IDEAS FOR DESIGN
Digital/Analog Hybrid Circuit
Calculates Battery Life Expectancy
W. Stephen Woodward
Marine Sciences, Venable Hall, CB3300, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3300; e-mail: woodward@unc.edu
he convenience and reliability of
T portable electronic devices de-
pend on efficient management of
batteries and their limitations. One uni-
versal, not to mention irritating, limita-
tion of all (chemical) batteries is their
finite capacity and lifetime. Moreover,
while the inevitability of eventual dis-
charge is bad enough, the effects of sud-
den and unexpected battery failure are
usually much worse. This makes real-
time estimation of remaining battery
energy and life expectancy a useful fea-
ture in portable systems.
A battery’s expected lifetime at any
given moment is equal to remaining
battery charge divided by load current:
174 ELECTRONIC DESIGN • September 5, 2000
TB = QB/IB. Measurement of IB is easy
enough, but we also need QB to predict
battery life expectancy.
The simplest way to obtain QB is to es-
timate it from the battery output voltage.
Unfortunately, the exact relationship of
battery voltage to charge is a dauntingly
messy nonlinear function of many para-
meters. Included among these are initial
capacity, temperature, load current, dis-
charge history, and battery chemistry (al-
kaline, NiCd, LiMnO2, etc.). Even so, a
usable approximation of QB can be ob-
tained by using a simple linear model
derived from a least-squares method.
These are fit to the actual discharge
curves of various popular battery types.
CIRCLE 523
The circuit in Figure 1 is based on this
idea. It outputs a 0- to 2.5-V signal that
is proportional to the estimated re-
maining battery capacity. The circuit
can be adapted to different battery volt-
ages and types by proper selection of R1
and R2. This allows IQ to vary from 50
to 0 µA as battery charge varies from
100% to 0%. Then, the fixed-gain cur-
rent-to-voltage converter A2 produces
the calibrated output voltage.
Listed below are the least-square
R1/R2 approximations for four of the
most popular battery chemistries
(normalized to NCELLS = the number
of cells in the battery; VR = the 1.25-V
reference voltage).
 IDEAS FOR DESIGN

VB Alkaline: R1 = 12.2K * NCELLS

VBATT R2 = VR * R1 / (0.72 * NCELLS−1)
IB LiMnO2:R1 = 16.8K * NCELLS
+5 V R1 R2 = VR * R1 / (1.85 * NCELLS−1)
73.2k
NiCd: R1 = 6.83K * NCELLS
300k R2 = VR * R1 / (0.82 * NCELLS−1)
+5 V
6 8 Pb-Acid: R1 = 6.76K * NCELLS
– 7 Q1 R2 = VR * R1 / (1.43 * NCELLS−1)
VR 5
1.25 V
+ A1
2N5087
+ 1/2LT1495 Translation of estimated battery
9-V alkaline QB R2
LT1634
(6-cell) battery 22.1k charge to estimated life expectancy is
IQ R4 more complicated due to the required
(0-50 mA) 40.2k
VQ
arithmetic division of charge by load
2 current. Figure 2 shows one way to im-
– 1 A2 plement this calculation by making A2’s
3+ 1/2LT1495 transimpedance gain variable (inversely
4
R3 R5 proportional to IB) instead of fixed as in
10k 10k
2.5 V = full charge
Figure 1. Key to this method is the addi-
0 V = dead tion of digitally controlled potentiome-
ter DCP1 (a Xicor X9511 “PushPot”).
In operation, comparators A3 and A4
1. This circuit outputs a 0- to 2.5-V voltage that is proportional to the estimated remaining match VS, the voltage developed across
battery capacity. It can be adapted to different battery voltages and chemistries. load-current sense resistor R4, to the
voltage at DCP1’s VL pin. As
the load current increases,
VB A3 asserts DCP1’s PD
To load
(decrement) control pin.
R1 R1 This causes the VW wiper to
+5 V 73.2k 73.2k step toward the VL pin and
drive RL and VI toward zero.
+5 V
Conversely, as load cur-
150k rent decreases, A4 asserts
4 DCP1’s PU (increment) pin,
6 A1
VR – Q1 Q2 driving the wiper toward VH
1.25 V 5 2N5087
+ 7 2N5087 and RL toward 10k. This es-
tablishes a feedback loop
+ R2 R2 that continuously main-
LT1634 22.1k
9V 22.1k tains: RL = 10k(1−ILR4/0.05
0.5 A-hr QB
Alkaline IQ V). In other words, as IL goes
0-50 mA from 0 to full-scale defined
R6
240k +5 V by 0.05 V/R4, RL goes from
IB 10k to zero. The internal
2 1 7 8 structure of DCP1 inher-
R6 14 8 VCC DCP1 ently establishes RH = 10k−
A4 A3 x9511W
PD
PU
ASE

240k RL, so RH = 10k*ILR4/0.05.

+ – + – Since A2’s transimpedance
R3
R8 12 13 10 9 VL 10k VH 14k V OUT = 1 V/hour- gain is given by R32/ RH, the
10.2k
6 VSS 3
remaining gain is R32/(10k*ILR4/0.05)
VS VW
R7 = ~10k/I L . A2’s gain is, as
390 4 5 2 A2 promised, inversely propor-
– 1
R4 3+ tional to IL.
0.05 With the component val-
11
ues shown, Figure 2 will work
R3 with a standard 9-V, 500-mA-
14k
hr alkaline battery and 100
A1,..., A4 = 1/4 LT1496 mA < IB < 1 A. Together, they
generate an output scaled to
RL RH 1 V/hr of remaining battery
RL+RH = 10k life. Appropriate selection of
resistors R1 through R4 can
accommodate virtually any
2. Translation of estimated battery charge to estimated life expectancy is accomplished by making A2’s battery and any desired scale
transimpedance gain variable (inversely proportional to IB) instead of fixed as in Figure 1. factor.
176 ELECTRONIC DESIGN • September 5, 2000