Smart Battery Solutions

The key to battery pack design is to maximize the energy provided by the cell while supplying a safe and fully functional battery pack. The "Smart Battery" can consist of the following components.

Pack Components:

• Label
• Cover
• Cell
• Polyswitch
• Housing
• Contact Block/Plate
• Protection circuit module (PCM)
• SMBus

SMBus (System Management Bus)

The SMBus (System Management Bus) is the most complete "Smart Battery" system architecture. It represents a large effort to standardize on a communications protocol. The SMBus 2-wire systems communicates data with the host device including product model number, manufacturer information, performance characteristics, discharge rate, and remaining pack capacity in an effort to maintain accuracy and performance of the battery and host system.

• State-of-charge information
• State-of-health information
• Protection from overcharging, undercharging, and short-circuiting

Safety

More importantly, the "Smart Battery" is designed with safety features that interact with the host device keeping operations safe, efficient, and effective.

Safety Features Include:

• Polyswitch (PTC) re-settable fuse to stop current flow when over temperature or over current
• Thermistor temperature sensor to control charging when over or under temperature
• PCM with supervisor IC to maintain proper voltage when charging or discharging