Maxim announces a coulometer that provides two levels of protection for a single Li+ battery

     Maxim Integrated announces the launch of the MAX17301/11 coulometer, an integrated battery protector that provides designers with the highest level of safety protection. The MAX17301 and MAX17311 are the latest solutions in the coulometer family, and the IC is used on the battery pack side to provide the industry's most flexible battery safety configuration and fine-tune voltage and current thresholds for different temperature ranges. These ics use Maxim's pioneering two-level protection architecture to ensure system security in the event of a primary protection failure. In the event of a serious failure, the secondary protection circuit will be activated or the fuse will be blown to permanently shut off the battery.

     All ics in this family are equipped with Maxim's patented ModelGauge m5 EZ algorithm to provide the highest precision state of charge (SOC) indication, an average of 40 percent more accurate than competing products, without the need for battery profiling. In addition, these coulometers offer the industry's lowest static current (IQ) - 80% lower than the nearest competitor. At the same time, the device also provides SHA-256 safety certification to prevent the harm of counterfeit batteries.

     Traditional battery protectors monitor voltage and current, and some products also include temperature monitoring. Because there is no reference to the state of Battery power (SOC) when triggering an undervoltage shutdown, the system is vulnerable to unexpected failures. Currently, there is a lack of solutions on the market that can fine-configure voltage and current thresholds at different temperature environments. With the increasing popularity of battery-powered applications, electronic devices need a simple, compact solution to protect the battery from unsafe charging conditions and prevent a range of factors such as overvoltage, short circuit, overtemperature/undertemperature from damaging the battery.

     In addition, system and battery designers are constantly pushing the limits of capacity-constrained batteries to ensure maximum uptime without damaging the battery. Currently, there are few highly configurable and easy to implement solutions on the market; In addition, designers are also looking for a system protection scheme that can only use genuine batteries, so as to avoid accidental shutdown or failure of the system caused by counterfeit batteries with safety hazards.

     The MAX17301 and MAX17311 coulometers integrate the industry's best-performing protectors for the most flexible battery security configuration. The latest IC is the only single battery meter on the market that offers two levels of Li+ protection, providing additional safety in the event of a primary protection failure. The two small-size ics are the latest additions to the Maxim coulometer product family, and their integrated protection features help system manufacturers qualify for the latest product safety standards, such as IEC 62368-1/UL 62368-1.

     All ics in this series offer Maxim's unique low power state protector, which replaces the simple low voltage threshold detection solution to avoid tripping caused by a sudden drop in battery voltage caused by a pulse load. Like the rest of the family, these devices offer the highest SOC accuracy in the industry and eliminate the need to send batteries to the lab for characterization, saving weeks of development time. In addition, the series also provides the lowest IQ in the market, effectively extending the battery life of small electronics.