BQ26501PWR Integrated Circuits (ICs)

PMIC - Battery Management

The BQ26501PWR is a complete power management solution which integrates an integrated buck-boost charger, a fuel gauge and power path management in a single integrated circuit. It is designed to provide assistance, in the form of charging, monitoring and power path control, to single, two-cell and three-cell Li-ion/Li-polymer battery powered applications such as portables and wearables.

Application Field and Working Principle

The BQ26501PWR is ideal for applications where space and cost are a primary concern, such as wearables, portables, and industrial equipment. By combining the charge control and fuel-gauging circuitry into a single IC, the BQ26501PWR reduces overall system complexity. In addition, the BQ26501PWR is capable of operating as a low power device during sleep and standby modes, reducing system power consumption.

The BQ26501PWR uses an advanced buck-boost charger technology to efficiently charge single, two-cell, and three-cell Li-ion/Li-polymer batteries while maintaining high battery utilization. This charger technology supports fast charging and 100% reliability, even with large differences between the input voltage and battery voltage. In addition, the BQ26501PWR features a proprietary state of charge (SOC) algorithm which provides accurate SOC information over a large range of charge and discharge conditions.

The BQ26501PWR also provides an integrated fuel-gauge to monitor the battery charge level. The fuel-gauge utilizes an integrated coulomb counter and a proprietary model-based algorithm to accurately track the state of charge of battery packs. It can also provide an estimate of remaining capacity, time to empty or time to full, allowing the system to better manage battery usage.

The BQ26501PWR also includes a power path management which can enable multi-source power supply operation. By switching between multiple power sources, the power path can enable the system to be powered by the output of the charger, the battery, or an external power source simultaneously. This allows the load to remain powered while the system is in predictable power states to optimize the system performance.