Power Management Texas Instruments Incorporated

Li-ion battery-charger solutions for

JEITA compliance
By Jinrong Qian
Sector Manager, Battery Charge Management – Advanced Portable
Introduction
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries tend to become dangerous
when they are overcharged at high temperatures. Safely
charging these batteries has become one of the most
important design specifications in battery-powered porta-
ble equipment. Progress has been made in establishing
industry standards such as the Japan Electronics and
Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA)
guidelines for improving battery-charging safety. This
article addresses safety requirements and battery-charger
solutions that meet these requirements in both notebook
and single-cell handheld applications.
Battery-charger safety and the JEITA guidelines
Widely used in consumer electronics from cell phones to
laptops, Li-ion batteries have the highest volumetric and
gravimetric energy densities among the rechargeable
batteries, with no memory effect. They also have a self-
discharge rate that is 10 times lower than that of NiMH
batteries, and they can provide the instant power required
by the system; but are they safe?
Everyone in the industry has seen pictures of exploding
laptops and heard about the massive and unprecedented
recalls of Li-ion batteries due to cell safety concerns. Such
battery explosions or fires originated within the manufac-
turing process. Batteries contain several metal parts that
can sometimes result in undesirable metal impurities within
the cell. These impurities are typically sharp metal shards
from the battery casing or from electrode materials. If
these shards get between the battery’s electrode and sepa-
rator, battery cycling in the negative electrode can eventu-
ally cause the shards to puncture the separator. This
results in a microshort between the positive and negative
electrodes, producing high heat that may ultimately result
in fire and/or an explosion.
High temperatures, fire, and explosions are all results of
thermal runaway—a condition whereby a battery enters
into an uncontrollable reaction. Thermal runaway is a
proc­ess in which the internal temperature of a battery
with LiCoO2 as the cathode material and graphite as the
anode material reaches approximately 175°C. This is an
irreversible and highly exothermic reaction that can cause
a fire, usually when the battery is charging.
Figure 1 shows the charge current and charge voltage
over temperature commonly used in the older Li-ion-
battery-charging systems that are prone to thermal run-
away. Both the battery charge current and charge voltage
are constant over the cell temperature from 0 to 45°C.
High cell temperatures not only speed up battery aging
but also increase the risk of battery failure.
To improve the safety of charging Li-ion batteries,
JEITA and the Battery Association of Japan released new
safety guidelines on April 20, 2007. Their guidelines
emphasized the importance of avoiding a high charge
current and high charge voltage at certain low and high
temperature ranges. According to JEITA, problems in the
Li-ion batteries occur at high charge voltages and high cell

Figure 1. Upper-limit charge current and charge voltage

in older Li-ion-battery-charging systems

Upper-Limit Charge Current: 1C

Charge
Current

Upper-Limit Voltage: 4.25 V

(4.2 V Typical)
Charge
Voltage
No Charge No Charge

TI T4
(0°C) Temperature (40 to 45°C)

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Texas Instruments Incorporated Power Management

temperatures. Figure 2 shows the JEITA guide-

Figure 2. JEITA guidelines for charging Li-ion batteries in
lines for the charge current and charge voltage
notebook applications
over cell temperature for batteries used in
notebook applications. These batteries have
LiCoO2 as the cathode active material and Upper-Limit Charge Current
graphite as the anode active material.
In the standard charging temperature range Charge
Current
from T2 to T3, a Li-ion cell can be charged in
the optimal conditions of the upper-limited
charge voltage and the upper-limited charge
current recommended by the cell’s manufac­ Upper-Limit Voltage: 4.25 V
(4.2 V Typical)
turer for safety.
Charge 4.20 V
Charging at low temperatures Voltage
If the cell’s surface temperature becomes lower
than T2 during charging, the lithium ions could No Charge No Charge
each gain one electron and become metallic lith-
T1 T2 T3 T4
ium. This metallic lithium is likely to deposit on (10°C) Temperature (45°C)
the anode, because at low temperatures the
transfer rate decreases and the penetration of
lithium ions into the negative electrode carbon
slows down. Such metallic lithium could easily react with Battery-charger solutions for meeting
electro­lyte, causing permanent loss of the lithium ions, JEITA guidelines
which degrades the battery faster. In addition, the chemi-
The smart battery pack, which includes a fuel gauge,
cal reaction between metallic lithium and the electrolyte
analog front end, and second-level protector, is commonly
generates a lot of heat, which could lead to thermal run-
used in notebook applications. The fuel gauge provides the
away. Therefore, the charge current and charge voltage
battery’s cell voltage, charge and discharge current, cell
are reduced at low cell temperatures. If the temperature is
temperature, remaining capacity, and run time to the
further reduced to T1 (0°C as an example), the system
system through SMBus for optimizing the system perform­
should not allow charging.
ance. The bq20z45 and bq20z40 fuel gauges with
Charging at high temperatures Impedance Track™ technology, recently developed by
If the cell’s surface temperature rises
above T3 (45°C as an example) dur-
ing charging, the cathode material, Figure 3. JEITA guidelines for charging Li-ion batteries in
single-cell handheld applications
LiCoO2, starts to become more active
and can chemically react with the
electrolyte when the cell voltage is
Maximum Charge Current: 1C
high. If the cell temperature is
further increased to T4, the system
should prohibit charging. If the cell 0.5C
Charge
temperature reaches 175°C with a cell Current
voltage of 4.3 V, thermal runaway may
occur and the battery may explode.
Similarly, Figure 3 shows the Maximum Charge Voltage: 4.25 V
JEITA guidelines for charging Li-ion (4.2 V Typical)
batteries in single-cell handheld
applications, where the charge 4.15 V Maximum
current and charge voltage are also Charge 4.10 V Maximum
functions of the cell temperature. Voltage
The maximum charge voltage of
4.25 V includes the battery charger’s
full tolerance. The battery can be T1 T3 T5
charged at up to 60°C with a reduced (0°C) Temperature (45°C) (60°C)
charge voltage for safety. T2 T4
(10°C) (50°C)

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 Power Management Texas Instruments Incorporated

Texas Instruments (TI), include a series of flash-memory
constants for flexibly programming the battery’s charge
current and charge voltage based on the JEITA guidelines.
The temperature thresholds are user-programmable and
provide flexibility for meeting different specifications with
different applications. The fuel gauge usually broadcasts
the charge current and voltage information to the smart
battery charger or keyboard controller for periodically
setting the proper charge current and voltage. An SMBus-
controlled battery charger, such as the TI bq24745, can be
used as a slave device to get the charge voltage and cur-
rent information from a smart battery pack with either the
bq20z40 or the bq20z45 fuel gauge.
Figure 4 shows a schematic of a smart battery charger
with a smart battery pack that complies with the JEITA
guidelines for notebook applications. This SMBus-
controlled battery charger with a synchronous switching
buck converter can support Li-ion batteries with one to
four cells and a charge current of up to 8 A. The dynamic
power-management function allows charging the battery
and powering the system simultaneously without increas-
ing the adapter’s power rating.
The battery pack in single-cell portable devices usually
has the cell and a safety protector but uses the charger
instead of a fuel gauge to monitor the cell temperature
and adjust the charge voltage and current. TI’s bq24050
single-cell linear battery charger was designed to meet the
JEITA specifications for handheld devices. It reduces the
charge current by half when the cell temperature is
between 0°C and 10°C, and reduces the charge voltage to

Figure 4. Smart battery charger bq24745 with fuel gauge bq20z40 or bq20z45

RAC
D1
Adapter 10 m
System Load
R1 0.1 µF 10  1 µF
430 k

CSSN DCIN
R2 CSSP
66.5 k
ACIN bq24745 C8
ACOK 1 µF
10 k VDDP
VREF
BOOT C6
C4 R7
Q3 10 µF
1 µF 200 k
ICREF UGATE RSN
R8 L To Smart
R9 0.1 µF 5.6 µH 10 m Battery Pack
50 k
1.4 M GND PHASE
C3
ICOUT LGATE Q4 10 µF
R4
10 k PGND
+3.3 V VDDSMB CSOP
R6 R11 C7
10 k 10 k 0.1 µF
Keyboard Controller or
Smart Battery Pack with CE CSON
bq20z40 or bq20z45 SDA
VFB
SMBus SCL 0.1 µF
R9 7.5 k
EAO VICM
R10 C21 C23 C5
C22 20 k R11 2 nF 51 pF 100 pF
130 pF 200 k EAI
FBO

10

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Texas Instruments Incorporated Power Management

4.06 V when the cell temperature is between 45°C and temperature ranges as JEITA recommends can significantly
60°C. Figure 5 shows a typical application circuit with the improve the safety of charging these batteries. Both
bq24050 linear charger. The charger monitors the battery’s switch-mode and linear battery-charger solutions that
cell temperature via the thermistor (TS) pin and adjusts comply with JEITA guidelines have been presented.
the charge current and voltage when the monitored tem-
perature reaches the threshold. Related Web sites
power.ti.com
Conclusion www.ti.com/sc/device/partnumber
Charging Li-ion batteries safely is critical and has become Replace partnumber with bq24050,
one of the key specifications for charger design. Reducing bq24745, or bq24747
the charge current and voltage at lower and higher

Figure 5. Typical single-cell application circuit with JEITA-

compliant linear battery charger

bq24050
Adapter IN Q1 OUT

C1 CHG VSS

R2 103AT 1 µF
ISET TS

R1
PRETERM ISET2 Host
USB Port LDO/CE
D+ bq24050 D–
VBUS ISET/100/500

D+ D+

D– D–

GND GND

11

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