TIDUFA5 December 2024
The first stage uses a BQ25790 buck-boost charger. The charger uses a 1-cell Li-ion or Li-polymer battery. The chip also integrates a smart power path function which can keep the system operating even when the battery is completely discharged or removed. When the load power exceeds the input source rating or is removed, the battery goes into supplemental mode and prevents the input source from being overloaded and the system from crashing. In the absence of input sources, BQ25790 supports the USB On-the-Go (OTG) function, discharging the battery to generate an adjustable 2.8V–22V voltage on VBUS with a 10mV step size. This action is compliant to the USB PD 3.0 specification defined by the programmable power supply (PPS) feature and can charge an external device. Besides the I2C host-controlled charging mode, this charger also supports autonomous charging mode. After power up, the charging is enabled with default register settings. The device can complete a charging cycle without any software engagements. The BQ25790 detects battery voltage and charges the battery in different phases: trickle charging, pre-charging, constant current (CC) charging, and constant voltage (CV) charging. At the end of the charging cycle, the charger automatically terminates when the charge current is below a pre-set limit (termination current) in the constant voltage phase. When the full battery falls below the recharge threshold, the charger automatically starts another charging cycle.
TI uses autonomous mode to charge the battery but keeps the I2C interface in this reference design. The designer can configure the PROG pin of BQ25790 with a 4.7kΩ resistor to ground and set up a switching frequency to 750kHz and default charge current to 2A. Tie VAC1 and VAC2 to VBUS and connect ACDRV1 and ACDRV2 to GND since there is only one USB Type-C connector for the external adapter and no external ACFET-RBFET. Equation 1 shows the input current limit setting calculation.
The designer can update R128 and R130 to get to the expected current limit. In this reference design, the designer follows the EVM board to configure the current limit at 1.4A.