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Powering AD5941 with Buck-Boost

Thread Summary

The user is designing a battery-powered wearable device with a single-cell Li-ion battery and USB Type-C interface, using the BQ24075 for power-path management and the AD5941 ADC. The initial plan to use the ADM7155 LDO for powering the ADC was reconsidered due to limited headroom and dropout voltage. The user opted for the ADP2504 buck-boost converter to maintain stable 3.3V output across the battery discharge range. The final design includes a 3.255V AVDD and 3.299V DVDD/IOVDD, with ripple analysis showing 38mV (AVDD) and 41.5mV (DVDD) ripple. The engineer confirmed that the ripple is acceptable if it remains below 27.77mV, suggesting increasing output capacitance to reduce ripple further.
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Category: Hardware
Product Number: AD5941

Basic Explanation of my System:

The proposed design is a battery-powered wearable device that integrates advanced sensing and power management features. The system operates primarily from a single-cell Li-ion battery (3.7 V nominal) and includes a USB Type-C interface for charging and external power supply.

The device uses a battery charger with power-path management ( BQ24075) to ensure seamless operation:

  • When USB power is connected, the system is powered directly from the USB input while simultaneously charging the battery.
  • When USB is disconnected, the system automatically switches to battery power without interruption.

fuel gauge IC monitors battery health parameters such as voltage, state of charge (SOC), and remaining capacity, reporting these to the microcontroller via I²C.

The system includes an electrochemical front end (AD5941) with a 16-bit ADC for high-precision sensor measurements.

Sensor signals are routed through a multiplexer (MUX) to the AD5941, which interfaces with an STM32 microcontroller development board for data acquisition and processing.

My Question

Initially, I considered using the ADM7155 low-noise LDO to power the ADC. However, given the system’s 3.7 V Li-ion battery, the limited headroom and dropout voltage of the ADM7155 present a challenge, especially as the battery discharges.

To address this, I decided to use a buck-boost converter, specifically the ADP2504, which can maintain a stable output voltage across the full battery discharge range and during USB power input. This ensures reliable operation for both the ADC and the microcontroller.

For powering the AD5941, my plan is to supply DVDD directly from the ADP2504 output and derive AVDD from DVDD using a ferrite bead for isolation, along with appropriate decoupling capacitors. This approach minimizes noise coupling between digital and analog domains while maintaining a compact and efficient power architecture.

Could you confirm if this is an optimal solution for powering the AD5941 in a wearable application.

Or may I know you have any suggestions for better circuit /IC options

Parents
  • Hi,

     

    You would get good noise performance by using a buck-boost converter to regulate the voltage to about 3.7V and then for any noise sensitive chips, using a part like the LT3045, LT3042, LT3046, or any other current source reference LDO (like those from the LT304X family) to provide your ADC with 3.3V.

     

    Alternatively, I think a better solution would be that you could power the rest of your system via the 3.3V buck-boost, and then power the ADC directly from the battery, since the ADC will operate down to 2.8V and generates its own reference. Batteries have better noise performance than LDOs (except for the LDOs from our LT304X family), and when the battery drops below the 2.8V minimum to power the ADC, the battery should already be about 95-97% discharged. Finally, discharging the battery down below 2.8V will likely reduce the life of the battery since the more often and deeper it is discharged, the more likely it is to become damaged and the life reduced.

     

    Thanks!

     

    Thanks!

Reply
  • Hi,

     

    You would get good noise performance by using a buck-boost converter to regulate the voltage to about 3.7V and then for any noise sensitive chips, using a part like the LT3045, LT3042, LT3046, or any other current source reference LDO (like those from the LT304X family) to provide your ADC with 3.3V.

     

    Alternatively, I think a better solution would be that you could power the rest of your system via the 3.3V buck-boost, and then power the ADC directly from the battery, since the ADC will operate down to 2.8V and generates its own reference. Batteries have better noise performance than LDOs (except for the LDOs from our LT304X family), and when the battery drops below the 2.8V minimum to power the ADC, the battery should already be about 95-97% discharged. Finally, discharging the battery down below 2.8V will likely reduce the life of the battery since the more often and deeper it is discharged, the more likely it is to become damaged and the life reduced.

     

    Thanks!

     

    Thanks!

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