lithium battery packThe technology behind TI’s Impedance Track family of fuel gauges was announced way back in 2004, with the first products appearing towards the end of last year. In conversations with battery pack designers, I hear almost universally that Impedance Track is becoming the chip-of-choice for higher-end battery packs, often used in laptops or smart phones, that can leverage the gauge’s increased accuracy as an added feature and higher price justification for the end product.
Power management is an intensely competitive IC market segment. Case in point: Several digital power controllers are available, which all were introduced within months of each other. But where are the competitors to Impedance Track? I think (hope) that this summer will finally see some competition emerge.
