Battery-fuel-gauge ICs, or gas gauges, are at the heart of modern battery-management systems. They not only maintain accurate estimates of the capacity remaining in the battery but also can serve as the host's battery-data-acquisition and -management system, primary battery-protection device, and cell-balancing system, as well as maintain records of battery-use history. Some gas-gauge systems comprise an analog-front-end IC that provides the high-speed protection and voltage-measurement capabilities and the gas-gauge IC that maintains the capacity estimate and other more complex functions. Increasingly, one IC combines the analog-front-end and gas-gauge functions.
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