Stand-Alone Fuel Gauge - Maxim Integrated Products - #9

The Average Current register reports an average current level over the preceding 28 seconds. The register value is updated every 28s in two's complement form, and is the average of the 8 preceding Current register updates. The format of the Average Current register is shown in Figure 7. Charge currents above the maximum register value are reported at the maximum value (7FFFh = +51.2mV). Discharge currents below the minimum register value are reported at the minimum value (8000h = -51.2mV).

Every 1024th conversion, the ADC measures its input offset to facilitate offset correction. Offset correction occurs approximately once per hour. The resulting correction factor is applied to the subsequent 1023 measurements. During the offset correction conversion, the ADC does not measure the sense resistor signal. A maximum error of 1/1024 in the accumulated current register (ACR) is possible; however, to reduce the error, the current measurement made just prior to the offset conversion is displayed in the current register and is substituted for the dropped current measurement in the current accumulation process. This results in an accumulated current error due to offset correction of less than 1/1024.

The DS2780's current measurement gain can be adjusted through the RSGAIN register, which is factory-calibrated to meet the data sheet specified accuracy. RSGAIN is user accessible and can be reprogrammed after module or pack manufacture to improve the current measurement accuracy. Adjusting RSGAIN can correct for variation in an external sense resistor's nominal value, and allows the use of low-cost, non-precision current sense resistors. RSGAIN is an 11 bit value stored in 2 bytes of the Parameter EEPROM Memory Block. The RSGAIN value adjusts the gain from 0 to 1.999 in steps of 0.001 (precisely 2^-10). The user must program RSGAIN cautiously to ensure accurate current measurement. When shipped from the factory, the gain calibration value is stored in two separate locations in the Parameter EEPROM Block, RSGAIN which is reprogrammable and FRSGAIN which is read only. RSGAIN determines the gain used in the current measurement. The read-only FRSGAIN is provided to preserve the factory value only and is not used in the current measurement.

The DS2780 is capable of temperature compensating the current sense resistor to correct for variation in a sense resistor's value over temperature. The DS2780 is factory programmed with the sense resistor temperature coefficient, RSTC, set to zero, which turns off the temperature compensation function. RSTC is user accessible and can be reprogrammed after module or pack manufacture to improve the current accuracy when using a high temperature coefficient current-sense resistor. RSTC is an 8-bit value stored in the Parameter EEPROM Memory Block. The RSTC value sets the temperature coefficient from 0 to +7782ppm/°C in steps of 30.5ppm/°C. The user must program RSTC cautiously to ensure accurate current measurement.

Temperature compensation adjustments are made when the Temperature register crosses 0.5^oC boundaries. The temperature compensation is most effective with the resistor placed as close as possible to the VSS terminal. This will optimize thermal coupling of the resistor to the on-chip temperature sensor. The current shunt trace should be run under the DS2780 package, and it should be constructed with a copper PCB trace.

Current measurements are internally summed, or accumulated, at the completion of each conversion period and the results are stored in the Accumulated Current Register (ACR). The accuracy of the ACR is dependent on the current measurement and the conversion timebase. The ACR has a range of 0 to 409.6mVh with an LSb of 6.25|iVh. Additional read-only registers (ACRL) hold fractional results of each accumulation to avoid truncation

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