Power Management Controller-Definition, Role and Features

Every type of battery that we are utilizing in the present day comes with some type of Power Management Controller. The Controller provides the battery system with the ability to maximize the power while maintaining the high-efficiency. Whether it is a simple and compact battery system or a large power grid, the PMC unit plays a major role in power manufacturing devices. As the controller supports a wide range of battery types, solar array and load configurations, it becomes crucial that we know the fundamental aspects of these controllers as well. 

Today, we will learn about the Power Management Controller, its role in the battery system and features altogether. Let's begin now. 

What Is Power Management Controller?

You must be wondering why we are learning about the Power Management Controller in the first place. Well, it is the use of PMC unit that have expanded the use of battery-powered systems such as portable phones, digital cameras, and so much more. Without using the Power Management ICs in the system, it wouldn't have been possible for the manufacturers to provide such a reliable battery system. 

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So, what is power management firstly? Power Management is a feature that electrical appliances have that switches their power on or off and adjusts it as per user requirement. Just imagine that you have a power outage in your house and the inverter is not at its full capacity. In that case, the low-power state of the phone charger will activate so that the fluctuation in the power source won't have a negative impact on the battery system. 

Now, talking about Power Management Controller is the circuit that is integrated into a battery system to ensure that the power levels stays within limit. In general, the PMC is utilized as a chip in the lithium-ion batteries that protects them from short-circuiting. Whether it is the media player or your smartphone, every electrical and electronic device is using this system nowadays. 

What Is The Role Of Power Management Controller When You Use lithium-ion battery?

Similar to any other electrical device, the Power Management Controller have various roles to play. As the name suggests, the function of this component in a battery system is to regulate power. The role PMC plays is listed below:

" DC to DC Conversion

" Battery Charging

" Power Source Selection

" Voltage Scaling

" Power Sequencing 

" Miscellaneous Functions 

Power Management ICs controls the directional flow of electrical power. As you might have noticed, all batteries have slightly different internal voltages such as 5V, 2.6 V, or 1.8 V. And all the rechargeable batteries rely on an external power source to charge. Overall, there are many design requirements to operate a battery system successfully. In the entire system, the Power Management Controller Circuit incorporates multiple functions, including power control such as under-voltage or over-voltage protection and power conversions. 

When these functions are incorporated in the battery system, it improves the overall design structure of the battery. Furthermore, it increases the conversion efficiency, provide better heat dissipation, and the battery size can also be reduced. 

What Are The Features Of Power Management Controller?

The various features present in a Power Management Controller can be extended as per user requirement. In the list of features, the manufacturing companies can add as many things as they want. But three major features must be present in the Power Management Controller of a lithium-ion battery. 

1: Battery Management:

Also known as Battery Management System, it is a critical component of a rechargeable battery. The main utility of this component is to protect the battery from the external effects, monitor its state, report data, calculate secondary data, controlling the environment, providing authentication, and at last balancing the battery cells. 

When the battery pack is being built, the BMS is added with an external communication data bus. It serves as a smart battery pack that can operate ideally under unfavourable conditions without any difficulty. However, if you are using a lithium-ion battery with a smart battery pack, you will also need a smart battery charger. 

2: Voltage Regulation:

Whether it is electrical engineering or power engineering, voltage regulation is a vital feature. Voltage regulation is the method of measuring the change in voltage in the input and output component. The best example of voltage regulation is the transmission or distribution line. By definition, the ability of a system to maintain a consistent voltage over a wide range of load conditions is known as voltage regulation.

Voltage drop isn't a very rare phenomenon. The consumers often face this kind of situation. But the voltage regular prevents the battery system from being affected by the voltage drop. 

3: Charging Function:

One additional feature that is required in a rechargeable lithium-ion battery system is charging function. As we mentioned above, a rechargeable battery requires an external power source which is ultimately connected using a charger. Hence, the battery charger is used to put energy into the cell through electric current. During the charging phase, the battery faces many risks, such as over-charging, short-circuiting, etc. To prevent these problems from affecting the system, charging function is added in the Power Management Controller IC. The smart chargers can even perform capacity testing and analysis functions as well to keep the system intact. 

In various types of battery, you will see a different set of features and abilities. The main reason behind using such components is to make sure that the power conversion efficiency of the batteries is maintained up to 95%. Some battery models even incorporate dynamic frequency scaling, which is a combination of two functions, i.e. dynamic voltage and frequency scaling. Other features that you can find a lithium-ion battery with PMC are low-dropout regulator, real-time clock, pulse frequency modulator, switching amplifier, etc. 

The more we dig deeper into the Power Management Controller and its relation with the battery system, the field will just keep on expanding. And with the comprehensible knowledge, it gets easier to keep the electronic devices intact and safe.