Systems and methods for reuse of battery pack-side current and voltage sensing
First Claim
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1. A battery pack comprising:
- a battery cell;
a protection circuit comprising a first field effect transistor (FET) and a second FET arranged back-to-back;
a current mirror directly coupled to a source of the first FET and a source of the second FET, the current mirror configured to provide information about current flowing to the battery cell;
a voltage sense circuit; and
a battery connector configured to couple to a power bus and convey information from the voltage sense circuit and the information about the current flowing to the battery cell to a remote power management integrated circuit (PMIC) across the power bus.
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Abstract
Systems and methods for reuse of battery pack-side current and voltage sensing are disclosed. By reusing elements within a battery pack, a battery field effect transistor (FET) within a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) may be eliminated or at least bypassed. In a first aspect, a current mirror is coupled to a charge protection circuit in the battery pack to capture a sensed current. Likewise, a voltage sensor captures a voltage level for a charging path. Current and voltage are output to the PMIC for use in regulating a buck charger. In a second aspect, current data and voltage data are collected and digitized before being sent to the PMIC for use in regulating the buck charger.
16 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A battery pack comprising:
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a battery cell; a protection circuit comprising a first field effect transistor (FET) and a second FET arranged back-to-back; a current mirror directly coupled to a source of the first FET and a source of the second FET, the current mirror configured to provide information about current flowing to the battery cell; a voltage sense circuit; and a battery connector configured to couple to a power bus and convey information from the voltage sense circuit and the information about the current flowing to the battery cell to a remote power management integrated circuit (PMIC) across the power bus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for controlling battery charging, comprising:
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sensing current within a battery pack comprising a battery cell using a current mirror, the current mirror directly coupled to a source of a first field effect transistor (FET) and a source of a second FET in the battery pack; sensing voltage within the battery pack; and reporting information related to the current and the voltage to a separate power management integrated circuit (PMIC). - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification