PowerSmart Debuts New PS401 Battery Management IC
PowerSmart Inc. (Shelton, CT) announced the PS401 AccuronTM, the industry's first SBS-compliant battery management IC that integrates all battery monitoring functions on a single chip, thus minimizing the number and cost of components required. In addition, time to market is shortened with the introduction of PowerTool, PowerCal, and SmartInfo for applications development and production of Accuron-based products.
The PS401 is PowerSmart’s initial offering in its Accuron family of single-chip smart battery managers, which will support all lithium-ion, lithium-ion polymer and NiMH chemistries. Future plans for the IC include control systems for hybrid-electric vehicles. PowerSmart’s Accuron reduces smart battery circuit board size by up to 50 percent, compared to its P3 successor, and yields the low solution costs for rechargeable SBS lithium-ion implementation. For replaceable battery packs, the PS401 Accuron is embedded in the battery pack. For battery embedded applications, the Accuron can be implemented on the motherboard.
"This technology can be used across multiple boards, and multiple chemistries," stated Norm Allen, PowerSmart president and CEO. "This is the first single-chip solution to feature all you need. It is important for the notebook industry because it delivers higher accuracy, is more accurate than previous generations and reduces cost."
The PS401 Accuron can be easily configured by an OEM via the SMBus interface using PowerSmart’s wizard-driven PowerTool programming software. PowerTool is a Windows 98/ME/2000 compatible software package that intuitively and quickly guides the OEM through the pack configuration process. PowerTool allows the OEM to configure an Accuron-based pack at a high level, specifying pack configuration attributes such as the number of serial and parallel cells and capacity alarm thresholds. Specific PowerSmart-developed parameters and three-dimensional models for popular cells can be automatically loaded simply by selecting the appropriate file from the PowerTool library.
"As notebook computers and other portable devices are trending toward consumption of more and more power, run time becomes the crucial issue for successful portable usage," said Norm Allen, PowerSmart president and CEO. "The high accuracy designed into the Accuron enables these new, higher-powered devices to use up all the energy available. And because the Accuron is a single-chip battery manager, it means that OEMs can achieve accuracy and longer run time at a very attractive cost.
Samples will be available beginning September 4, 2001. The PS401 is priced at $4.50 in quantities of 1,000.
