Simplified Design of Micropower and Battery Circuits

Simplified Design of Micropower and Battery Circuits

John D. Lenk

Butterworth-Heinemann

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

The EDN Series for Design Engineers

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Introduction to Micropower/Battery Design

1.1 Basic Approaches to Low-Power Circuit Design

1.2 Micropower/Battery Design Checklist

1.3 Notebook-Computer Power Conditioning

1.4 Palmtop-Computer Power Conditioning

1.5 High-Side Switches and Drivers

1.6 3-V and 3.3-V Systems

1.7 Replacing NiCads with Alkalines

1.8 Low-Dropout Linear Regulators

1.9 Replacing 9-V Batteries with Two AA Cells

1.10 Main Power Supplies for Low-Voltage Batteries

1.11 Four-Cell to 5-V Output

1.12 Main Power Supplies for High-Voltage Batteries

1.13 −5-V Power Sources

1.14 +12-V Power Sources

1.15 Surface-Mount Component Suppliers

Chapter 2: Battery Basics

2.1 Dry Cells

2.2 Mercury Cells

2.3 Silver-Oxide Cells

2.4 Lithium Manganese Dioxide (LiMnO2)

2.5 Lithium Sulfur Dioxide (LiSO2)

2.6 Lithium Thionyl-chloride (LiSOCl2)

2.7 Lithium Poly-carbonmonofluoride (LiCFn)

2.8 Nickel–Cadmium and Nickel-Metal Hydride

2.9 Lead-Acid Batteries

2.10 Using Available Batteries

2.11 AA-Cell and 9-V Battery Characteristics

2.12 The Linear Step-Down Approach

2.13 The Switching Step-Down Approach

2.14 The Step-Up Switching Approach

Chapter 3: Battery Chargers

3.1 Fast-Charge Controllers

3.2 Constant-Current Battery Charger

3.3 Dual-Rate Battery Charger

3.4 Programmable Battery Charger

3.5 Four-Cell NiCad Regulator/Charger

3.6 Thermally Based NiCad Charger

3.7 Lead-Acid Battery Charger

3.8 Sub-Notebook-Computer Power Controller

Chapter 4: Single-Cell Circuits

4.1 Single-Cell Design Limitations

4.2 Selecting the Single-Cell Battery

4.3 Single-Cell Step-Up Converters

4.4 Single-Cell Step-Up Switching Regulator

4.5 Low-Voltage Input, Step-Up DC/DC Converters

4.6 Single-Cell Temperature-Compensated Crystal Oscillator

4.7 Single-Cell Laser-Diode Driver

4.8 Single-Cell Radiation Detector

4.9 Single-Cell Pulse Generator (350-ps rise time)

4.10 Single-Cell 1.5-V-to-5-V Converter (200 mA)

4.11 Single-Cell 1.5-V-to-5-V Converter (150 mA)

Chapter 5: Multicell Circuits

5.1 Micropower DC/DC Converters

5.2 Voltage Converter (Charge Pump)

5.3 High-Efficiency Regulators for Notebook/Laptop Computers

5.4 Regulators for Palmtop Computers

5.5 High-Side Switch Drivers

5.6 5-V-to-3.3-V and 3.3-V-to-5-V Supplies

5.7 Alkaline-Battery Switching Regulator

5.8 Ultralow-Dropout Regulator

5.9 Replacing a 9-V Battery with Two AA Cells

5.10 Low-Voltage Battery Supplies

5.11 5-V Supplies with Four Cells

5.12 High-Voltage Battery Supplies

5.13 −5-V Power Supplies

5.14 12-V Power Supplies

5.15 Miscellaneous Circuits

Appendix: For Further Information

Index

The EDN Series for Design Engineers

J. Lenk Simplified Design of Micropower and Battery Circuits

J. Williams The Art of Analog Circuit Design

J. Lenk Simplified Design of Switching Power Supplies

V. Lakshminarayanan Electronic Circuit Design Ideas

J. Lenk Simplified Design of Linear Power Supplies

M. Brown Power Supply Cookbook

B. Travis and I. Hickman EDN Designer’s Companion

J. Dostal Operational Amplifiers, Second Edition

T. Williams Circuit Designer’s Companion

R. Marston Electronics Circuits Pocketbook: Passive and Discrete Circuits (Vol. 2)

N. Dye and H. Granberg Radio Frequency Transistors: Principles and Practical Applications

Gates Energy Products Rechargeable Batteries: Applications Handbook

T. Williams EMC for Product Designers

J. Williams Analog Circuit Design: Art, Science, and Personalities

R. Pease Troubleshooting Analog Circuits

I. Hickman Electronic Circuits, Systems and Standards

R. Marston Electronic Circuits Pocket Book: Linear Ics (Vol. 1)

R. Marston Integrated Circuit and Waveform Generator Handbook

I. Sinclair Passive Components: A User’s Guide

Copyright

Copyright © 1996 by Butterworth–Heinemann

A member of the Reed Elsevier group

All rights reserved.

Cover photograph courtesy of Maxim Integrated Products.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, Butterworth–Heinemann prints its books on acid-free paper whenever possible.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lenk, John D.

Simplified design of micropower and battery circuits / by John D. Lenk.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 0-7506-9510-2 (acid-free paper)

1. Electronic batteries. 2. Microcomputers—Power supply.

I. Title.

TK2901.L45 1995

621.317—dc20 95-4867

CIP

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

The publisher offers discounts on bulk orders of this book.

For information, please write:

Manager of Special Sales

Butterworth–Heinemann

313 Washington Street

Newton, MA 02158–1626

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Transferred to Digital Printing 2006

Dedication

Greetings from the Villa Buttercup!

To my wonderful wife, Irene: Thank you for being by my side all these years! To my lovely family, Karen, Tom, Brandon, Justin, and Michael, and to our Lambie and Suzzie: Be happy wherever you are! And to my special readers: May good fortune find your doorway, bringing you good health and happy things. Thank you for buying my books!

To Frank Satlow, John Shirley, Karen Speerstra, Matt Fox, Philip Shaw, Jo Gilmore, Elizabeth McCarthy, the UK people, and the EDN people: A special thanks for making my books international best-sellers, again (this is book number 83).

Abundance!

Preface

This book has something for everyone involved in electronics. No matter what your skill level, this book shows you how to design and experiment with micropower/battery circuits.

For experimenters, students, and serious hobbyists, this book provides sufficient information to design and build micropower/battery circuits from scratch. The design approach here is the same one used in all of the author’s best-selling books on simplified and practical design.

The first two chapters provide the basics for all phases of practical design. The remaining three chapters include well over 250 design examples, worked out using the techniques described in the first two chapters.

Throughout the book, design problems start with guidelines for selecting all components on a trial basis, assuming a specific design goal and set of conditions. Then, using the guideline values in experimental circuits, you can produce the desired results (input/output voltage and current, battery life projections, circuit efficiencies, etc.) by varying the test component values, if needed.

If you are a working engineer responsible for designing and/or selecting micropower/battery circuits and components, the variety of circuit configurations described here should generally simplify your task. Not only does the book describe basic battery-circuit designs, but it also covers the most popular forms of micropower integrated circuits (ICs) available today. Throughout the book, you will find a wealth of information on micropower/battery-circuit components and component manufacturers.

Chapter 1 is devoted to basic problems involved in the design of micropower/battery circuits. It is concerned primarily with overall problems, and corresponding solutions, for micropower/battery equipment.

Chapter 2 is devoted to basic problems involved in selecting the right battery for micropower circuits, including a summary of battery types.

Chapter 3 is devoted to charger circuits for the batteries described in Chapter 2. Emphasis is on combined charger/regulator and system circuits.

Chapter 4 is devoted to solving the problems involved with micropower circuits operating from a single-cell battery. The circuits can be used immediately the way they are or, by altering component values, as a basis for simplified design of similar circuits.

Chapter 5 is devoted to solving the problems involved with micropower circuits operating from a multicell battery or batteries. All of the general design information in Chapters 1 through 4 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 applies to the examples in this chapter. However, each IC has special design requirements, all of which are discussed in detail.

Acknowledgments

Many professionals have contributed to this book. I gratefully acknowledge their tremendous effort in making this work so comprehensive: it is an impossible job for one person. I thank all who contributed, directly or indirectly.

I give special thanks to Syd Coppersmith of Dallas Semiconductor, Rosie Hinojusa of EXAR Corporation, Jeff Salter of GEC Plessey, Linda daCosta, Helen Cox, and John Allen of Harris Semiconductor, Ron Denchfield of Linear Technology, David Fullagar and William Levin of Maxim Integrated Products, Fred Swymer of Microsemi Corporation, Linda Capcara of Motorola, Inc., Andrew Jenkins and Shantha Natarajan of National Semiconductor, Antonio Ortiz of Optical Electronics, Inc., Lawrence Fogel of Philips Semiconductors, John Marlow of Raytheon Company Semiconductor Division, Anthony Armstrong of Semtech Corporation, Ed Oxner and Robert Decker of Siliconix, Inc., Amy Sullivan of Texas Instruments, Alan Campbell of Unitrode Corporation, and Diane Freed Publishing Services.

I also thank Joseph A. Labok of Los Angeles Valley College for help and encouragement throughout the years.

Very special thanks to Frank Satlow, John Shirley, Karen Speerstra, Matt Fox, Philip Shaw, Jo Gilmore, Elizabeth McCarthy, Rita Kessel, Karen Burdich, Dawn Doucette, Laurie Hamilton, the UK people, and the EDN people of Butterworth-Heinemann for having so much confidence in me. I recognize that all books are a team effort and am thankful that I am working with the New First Team on this series.

And to Irene, my wife and super agent. I extend my thanks. Without her help, this book could not have been written.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to Micropower/Battery Design

This chapter is devoted to basic problems involved in the design of micropower/battery circuits. Specific problems for the design of single-cell battery circuits are covered in Chapter 4. In this chapter, we are concerned with the overall problems and the corresponding solutions for micropower/battery equipment. These circuits include single-cell and multicell battery-operated devices, as well as any circuit that requires low-power consumption.

1.1 Basic Approaches to Low-Power Circuit Design

There are many basic approaches to limiting power consumption. First, and most obvious, is to select low-power components, particularly low-power ICs. Both low-quiescent and low-operating currents must be considered. Second, minimize signal swings where possible. There is usually no point in designing a circuit in which the signal swings are way beyond that required to do a particular job (especially where capacitors must be charged and discharged). Of course, when signal swings are limited, the problems of noise, offset, drift, and bias currents increase, so you now have one of the first trade-offs for micropower design. (There are many more trade-offs to come!)

If the circuit can be pulsed, strobed, sampled, or switched, keep the duty cycle as low as practical. With a low duty cycle, you get a low average current drain, even though the instantaneous current may be high. Look for a low settling time in switched components. Even if the quiescent current is low for a particular IC, the operating current will be high if it takes a long time for the IC to settle when switching from one state to another. Consider all current in the circuit, not just the AC or DC flow. Try to make all current flow do some useful work.

Use the right battery for each application. Because battery selection is so important, all of Chapter 2 is devoted to batteries. Condition all battery circuits for minimum power consumption by including low-battery indicators and automatic shutoffs, if possible. If rechargeable batteries are to be used, try to combine the battery-charge function with the voltage-regulator and/or control functions.

This saves both power consumption and component count, as discussed in Chapter 3.

1.2 Micropower/Battery Design Checklist

The design of micropower/battery equipment produces a number of problems not found in other circuits of the same type. This applies even to identical circuits, but where the operating power is considered to be stable (not from a battery that starts at one voltage and then drops to a lower voltage over time). Until recently, few ICs could operate directly at the end-of-life voltage from a 2-cell battery (about 1.8 V). The obvious answer to this problem is a DC/DC converter (probably a switching regulator) which will increase and maintain the voltage at some desired level.

Although the DC/DC converter is generally the universal cure-all for most low-power equipment, there are special problems when micropower is involved. The micropower designer almost always has a limited area in which to place the converter IC. The inductors and capacitors associated with a switching regulator consume even more space. Typically, surface-mount components must be used, and heat sinks are generally out of the question.

Fortunately, many manufacturers now produce ICs and other components suitable for both micropower consumption and battery operation. We concentrate on such components in this book. Table 1–1 lists manufacturers of components found in DC/DC converters. While on the subject of converters, it is assumed that the reader is thoroughly familiar with power supplies, both linear and switching. If not, read the author’s Simplified Design of Linear Power Supplies (1994) and Simplified Design of Switching Power Supplies (1995), both published by Butterworth-Heinemann.

Table 1-1

DC/DC converter component manufacturers

Capacitors

AVX Corporation

P.O. Box 867

Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

(803) 448-9411

Surface Mount Tantalum

Nichicon (America) Corporation

927 East State Parkway

Schaumburg, IL 60173

(708) 843-7500

Aluminum Electrolytic

Philips Components Disc. Prod. Div.

Division Headquarters

2001 W. Blue Heron Blvd.

Riviera Beach, FL 33404

(800)881-3200

Low ESR filter capacitors-Solid Aluminum

Electrolytic Capacitors

Sanyo Video Components (USA) Corp.

2001 Sanyo Ave.

San Diego, CA 92073

(619)661-6835

Low ESR filter capacitors-Solid Aluminum

Electrolytic Capacitors (OS-CON)

United Chemi-Con, Inc.

9801 West Higgins Road

Rosemount, IL 60018

(708)696-2000

Aluminum Electrolytic

Wima

2269 Saw Mill River Rd.

Bldg. 4C

P.O. Box 217

Elmsford, NY 10523

(914) 347-2474

Polycarbonate Film

Current Sense Resistors

KRL

160 Bouchard Street

Manchester, NH 03103

(603) 668-3210

Diodes

Fuji

14368 Proton Rd.

Dallas, TX 75244

(214) 233-1589

Low Current Schottkys

General Instruments

600 W John St. CS620

Hickville, NY 11802

(516) 933-3333

Motorola Inc.

3102 North 56th St.

MS 56-126

Phoenix, AZ 85018

(800)521-6274

Full Line

Philips Components Disc. Prod. Div.

Division Headquarters

2001 W. Blue Heron Blvd.

Riviera Beach, FL 33404

(800) 881-3200

Ferrite Beads

Fair-Rite Products Corp.

1 Commerial Row

P.O. Box J

Wallkill, NY 12589

(914) 895-2055

Toshiba America Elec. Components

9775 Toledo Way

Irvine, CA 92718

(714) 455-2000

Heat Sinks

Aavid Engineering, Inc.

One Kool Path Box 400

Laconia, NH 03247

(603)528-3400

Thermalloy

2021 W. Valley View Lane

P.O. Box 810839

Dallas, TX 75381

(214) 243-4321

Mounting Hardware

Bergquist

5300 Edina Industrial Blvd.

Minneapolis, MN 55439

(612)835-2322

Thermally Conductive Insulators

Stockwell Rubber

4749 Tolbut St.

Philadelphia, PA 19136

(800)523-0123

Thermally Conductive Insulators

Thermalloy

2021 W. Valley View Lane

P.O. Box 810839

Dallas, TX 75381

(214)243-4321

Power Sockets, Thermal Compounds, and Adhesives

Thermally Conductive Insulators, Mounting Kits

Power MOSFETs

International Rectifier Corp.

233 Kansas St.

El Segundo, CA 90245

(310) 322-3331

Motorola Inc.

3102 North 56th St.

MS 56-126

Phoenix, AZ 85018

(800) 521-6274

Siliconix

2201 Laurelwood Rd.

Santa Clara, CA 96056

(800) 554-5565

Inductors and Transformers

Caddell-Burns

285 East Second St.

Mineola, NY 11501

(516) 746-2310

Coilcraft

1102 Silver Lake Rd.

Cary, IL 60013

(800) 322-2645

Coiltronics

984 SW 13th Ct.

Pompano Beach, FL 33069

(305) 781-8900

Full Line including Surface Mount Inductors

Gowanda Electronics Corp.

1 Industrial Place

Gowanda, NY 14070

(716) 532-2234

Hurricane Electronics Lab

P.O. Box 1280

Hurricane Industrial Park

Hurricane, UT 84737

(801) 635-2003

Murata Erie North America

2200 Lake Park Drive

Smyrna, GA 30080

(404) 436-1300

Renco

60 E. Jefryn Blvd.

Deerpark, NY 11729

(516)586-5566

Sumida Electronic

637 E. Golf Rd. Suite 209

Arlington Heights, IL 60005

(708)956-0666

TDK Corp. of America

1600 Feehanville Dr.

Mt. Prospect, IL 60056

(708) 803-6100

Toko America Incorparated

1250 Feehanville Dr.

Mount Prospect, IL 60056

(312) 297-0700

Magnetic Materials

Fair-Rite Products Corp.

1 Commerial Row

P.O. Box J Wallkill, NY 12589

(914) 895-2055

Ferrite

Micrometals, Inc.

1190 N. Hawk Circle

Anaheim, CA 92807

(800) 356-5977

Powdered Iron

Magnetics Div. Spang & Co

P.O. Box 391

Bulter, PA 16003-0391

(412)282-8282

Powdered Iron, Molypermalloy, Powdered High Flux, Kool Mμ, Ferrite

Philips Components Disc. Prod. Div. Materials Group

5083 King Highway

Saugerties, NY 12477

(914) 246-2811

Ferrite

Pyroferric International, Inc.

200 Madison St.

Toledo, IL 62468

(217) 849-3300

Powdered Iron

Siemens Components, Inc.

186 Wood Ave. S

Iselin, NJ 08830

(908) 906-4300

Ferrite

TDK Corp. of America

1600 Feehanville Dr.

Mt. Prospect, IL 60056

(708) 803-6100

Ferrite

Bipolar Transistors

Motorola Inc.

3102 North 56th St.

MS 56-126

Phoenix, AZ 85018

(800) 521-6274

Full Line

Zetex

87 Modular Ave.

Commack, NY 11725

(516) 543-7100

High Gain Bipolar Switching Transistors

including Surface Mount Devices

(Linear Technology, Linear Applications Handbook, 1993, AN54–22, 23, 23)

In addition to the manufacturers listed in Table 1–1, there are many other companies from which to choose. For a more complete list, refer to the PCIM Buyer’s Guide. PCIM (Power Conversion & Intelligent Motion) is published by Intertec International, Inc., 2472 Eastman Ave., Bldg. 33–34, Ventura, CA 93003–5774, (805) 650–7070. For a list of IC manufacturers, refer to the For Further Information section at the end of this book.

The following checklist applies to design of any micropower circuit to be powered by any type of battery:

Design for the highest efficiency. For example, a high-efficiency converter increases battery life, eliminates heat sinks (except in special circuits), reduces weight, and decreases PC-board area. Try for highest efficiency at both full loads and light loads.

Use the full capacity of the battery, if possible. For example, will the circuit continue to operate even down to the dead cell voltage? Is there a micropower shutdown mode (where the circuit is fully off, or at ultralow power consumption, when not in use)?

Always check if the DC/DC converter is ever required to provide high output power (higher than micropower) for short time intervals.

Check that the complete circuit will meet all packaging requirements: height, weight, and PC-board area.

Finally, check the cost of alternate circuits and approaches. Where possible, alternate solutions to design problems are given throughout this book. For example, in some applications, it is possible to use a voltage converter operating on the charge-pump principle (Section 5.2) instead of a DC/DC converter. Generally, this will reduce costs (but not always).

1.3 Notebook-Computer Power Conditioning

Notebook computers (and similar devices) need many regulated voltages, all developed from a single battery (Section 5.3). Small size, light weight, and high efficiency are essential. Even small increases in efficiency extend battery life, making the final product more usable with no increase in weight. Also, high efficiency minimizes (or eliminates) heat sinks on the power-regulating components (the IC, the external pass transistor, etc.), further reducing weight and size.

Battery systems (Chapter 2 and 3) for notebook computers currently include rechargeable NiCad (nickel-cadmium), NiMH (nickel-metal hydride), lead-acid, and lithium, as well as throw-away alkaline batteries. A typical configuration in today’s world is a main rechargeable battery (probably NiCad or NiMH) with backup or emergency alkaline batteries. (In the future these batteries may be lithium-ion.) The higher energy density available in alkalines allows the systems to operate for extended time without battery replacement.

1.4 Palmtop-Computer Power Conditioning

Palmtop-computer power-supply designs present an entirely separate set of problems from notebook-computer power-supply designs. The latter typically use a 9-V to 15-V NiCad battery stack for the power source. Palmtop computers, however, because of their extremely small size, have room for only two or possibly four AA cells. Also, because palmtop machines do not (currently) have disk drives, they operate in the sleep mode (all memory retained but no computation) for much longer times. A typical palmtop system may have several hours of operating life with the processor at full activity, tens of hours of quiescent operation with the processor shut down but the display active, and up to two months in the sleep mode. Many palmtop computers use a lithium battery for backup power when the AA cells are dead or being replaced.

It is the disposability of the batteries, rather than the size, that makes palmtop-computer power-supply design different from notebook-computer supply design. High-efficiency converters are not necessarily the best for use with disposable batteries. Here is why: Rechargeable batteries have very low output impedance, so the most efficient converter circuits produce the maximum operating time. Disposable cells have relatively high internal impedance. Maximum battery life results when the battery load is low and relatively constant (when peak currents are kept low). The converter circuits designed to minimize peak currents are usually not the most efficient but produce the longest life in disposable batteries. Such circuits