Nordic Semiconductor has launched its highly integrated nPM1300 power management IC (PMIC), comprised of two ultra-efficient buck converters, two load switches/low dropout voltage converters (LDOs) and integrated battery charging. Targeting battery-operated applications, such as advanced wearables and portable medical devices, the PMIC reduces the bill of materials by combining circuitry that typically requires five or more discrete components into a single chip, said Nordic. An evaluation kit is also available.

A key feature of the PMIC is its unique system management features and accurate fuel gauging for low-power wireless applications. This includes an algorithm-based fuel gauge functionality that uses voltage, current and temperature monitoring for higher accuracy than voltage-based fuel gauges, according to the company. It also maintains the PMIC’s own power consumption lower than coulomb counter-type fuel gauges. Nordic said it is the first company to achieve this balance between high accuracy and low power consumption.

The nPM1300 operates from either a 4.0 to 5.5-V external power supply or a battery voltage down to 2.4 V. It features four controllable power rails. Two power rails are regulated by separate DC/DC buck converters that are configurable between 1.0 and 3.3 V and up to 200-mA maximum current, while the other two power rails operate as load switches, switching currents of up to 100 mA from external sources, which can also operate as LDOs when powered directly by the nPM1300.

When operating as LDOs, these power rail outputs are configurable between 1.0 and 3.3 V with a maximum output current of 50 mA, said Nordic, and the unregulated input voltage is also available as an output from the nPM1300.

The nPM1300 charges single-cell Li-ion, Li-poly and LiFePO4 batteries with a linear charging module that supports up to 800 mA charge current and programmable 3.5 to 4.45-V termination voltage. The battery charger features automatic thermal regulation with programmable maximum chip temperature during charging.

Other features include three LED drivers, five GPIOs, USB port detection with automatic current limits of 100 mA or 500 mA through standard USB or up to 1500 mA through USB-C, dynamic power path management, which automatically switches to battery power if mains power is removed and ultra-low current ship- and hibernate-mode with a programmable wake-up timer.

The PMIC also features an I2C-compatible two-wire interface (TWI) for configuration of advanced system management functions, including integrated hard reset functionality from one or two buttons, battery fuel gauging, system-level watchdog, power loss warning and recovery from failed boot.

The nPM1300 evaluation kit (EK) and the nPM PowerUP PC app make it easier to evaluate, configure and implement the nPM1300 without having to write any code, said Nordic. It works by connecting the EK to the nPM PowerUP app found in the nRF Connect for Desktop (development software for Nordic products), where the settings for the nPM1300 can be configured through an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). The configuration can then be ported to the system-on-chip or microcontroller used for the IoT application.

The EK features two USB-C connectors for data and power connection, JST battery connectors for batteries with or without an internal NTC thermistor and male pin headers for access to all the nPM1300’s connections. It also includes three LEDs and four pushbuttons that can be used to evaluate the GPIO and LED driver functionality of the PMIC.

Samples of the nPM1300 PMIC in QFN and CSP packages are available now through Nordic sales, followed by mass production in October 2023. The nPM1300 EK is available now through Nordic’s distribution partners.

Indie Semiconductor has introduced a highly integrated automotive wireless power charging system-on-chip (SoC) for Qi-based automotive in-cabin portable device charging. The iND87200 wireless charging SoC is compliant with the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) Qi 1.3 standard and supports the emerging Qi 2.0 for improved “on-the-move” charging. It is qualified to AEC-Q100 Grade 2.

The emerging Qi 2.0 standard features the Magnetic Power Profile (MPP), which offers faster and more reliable charging by automatically aligning smartphones with an inductive charging coil, said the company.

The iND87200 features an integrated boost converter that can deliver up to 15 W of power across the entire VBAT operating range. It also integrates advanced power sensing circuitry that monitors system impedance and phase in real-time, which allows system designers to optimize tuning and algorithms, enabling intelligent features such as adaptive foreign object detection, according to indie.

The high levels of semiconductor and software integration reduce the bill of materials by almost half, compared to discrete solutions, while reducing system complexity and improving overall reliability, said the company.

The iND87200 dual-core design features an Arm Cortex M4F processor with 2 MB of embedded Flash and 256 kB of SRAM with a dedicated Arm Cortex M0 processor for the WPC stack.  “This approach frees SoC compute resources to execute user-specific software without timing and interrupt constraints related to the WPC stack,” said the company.

The wireless charging solution also integrates all necessary power management, DC/DC converter, signal conditioning, WPC inverter drivers and power FETs as well as LED and fan drivers.  It also offers a range of serial interfaces, including CAN 2.0B, LIN, I2C and UARTs for multiple connectivity options to the vehicle and other peripherals.

The iND87200 is sampling to customers.  Advanced application-oriented reference designs also are available.

Claiming the industry’s first coin-cell battery life and power boosters, Nexperia has introduced the new NBM7100 and NBM5100 battery life booster ICs that extend the life of a typical non-rechargeable lithium coin cell battery by up to 10× compared to competing solutions. They also increase the peak output current capability of coin cells by up to 25× compared to coin cells without a battery booster.

Nexperia said the new battery management ICs “will reduce the amount of battery waste in low-power IoT and other portable applications, while making coin cells a viable power source for applications which could previously only operate from AA- or AAA- batteries.”

CR2032 and CR2025 lithium coin cells, with higher energy density and longer shelf life, are commonly used in low-power applications, including devices with low-power Wi-Fi, LoRa, Sigfox, Zigbee, LTE-M1 and NB-IoT transceivers, said Nexperia, but because of their relatively high internal resistance and chemical reaction rates their usable capacity when under pulsed-load conditions is reduced.

The new NBM7100 and NBM5100 devices solve this problem with two high-efficiency DC/DC conversion stages and an intelligent learning algorithm. The first conversion stage transfers energy from the battery to a capacitive storage element at a low rate, while the second stage uses the stored energy to provide a regulated (programmable from 1.8 V to 3.6 V) high pulse (up to 200 mA) current output, explained Nexperia.

In addition, the intelligent learning algorithm monitors the energy used during repetitive load pulse cycles and optimizes first stage DC/DC conversion to minimize the residual charge in the storage capacitor. When not performing an energy conversion cycle (standby state), these devices consume less than 50 nA.

Both devices feature a low-battery indicator and brownout protection, which inhibits charging of the storage capacitor when the battery is near the end of life. They also include a serial interface for configuration and control by a system microcontroller (I2C for the NMB7100A and NBM5100A and a serial peripheral interface (SPI) for the NMB7100B and NBM5100B versions). The operating temperature range is -40°C to 85°C, making them suitable for commercial indoor and industrial outdoor environments. The NBM5100A/B also includes a capacitor voltage balancing pin for super-capacitor-based implementations.

Both devices can extend the lifetime of lithium primary batteries, including coin cells, lithium thionyl (ex: LS14250 1/2 AA) and emerging paper printed types, which reduces maintenance by extending the time interval between battery replacements. The NBM5100A/B and NBM7100A/B battery boosters are available in a small DHVQFN16 package measuring 2.5 × 3.5 × 0.85 mm.