Power Management Front-End Chip Increases Battery Run-Time

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) introduced the industry's first single-chip, front-end power management unit (PMU) for battery-powered applications based on ARM Cortex A9 and A15 processors.

April 19, 2013

3 min read

The TPS65090 from Texas Instruments is reportedly the industry's first single-chip, front-end power management unit (PMU) for battery-powered applications based on ARM Cortex A9 and A15 processors. The TPS65090 power management integrated circuit integrates all power management functions and maximizes power efficiency to extend battery run-time in tablets and other portable electronics by 20 percent, simplify design, and reduce board space by 60 percent compared to a discrete approach.

The front-end PMU integrates a 4-A switching PowerPath charger, three 5-A DC/DC step-down converters, seven load switches, two always-on LDOs and a 10-channel analog-to-digital converter (ADC).

Features:

· 20-percent increased battery run-time: Up to 95-percent efficiency across 8-V to12-V output voltages for two to three cells in series.

· High integration, smallest solution size: The device integrates 15 functions into one front-end circuit to reduce the bill of materials and achieve a 60-percent smaller total solution than using discrete ICs.

· Faster charging: Integrated 4-A, multi-cell switching charger cuts charging time in half.

· Advanced power control: The power switches allow independent control of each major subsystem, and the 10-bit ADC allows easy, accurate monitoring of power consumption.

The TPS65090 is available in multi-row QFN packaging for a suggested retail price of USD$4.95 in 1,000-unit quantities. Designers can order the TPS65090EVM evaluation module to quickly evaluate their designs and speed time-to-market.