The Industry’s First Dual-Mode Battery Charge ICs

Willich-Münchheide (Germany), December 18, 2017 – ROHM has recently announced the availability of dual-input boost-buck charging ICs that support 1 to 4 battery cells for notebook PCs, smartphones, and power banks and is fully compatible with the the latest charging technologies such as wireless and USB Power Delivery (USBPD).

The BD99954GW/MUV generates a charging voltage from 2.56 to 19.2V for 1 to 4 cells through boost-buck control. In addition, the industry’s first dual-input charging system automatically switches charging operation without the need of an MCU by using a built-in charging adapter function. And the devive is compatible to the USBPD and USB BC 1.2 standards. This facilitates configuration of dual-mode systems capable of simultaneous charging via USBPD, or from an AC adapter.

A growing number of portable devices, including notebook PCs, are adopting the USB Type-C PD standard that can charge up to 100W, providing a common charging platform. At the same time wireless charging is gaining traction, increasing the demand to support both charging methods. However, in order to deliver a wide power supply range required by USBPD, a boost function must be added to the system to charge 2-cell (~8.4V) batteries from conventional 5V chargers.

In response, combining proprietary semiconductor technologies allowed ROHM to meet these needs and develop dual-input charging ICs that support both USBPD and 5V inputs in a single package.

Key Features

The BD99954GW and BD99954MWV provide the following 2 features that make it easy to configure a given charging environment
1. Facilitates configuration of the industry’s first simultaneous dual-mode charging system
To support the 2 predominant charging methods for the latest portable devices, ROHM developed the industry’s first 2-input charging system. A built-in charging adapter discrimination function enables automatic switching between modes without an MCU. This eliminates the need to mount external peripheral components such as transistors and resistors typically necessary for each charging system (for charge path switching and backflow prevention), significantly reducing both mounting area and design load.

2. Supports the latest USBPD standards through boost-buck control
Step-up/down control makes it possible to generate the charging voltages necessary for USBPD operation (5V to 20V). For example, when charging a 2-cell battery (~8.4V), boost-buck control enables step-down operation from 20V to 8.4V as well as step-up from 5V to 8.4V.
In addition, compliance with the popular USB BC1.2 and USBPD standards provides support for both conventional USB and the newest USB PD charging protocols.

Lineup
see table here

Evaluation Board

Sales Start Date: October 2017
Evaluation Board P/N: BD99954MWV-EVK-101
Support Page: https://www.rohm.com/web/global/support/battery-charger

Applications
– Notebook PCs
– Tablets PCs
– Smartphones
– Portable Batteries
– Wireless Audio
– <100W Portable Battery-Equipped Devices

Availability: October 2017 (samples), January 2018 (OEM quantities)

Terminology

USB Power Delivery (USBPD), USB BC1.2

Power standards established and promoted by the USB Implementer Forum, Inc. (USB-IF). USBPD is the latest standard that enables power supply up to 100W (20V/5A), whereas USB BC 1.2 is the conventional standard specifying power supply up to 7.5W (5V/1.5A). ROHM offers control ICs for USBPD.