Smart battery sensor targets auto, industrial, medical batteries

Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG (ZMD) debuts the ZSSC185 battery sensor IC, the first device in the company's new battery power management product line. The ZSSC1856 offers two high-precision 18bit Sigma/Delta ADCs with an on-chip voltage reference. It uses less than 100?A in sleep mode and comes in a 0.85 x 5 x 5mm PQFN32 package.

Designed for automotive applications such as start/stop systems, the ZSSC1856 also suits industrial and medical systems that require precise battery state-of-health (SOH), state-of-charge (SOC) or state-of-function (SOF) monitoring, such as emergency lighting, uninterruptable power supplies, hospital equipment and alarm systems.

The ZSSC1856 is a dual-channel ADC with an embedded microcontroller. One of the two input channels measures the battery current IBAT via the voltage drop at the external shunt resistor. The second channel measures the battery voltage VBAT and the temperature. An integrated flash memory is provided for customer-specific software. The device communication interface supports LIN 1.3, 2.0 and 2.1 specifications. The ZSSC1856 is AEC-Q100 qualified and specified for temperatures from -40°C to +125°C.

The device is priced at $5.48 for 1k orders. Evaluation kits, application notes and samples are available.