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Seeking Your Interest in Roadtesting a Digital Isolator Board

rscasny

Hi All.

imageI had a call with one of suppliers who is interested in roadtesting one of its digital isolator boards. We have not done much with digital isolators in the roadtest program. But given the need for circuit isolation and the safety they provide, I wanted the community to roadtest this product. In addition, another reason was the learning experience the roadtesters can provide community members on this product.

Here is some basic information on this board:

The evaluation kits are designed to evaluate the MAX22563−MAX22566, a family of reinforced, six-channel, galvanic digital isolators in a 20-pin SSOP package.

Two types of evaluation boards are available:

  • The MAX22565CAEVKIT# is fully assembled and tested, and comes populated with the MAX22565CAAP+ (Not used in this roadtest)
  • The MAX2256XAEVKIT# is a generic board that has U1 unpopulated, allowing to select a device from the MAX22563−MAX22566 family. This is the kit that will be used for this roadtest. The MAX2256XAEVKIT# comes with U1 unpopulated and supports the following digital isolators: MAX22563BAAP+, MAX22563CAAP+, MAX22564BAAP+, MAX22564CAAP+, MAX22565BAAP+, MAX22565CAAP+, MAX22566BAAP+, and MAX22566CAAP+.

imageEquipment needed for roadtesting:

You need some test equipment to roadtest the MAX2256XA EV kit:
• MAX22563−MAX22566 device if U1 is unpopulated on EV kit. (The roadtester and I will get together to order the desired device needed.)
• Two DC power supplies with output range of 1.71V to 5.5V
• Signal/function generator
• Oscilloscope
Note: The EV kit should be powered from two independent isolated power supplies with nominal output voltage in the range from 1.71V to 5.5V. To evaluate the electrical parameters of the device without any isolation between the two sides, a single power supply can also be used.

Element14 would not provide the test equipment.

Roadtesters would need to have the bench equipment for this roadtest. If you are an electronic design engineer, you likely have access to most of these equipment. This seems like a lot to ask, and it is. But I think this is a valuable roadtest to offer the community. The reviews the roadtesters write would not only be good learning experiences, but would also provide customers more than a datasheet to select a digital isolator when the need arises. 

Here's some documentation on the board:

Datasheet
Manufacturer's page

For Additional Information

Here's a couple of polls for which to vote:



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  • Reminds me of this: /members-area/b/blog/posts/debugging-the-turing-welchmann-bombe

    They missed a trick by not providing an isolated DC/DC 5V voltage regulator to power both sides so only one supply is needed.  That would have been useful even for an evaluation board but if someone wanted to lump out for one to participate, they could jury rig a power input for a standard wall wart.  

    The roadtest could be achieved without a signal generator if it's possible for the tester to connect to a piece of equipment that doesn't share the same earth ground, like the Bombe.  It would need to generate fast signals to do the roadtest justice though.

    One other requirement for roadsters is of course the ability to solder a 20-pin SSOP package.  From the photo, the position looks accessible to get a soldering iron in, but hot air gun would probably be more useful.

  • in reply to Andrew J

    Getting the roadtester a hot air gun along with the kit is not out of the realm of possibilities. And may be needed given the added task in this roadtest. Clearly, if a customert bought this board he/she would have to select and solder the chip onto the board, so it would be good to see it done in the roadtest and have the roadtester give some feedback on the level of difficult of the task. 

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  • in reply to Andrew J

    Getting the roadtester a hot air gun along with the kit is not out of the realm of possibilities. And may be needed given the added task in this roadtest. Clearly, if a customert bought this board he/she would have to select and solder the chip onto the board, so it would be good to see it done in the roadtest and have the roadtester give some feedback on the level of difficult of the task. 

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