range consists of six devices targeting different markets.

The ATmega4HVD and ATmega8HVD target the low-end consumer market requiring protection and authentication.

For applications requiring gas gauge, the ATmega8HVA and ATmega16HVA are suitable products, while the ATmega16HVB and ATmega32HVB target the notebook battery market.

All parts are single-chip, battery-side solutions incorporating a protection with high-side N-channel FET drivers.

Atmel has also developed reference design kits showing how to build a complete battery pack using the AVR battery management devices.

The reference design kits include complete firmware and provide all needed safety measures for a Li-ion battery design.

This includes over- and under-voltage protection and protection against excessive charge and discharge currents.

The reference designs also feature high accuracy voltage and current measurements, temperature checks, communication interface with command set based on battery specification, authentication and gas gauging.

To evaluate the performance of the reference designs, they are supported by the SB200 evaluation board.

This board includes Li-ion batteries, a programmable charger and load, and a USB communication gateway between the reference kits and a PC.

The SB200 connects to AVR Studio by starting the AVR battery management services plug-in.

Through this interface, all battery parameters can be observed and modified.

The ATAVRSB200 functions are also controlled through this interface.

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