STMicroelectronics has introduced a battery-condition monitoring IC enabling increased accuracy for ‘fuel-gauge’ style indicators showing the operating time remaining. The STC3100 battery-monitor IC can be located in the battery pack or in the handheld device, and integrates functions to monitor the battery voltage, current and temperature. It has a built-in Coulomb counter to calculate battery charge, and stores the data at 16-bit resolution for retrieval by the system controller. Access is via an industry-standard I2C interface, enabling the controller to create an accurate graphical representation of remaining battery-operating time.
Each IC is pre-programmed with a unique 64-bit identifier, which enables traceability of individual battery packs or subsystems. In addition, 32 bytes of accessible RAM allow storage of battery history or application-related information throughout the lifetime of the battery. The STC3100 will improve the user experience for owners of products such as mobile handsets, portable navigation devices, digital cameras and personal media players and is available at $1.20 in quantities of 1000 units.
