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BQ78350-R1: Clarification on "Gauge Design Configurations for High Charge / Discharge Rate Applications"

Part Number: BQ78350-R1
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: BQSTUDIO

Hi,

In the presentation that most people are referring to for scaling the current on slide 4 it shows an example of using scaling to support discharge currents of 48A.


"We can fool the gauge by current calibration: for a 5 mohm Rsense, if we calibrate at an actual current of 4A, we can use the value 2A for calibration so the CC Gain and CC Delta would become 10 mohm. We now have a calibration ratio of 50%"

1) For this example this procedure requires you to use a 4A load and in bqstudio we will input  -2000mA (2A discharge) and click calibrate current. Is that right?
2) Once that is done, would we then go to Data memory and change CC gain and Capacity Gain 10 mohm? Or does that change automatically?
3) If I then attach a load, would the current/ average current shown in the registers tab show the actual current or half the current?

I'm asking this because if I leave the CC gain as is, then the reading of the current is half the actual current I'm supposed to see. If I double the CC gain, the reading matches up with the current I'm supposed to see,


JP

  • Hi JP,
    Which presentation are you referring to?

    Regards,
    David
  • "Gauge Design Configurations for High Charge / Discharge Rate Applications" Thomas Cosby
  • Hi JP,
    1. Sounds right
    2. The calibration will automatically change the data flash value. If you open the data memory tab you should see it changed.
    3. When you attach a load the gauge should report 1/2 the current. You and your attached system must know that it is scaled.
  • Thanks for the reply, WM5295.
    A few more questions:

    1) Why do we have to input half the current we are actually loading the device with? Why not input the actual current and then multiply the CC gain by 2?

    For example:
    What is the difference between me drawing an actual current of 4A and calibrating it as 2A or me drawing 2A and calibrating it as 2A and then just changing the value of CC gain from 1mOhm to 2mOhms?

    2) Is it a resolution/ accuracy thing? and if that's the case should I be better off calibrating at a significantly higher current (rather than 2A or 4A) since the load for my application is in the 10's of Amps?

    2b) Follow up question to that: Can I use a battery to calibrate the current since we don't have a power supply available to output that much current?

    3) When I'm doing the scaling should I then scale with respect to the SCD limit? For instance, If I want to set my SCD to 125A do I scale/ calibrate for 125A/32A = 3.9 rounded up to 4X?

  • Hi JP,
    1. If you just change the cal value you are not calibrating you are just scaling. If you let it calibrate it may calculate 1.99 vs your assigned 2.
    2a. Yes the resolution is fixed, with scaling you will have a coarser resolution. The CC is believed to be linear so a large current is not required for calibration. When you scale you may want to increase the current some, but should not need to approach maximum current.
    2b. Yes you can calibrate with a battery as a current source.
    3. The bq769x0 monitor responds to mV at the sense inputs. Its current is based on the sense resistor and the threshold loaded from the gauge parameter, but not the current calibration in the gauge. ASCD and AOLD would not be scaled since they are physical thresholds. OCD and OCC are scaled since they are based on the calibrated current.
  • Thank you, I understand 1 and 2. With respect to 3: You're saying I should base my calibration on OCD? So, if my OCD limit is 90A then I need to scale by a factor of 3, so that my device can "see" that discharge current 90A (even though it will actually think it's 30A).
  • Hi JP,
    Right. Current should stay below 32767 in the gauge, so if you have 90A you could scale by 1/3 so the gauge sees that at 30A. You might calibrate with 3A as 1A or 6A as 2A or some similar ratio. Your OCD protection would be set at 30A.
    Your AOLD is a fixed value. If using a 1 mOhm sense resistor 90A would be 90 mV. The bq769x0 has a maximum OCD setting of 100mV which would allow the 90 mV nominal. Be sure to consider tolerances and whether your 90A is a must-pass or must-trip condition. For example the bq769x0 OCD detection has a 2.5mV max offset and a 10% max scale error. Your sense resistor will have some tolerance
  • Thanks, WM. I appreciate all the help. A lot of useful info.