초록 ▼

A microcontroller for use in battery charging and monitoring applications is disclosed. The microcontroller includes a microprocessor and various front-end analog circuitry including a slope A/D converter and a multiplexer for allowing a plurality of analog input signals to be converted to correspon

A microcontroller for use in battery charging and monitoring applications is disclosed. The microcontroller includes a microprocessor and various front-end analog circuitry including a slope A/D converter and a multiplexer for allowing a plurality of analog input signals to be converted to corresponding digital counts indicative of signal level. The microcontroller further includes an on-chip temperature sensor, used in conjunction with the A/D converter, to monitor the temperature of the microcontroller. The temperature sensor generates and uses a differential voltage that is obtained across the base-emitter functions of two compatible bipolar transistors having dissimilar emitter areas. This differential voltage is proportional to temperature and may be sampled by the A/D converter to obtain a digital count indicative of the temperature of the microcontroller.

대표청구항 ▼

A microcontroller device for use in battery charging and battery monitoring applications, the device having a microcontroller fabricated on a semiconductor chip to execute programs and instructions and to generate control signals as a result of execution by the microcontroller of programs and instru

A microcontroller device for use in battery charging and battery monitoring applications, the device having a microcontroller fabricated on a semiconductor chip to execute programs and instructions and to generate control signals as a result of execution by the microcontroller of programs and instructions for selectively controlling a battery charging and battery monitoring system when said chip is housed in a battery pack with the battery to be charged and monitored, the microcontroller including microprocessor means for executing instructions, program memory means for storing programs to be executed by the microcontroller and data memory means for storing data, the device further including: on-chip, temperature sensor means fabricated on the same chip with said microcontroller for monitoring the temperature of the chip, said on-chip, temperature sensor means including: voltage means for generating a first voltage having a level linearly proportional to absolute temperature of the chip; and means for sampling said first voltage and for developing a digital count representative of the level of said first voltage as a measure of the absolute temperature of the chip and of the battery with which the chip is housed and indicative of the then-current energy capacity of the battery.