Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced today a highly integrated charge and power management device that combines a single-cell Li-Ion USB/AC charger with a high efficiency, synchronous DC/DC power converter. The simple-to-design integrated circuit (IC) supports a wide range of space-limited portable applications, such as BluetoothTM headsets and accessories.
TI's new bq25010 device gives portable designers the ability to charge a battery either from the AC adapter or USB with autonomous power source selection. The IC integrates a power FET and current sensor to deliver up to 500-mA, while the USB charge control limits the USB current to 100-mA or 500-mA.
The bq25010 also incorporates a 100-mA step-down DC/DC converter for high power efficiency. Under nominal load current, operating at a fixed switching frequency of 1 MHz, the device achieves up to 95 percent conversion efficiency. At lighter load currents, it enters a "power save mode" with reduced switching frequency and a minimum quiescent current to maintain high efficiency. The converter also operates directly from the battery and regulates the output voltage, even when the input supply is removed.
In addition to the integrated battery charger, Bluetooth headset designers can take advantage of longer talk time using TI's 50-mW stereo headphone driver, TPA6100A2. The amplifier supports an input voltage range of 1.6 V to 3.6 V, offering a low supply current of 0.75 mA and shutdown current of only 50 nA. The TPA6100A2 amplifier also provides excellent audio quality by achieving total harmonic distortion plus noise as low as 0.04 percent at 1 kHz.
Related stories:
Solid-state drive sets speed record
Engineers and researchers at the IBM Hursley development lab in England and Almaden Research Center in California have set a record in storage speed, outperforming the current rate by more than 250 percent. By combining Flash solid-state technology and IBM's storage virtualization technology, the researchers were able to transfer data at more than 1 million Input/Output (I/O) per second.
Future for clean energy lies in 'big bang' of evolution
Amid mounting agreement that future clean, "carbon-neutral", energy will rely on efficient conversion of the sun's light energy into fuels and electric power, attention is focusing on one of the most ancient groups of organism, the cyanobacteria. Dramatic progress has been made over the last decade understanding the fundamental reaction of photosynthesis that evolved in cyanobacteria 3.7 billion years ago, which for the first time used water molecules as a source of electrons to transport energy derived from sunlight, while converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. The light harvesting systems gave the bacteria their blue ("cyano") colour, and paved the way for plants to evolve by "kidnapping" bacteria to provide their photosynthetic engines, and for animals by liberating oxygen for them to breathe, by splitting water molecules. For humans now there is the tantalising possibility of tweaking the photosynthetic reactions of cyanobacteria to produce fuels we want such as hydrogen, alcohols or even hydrocarbons, rather than carbohydrates.
Ames lab physicist develops 'electrifying' theory on superconducting fault-current limiters
(PhysOrg.com) -- John R. Clem, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, has developed a theory that will help build future superconducting alternating-current fault-current limiters for electricity transmission and distribution systems. Clem's work identifies design strategies that can reduce costs and improve efficiency in a bifilar fault-current limiter, a new and promising type of superconducting fault-current limiter.
Flexible nanoantenna arrays capture abundant solar energy
Researchers have devised an inexpensive way to produce plastic sheets containing billions of nanoantennas that collect heat energy generated by the sun and other sources. The technology, developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, is the first step toward a solar energy collector that could be mass-produced on flexible materials.
Hydrogen-Wind-Nuclear Plant in Ontario Not Currently Worthwhile, Study Shows
A recent case study on using hydrogen to store the electricity generated by a mix of wind and nuclear power in Ontario, Canada, has shown that the hydrogen addition won’t be worth the cost, at least not at the current state of hydrogen technology development.
Material may help autos turn heat into electricity
Researchers have invented a new material that will make cars even more efficient, by converting heat wasted through engine exhaust into electricity. In the current issue of the journal
Science, they describe a material with twice the efficiency of anything currently on the market.
Building a better telecom system
Hurricane Katrina helped University of Texas professor, Alexis Kwasinski, formulate a new plan for the U.S. telecom system: a de-centralized power architecture that would have kept the lights and phones on in New Orleans. Kwasinski maintains that a microgrid-based power plant with its own local power sources and independent control would be more dependable, efficient, and cost effective than traditional telecom power systems. Microgrids would also be a quick and inexpensive way to include renewable energy sources for both existing and developing systems.
New logic: the attraction of magnetic computation
European researchers are the first to demonstrate functional components that exploit the magnetic properties of electrons to perform logic operations. Compatible with existing microtechnology, the new approach heralds the next era of faster, smaller and more efficient electronics.