Fuel gauges ensure accurate battery tracking
TI’s single-chip battery fuel gauges, the BQ41Z90 and BQ41Z50, extend battery runtime by up to 30% using a predictive modeling algorithm. Their adaptive Dynamic Z-Track algorithm delivers state-of-charge and state-of-health accuracy within 1%, enabling precise monitoring in battery-powered devices such as laptops and e-bikes.
The fuel gauges provide accurate battery capacity readings under varying load conditions, allowing designers to right-size batteries without overprovisioning. The BQ41Z90 integrates a fuel gauge, monitor, and protector for 3- to 16-cell Li-ion battery packs, while the BQ41Z50 supports 2 to 4 cells. Integration reduces board complexity and can shrink footprint by up to 25% compared to discrete implementations.
Each battery pack manager monitors voltage, current, temperature, available capacity, and other key parameters using integrated analog peripherals and an ultra-low-power 32-bit RISC processor. Both devices report data to the host system over an SMBus v3.2-compatible interface, while the BQ41Z90 also supports I²C. It additionally enables simultaneous current and voltage conversion for real-time power calculations and supports sense resistors as low as 0.25 mΩ.
Pre-production quantities of the BQ41Z90 and production quantities of the BQ41Z50 are available now on TI.com. Evaluation modules, reference designs, and simulation models are also available.
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