11.3 Thermal Considerations

The bq21040 is packaged in a thermally-enhanced MLP package. The package includes a thermal pad to provide an effective thermal contact between the IC and the printed circuit board (PCB). The power pad should be directly connected to the VSS terminal. The most common measure of package thermal performance is thermal impedance (R_θJA) measured (or modeled) from the chip junction to the air surrounding the package surface (ambient). The mathematical expression for ψ_JT is:

Factors that can influence the measurement and calculation of ψ_JT include:

1. Whether or not the device is board mounted
2. Trace size, composition, thickness, and geometry
3. Orientation of the device (horizontal or vertical)
4. Volume of the ambient air surrounding the device under test and airflow
5. Whether other surfaces are in close proximity to the device being tested

Due to the charge profile of Li-Ion and Li-Pol batteries the maximum power dissipation is typically seen at the beginning of the charge cycle when the battery voltage is at its lowest. Typically after fast charge begins the pack voltage increases to ≉3.4V within the first 2 minutes. The thermal time constant of the assembly typically takes a few minutes to heat up so when doing maximum power dissipation calculations, 3.4V is a good minimum voltage to use. This is verified, with the system and a fully discharged battery, by plotting temperature on the bottom of the PCB under the IC (pad should have multiple vias), the charge current and the battery voltage as a function of time. The fast charge current will start to taper off if the part goes into thermal regulation.

The device power dissipation, P, is a function of the charge rate and the voltage drop across the internal PowerFET. It can be calculated from the following equation when a battery pack is being charged:

The thermal loop feature reduces the charge current to limit excessive IC junction temperature. It is recommended that the design not run in thermal regulation for typical operating conditions (nominal input voltage and nominal ambient temperatures) and use the feature for non typical situations such as hot environments or higher than normal input source voltage. With that said, the IC will still perform as described, if the thermal loop is always active.