New chip for recharging large battery packs.

LoopyByteloose

Sometime last year, I looked into balancing and managing the charge of large Lithium battery packs intended for electric bicycles. I felt the industry was off in the weeds and that nearly everything had been removed from production and sales due to unspecified problems.

And so, it seemed that a simple charger was best if it worked with a simple cutoff to protect the cells.

I just came across a new chip that uses a matrix of transformers and this seems to move ahead of what was being done. It may be a significant breakthrough. I can't be sure, but I know other here will be a good critical review of its utility.

Mark_T

Linear Technology come up with some very clever chips, solving thorny problems. I've contemplated their
LT3791 100W boost/buck converter before, and use the LTC6912 programmable gain rail-to-rail amps.

I really ought to trawl their product list sometime to see what I'm missing!

This example is clearly aimed at electric traction battery management with the 10A balance current rating.

Lawson

Looking over the datasheet for the 33001fb, I found the LTC6820 chip. It connects an SPI buss over up to 100meters of twisted pair and a couple of isolation transformers. Nifty.

Marty