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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:



Parents

  • Are the outputs of signal generators generally isolated from Earth ground? I think I have always assumed they are Earth-referenced. If so, I suspect that's going to affect isolation results when the other side is connected to an oscilloscope. 

    If this becomes a test, I am going to have a strong interest in seeing the results!

  • in reply to baldengineer

    My Multicomp signal generator signals are definitely earth grounded. I am about to start a Digilent Analog Discovery 3 road test - I will check out its ground situation - running from a battery operated MS Surface. However I also have a hand held battery operated signal generator/scope that obviously is not connected to earth ground. I even have a hand held DVM that has some signal generator capability.

    Although I have enough equipment, I am still sorting out what I might learn from this road test.

  • in reply to dougw

    There is no question that the Analog Discovery 2 and 3 are Earth-referenced. Nothing on either is isolated.

    The AD2's published schematics show that. (Digilent decided with the AD3 they would no longer share that information.)

  • in reply to baldengineer

    I'm surprised that the AD2 and AD3 can't be powered just from the USB from a laptop, but it does seem that they are intended to be used with a separate 5V supply.

  • in reply to Fred27

    Yeah, okay, I guess you could use its generator (or scope) on a battery powered laptop. The aux power connector is only needed when using the AD2/3 as a power supply (and you need more current than USB can provide.)

    but then the next issue becomes the bandwidth limit. I you’d be limited to about 10 MHz and a I think this chip goes to 200 MHz. 

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  • in reply to Fred27

    Yeah, okay, I guess you could use its generator (or scope) on a battery powered laptop. The aux power connector is only needed when using the AD2/3 as a power supply (and you need more current than USB can provide.)

    but then the next issue becomes the bandwidth limit. I you’d be limited to about 10 MHz and a I think this chip goes to 200 MHz. 

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