The BQ25504 device is the first of a new family of intelligent integrated energy harvesting nano-power management solutions that are well suited for meeting the special needs of ultra low power applications. The device is specifically designed to efficiently acquire and manage the microwatts (µW) to miliwatts (mW) of power generated from a variety of DC sources like photovoltaic (solar) or thermal electric generators. The BQ25504 is the first device of its kind to implement a highly efficient boost converter/charger targeted toward products and systems, such as wireless sensor networks (WSNs) which have stringent power and operational demands. The design of the BQ25504 starts with a DC-DC boost converter/charger that requires only microwatts of power to begin operating.

Once started, the boost converter/charger can effectively extract power from low-voltage output harvesters such as thermoelectric generators (TEGs) or single- or dual-cell solar panels. The boost converter can be started with V IN as low as 600 mV, and once started, can continue to harvest energy down to V IN = 130 mV.

The BQ25504 also implements a programmable maximum power point tracking sampling network to optimize the transfer of power into the device. Sampling the VIN_DC open-circuit voltage is programmed using external resistors, and held with an external capacitor (C REF).Read more