Industry’s first coin cell battery life and power booster

Nexperia has introduced the NBM7100 and NBM5100, revolutionary new types of battery life boosting ICs designed to prolong the life of a typical non-rechargeable lithium coin cell battery by up to 10x compared to competing solutions while also increasing its peak output current capability by up to 25x compared to what a typical coin cell can produce without a battery booster. This unrivalled extension in working life will significantly reduce the amount of battery waste in low-power IoT and other portable applications while making coin cells a viable power source for applications which could previously only operate from AA- or AAA- batteries. 

“Introducing this battery life booster product signals Nexperia’s further expansion into battery management solutions,” said Dan Jensen, general manager of Nexperia’s BG Analog and Logic ICs. “We are excited to unveil these innovative products complementary to our existing analog and logic products. The NBM7100 and NBM5100 significantly enhance coin cell performance which helps to help reduce battery waste in IoT, wearables and other consumer applications.”

CR2032 and CR2025 Lithium coin cells have higher energy density and longer shelf life. As a result, they are commonly employed in low-power applications, including devices with Low Power Wi-Fi, LoRa, Sigfox, Zigbee, LTE-M1, and NB-IoT transceivers. However, these batteries have relatively high internal resistance and chemical reaction rates that lower their usable capacity when under pulsed-load conditions. The new products contain two high-efficiency DC-DC conversion stages and an intelligent learning algorithm to overcome this limitation. The first conversion stage transfers energy from the battery to a capacitive storage element at a low rate. The second stage uses the stored energy to deliver a regulated (programmable from 1.8V to 3.6V) high pulse (up to 200mA) current output. The intelligent learning algorithm monitors the energy used during repetitive load pulse cycles and optimises first-stage DC-DC conversion to minimise the residual charge in the storage capacitor. When not performing an energy conversion cycle (standby state), these devices consume less than 50nA.

The devices are specified over -40C to 85C, making them appropriate for commercial indoor and industrial outdoor environments. A ‘low battery’ indicator alerts the system when the battery reaches its functional endpoint. Also, brownout protection inhibits charging of the storage capacitor when the battery is near the end of its life.

A serial interface is incorporated for configuration and control by a system microcontroller: I2C in NMB7100A and NBM5100A and SPI in NMB7100B and NBM5100B versions. The devices can extend the lifetime of energy-dense Lithium primary batteries, including coin cells, Lithium Thionyl (ex: LS14250 1/2 AA) and emerging paper printed types, reducing maintenance by boosting the time interval between battery replacements. Also, the NBM5100A/B includes a capacitor voltage balancing pin for super-capacitor-based implementations.

The battery boosters are provided in a small DHVQFN16 package measuring 2.5mm × 3.5mm × 0.85mm.