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new products
ISL9238A
• Buck-boost NVDC charger for 1-, 2-, 3-, or 4-cell
Li-ion batteries
• Input voltage range of 3.2V to 23.4V (no dead-zone)
• System output voltage of 2.4V to 18.304V
• Up to 1MHz operation allows use of smaller, lower
cost inductors and automatically reduces switching
frequency with no audible acoustic noise when charger
is in DCM mode
• ASGATE FET control: actively controls inrush
current to prevent FET damage
• Low-power and high-power LDO outputs tie to VDD
pin to provide bias power and MOSFET gate drive power
• Compliant with Intel PROCHOT# and PSYS for
protection against battery voltage drop, adapter over-
current, battery over-current and overheat
• Allows trickle charging of depleted battery
• Autonomous charging option provides end of charge
control using safety timer to stop battery charging
• SMBus/I2C programmable limit settings with adapter
current monitor (AMON) and battery discharging current
monitor (BMON)
• Battery learn mode calibrates the battery fuel gauge
• ISL9238A includes a different SMBus address to
support charging a second battery
Pricing and Availability
The ISL9238 and ISL9238A buck-boost battery chargers
are available now and priced at $3.50 USD in 1k
quantities. Both battery chargers are supplied in 4mm
x 4mm, 32-lead TQFN packages. For more information,
please visit
www.intersil.com/products/isl9238.Miniature Multi-Sensor Module from
STMicroelectronics Jumpstarts IoT and
Wearable Designs
STMicroelectronics’ 13.5mm x 13.5mm SensorTile
is currently the smallest turnkey sensor board of its
type, containing a MEMS accelerometer, gyroscope,
magnetometer, pressure sensor, and a MEMS
microphone. With the on-board low-power STM32L4
microcontroller, it can be used as a sensing and
connectivity hub for developing products such as
wearables, gaming accessories, and smart-home or
Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices.
SensorTile has a complete Bluetooth® Low-Energy
transceiver including a miniature single-chip balun on-
board, as well as a broad set of system interfaces that
support use as a sensor-fusion hub or as a platform
for firmware development. It can be simply plugged to
a host board, and when powered it immediately starts
streaming inertial, audio, and environmental data to ST’s
BlueMS smartphone app that can be downloaded free of
charge from popular app stores.
Software development is fast and easy thanks to a
vast ecosystem of Application Program Interface (API)
based on the STM32Cube Hardware Abstraction Layer
and middleware components, including the STM32
Open Development Environment. The system is fully
compatible with the Open Software eXpansion Libraries
(Open.MEMS,
Open.RF, and Open.AUDIO), as well
as many third-party embedded sensing and voice-
processing projects. Many example programs available
in source code offer a starting point for evaluation and
customization, including software for position sensing,
activity recognition, and low-power voice communication.
The complete kit includes a cradle board, which carries
the 13.5mm x 13.5mm SensorTile core system in
standalone or hub mode and can be used as a reference
design. This compact yet fully loaded board contains
a humidity and temperature sensor, a micro-SD card
socket, as well as a lithium-polymer battery (LiPo)
charger. Its simple layout demonstrates how a complete
wearable prototype customized with extra functionalities
can be easily designed with the SensorTile core system.
The pack also contains a LiPo rechargeable battery and
a plastic case that provides a convenient housing for the
cradle, SensorTile, and battery combination.
New-Tech Magazine Europe l 69