Power IC from SWINDON for powering hearing aid from Silver-Zinc battery

SWINDON Silicon Systems has announced a technology partnership with silver-zinc battery manufacturer ZPower LLC. Under the agreement SWINDON will develop and manufacture a miniature power management ASIC that will allow hearing aid manufacturers to use ZPower battery technology without any modifications to their existing DSP systems.

“ZPower's high energy rechargeable microbatteries are a major boon to hearing aid users. They deliver a full day of use with convenient charging at night while users sleep. They also generate significantly less waste compared to disposable batteries and are fully recyclable,” says Richard Mount, Sales and Marketing Director at SWINDON. “The SWINDON ASIC will make this technology available to all hearing aid manufacturers allowing them to develop new product designs using rechargeable rather than disposable batteries."

The SWINDON power management ASIC will employ a multimode DC-DC converter designed to deliver high efficiency over the full discharge period of the battery. It will be tiny and allow the use of a small number of 0201 capacitors for a small footprint and low bill of materials.

“SWINDONS’s experience designing low current, low power tyre pressure monitoring system ASICs enables this solution to have the highest efficiency design,” says Troy Renken, Vice President of Product Planning and Electronics at ZPower. “Every improvement in power conversion efficiency translates directly into longer battery life in the hearing aid.”

Visit www.swindonsilicon.co.uk for further information on SWINDON’s ASIC solutions.