True bidirectional synchronous buck-boost controllers for battery-powered applications

Renesas Electronics offers an innovative new series of bidirectional four-switch synchronous buck-boost controllers. The ISL81601 and ISL81401 are claimed to be the industry’s only true bidirectional controllers that sense peak current at either end and offer cycle-by-cycle current limit in both directions while in buck or boost mode. The controllers generate POL and voltage rail conversions with peak efficiency up to 99%. The ISL81601 has a wide input range of 4.5V to 60V and produces a 0.8V to 60V output to maintain most industrial batteries: 12V, 24V, 36V and 48V. Also offered is the ISL81401, a 4.5V to 40V input and 0.8V to 40V output version, and its unidirectional counterpart, the ISL81401A. The new controllers are ideal for DC power backup and battery-powered industrial, medical and telecommunication systems. “Our new bidirectional buck-boost controllers eliminate extra sensing circuitry and offer customers a robust feature-set that maintains battery health and superior power utilisation,” said Philip Chesley, vice president of Industrial Analog and Power Business Division, Renesas Electronics Corporation. “Leveraging Renesas’ proprietary modulation scheme and algorithms allows the highly integrated ISL81601, ISL81401 and ISL81401A to achieve the high-reliability performance required for battery-powered equipment.”