M
Advanced Lithium-Ion
Battery-Pack Protector
______________________________________________________________________________________
11
Detailed Description
The MAX1666 battery-pack protectors supervise the
charging and discharging processes of Li+ battery
cells. Designed for 2-, 3-, and 4-cell applications, these
devices monitor the voltage across each cell to provide
protection against undervoltage, overvoltage, and over-
current damage.
Control pins
CGO
,
TKO
, and
DSO
allow control of
external MOSFET gates. This allows fast charging, trick-
le charging, and discharging processes (see the
Typical Operating Circuits
). The voltage of each cell is
measured individually. Also, each cell is measured dif-
ferentially between every other cell of the pack.
The MAX1666 contains a state machine, a voltage reg-
ulator, an oscillator, and other logic functions to selec-
tively drive
CGO
, UVO,
TKO
,
DSO
,
WRN
, and
PKF
(Figure 1).
Modes of Operation
Shutdown Mode
The MAX1666 goes into shutdown mode when a bat-
tery pack is first connected. The quiescent current is
less than 1μA. All circuitry is inactive except the com-
parator monitoring V
SRC
and the top-cell voltage. The
MAX1666 remains in shutdown mode as long as V
SRC
is less than the top-cell voltage. When SRC is connect-
ed to an external charger and V
SRC
is 1V above the
top-cell voltage, the device goes into standby mode.
The MAX1666 returns to shutdown mode under two
conditions: the battery is disconnected and then re-
connected, or the device detects an undervoltage fault
and no charge source.
Normal Mode
The standby state activates the bias circuitry, overcurrent
comparator, and timer. The standby state lasts 80ms,
then the MAX1666 goes into the sample state for 2.5ms.
Within the 2.5ms, the MAX1666 checks for overvoltage,
undervoltage, and mismatch between cells sequential-
ly, and it stores the results in internal latches. The
MAX1666 drives the outputs according to the faults (if
any) detected by reading the latches (Figure 2) at the
end of the sample state. Then the MAX1666 returns to
the standby state.
Overvoltage Protection
The MAX1666 provides overvoltage protection to avoid
overcharging of any cell. When any cell is at overvolt-
age,
CGO
and
TKO
go high, turning off the external
MOSFETs and stopping the charging process (see the
Typical Operating Circuits
).
WRN
goes low. Overvoltage
is set when any cell voltage exceeds the overvoltage
threshold.
Overvoltage threshold is linearly adjustable through an
external 1% resistor-divider (Figure 3) from REF.
Determine the overvoltage threshold (V
OVT
) required.
V
OVT
must be between 4V and 4.4V. Set R
TOTAL
= R1
+ R2 = 1M
. Calculate R1 and R2 as follows:
R2 = [(V
OVT
- 4V) / (4.4V- 4V)]
·
R
TOTAL
R1 = R
TOTAL
- R2
MODE
TIME
(ms)
TYPICAL
QUIESCENT
CURRENT (μA)
CONDITION
80
24
Only bias circuitry, overcurrent comparator, and timer are active.
Normal
2.5
250
All circuitry active.
Shutdown
—
0.7
All circuitry inactive. Device enters shutdown when it detects an undervolt-
age fault and V
SRC
< V
TOP-CELL
+ 1V (no charge source).
Table 1. Operating Modes
R1
R3
REF
OVA
UVA
MMA
R5
R2
R4
R6
GND
MAX1666
Figure 3. Using an External Resistor-Divider to Adjust
Overvoltage Threshold
STATE
Standby
Sample
—