This week’s part of the week is a Linear Technology’s LT8584. The part is a DC-DC converter that is designed for a very specific purpose- active balancing of battery cells. In a typical long battery string, no matter how tightly matched initially, there will always be cells that end up with a bit more or a bit less charge. Over time these imbalances start affecting what the battery can deliver, as one week cell may trigger undervoltage limit for example and shut the whole pack down despite other cells being perfectly happy. Continue reading →