RoadTest: Infineon Smart Power Switch Bundle
Author: MARK2011
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Development Boards & Tools
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?:
What were the biggest problems encountered?: After providing the extra terminals for SHIELD_BTS50010 - it can't be used with Arduino board.
Detailed Review:
First of all I'd like to express my thanks to Infineon and Element 14 for selecting me as the roadtester of this charming family of boards!
I do not want to bore you with the duplication of the process of opening a package.
I need to confirm, the shipment was very fast. All packed and delivered safely.
The set consist of 5 boards.
The roadtest concern three smart switches boards. They are accompanied with arduino board and Infineon's "arduino colleague" - XMC 1100 development board.
details below in documentation section.
Omitting the unpacking phase I would like to show, that I found the box of 24V Switch very convenient to keep all boards together 
Infineon prepared very professional support for its devices.
It is easy accessible on the Infineon site.
www.infineon.com/shields-for-arduino
https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/evaluation-boards/24v_shield_btt6030/
The switch board is equipped with 2x BTT6030-2EKA , 1x BTT6020-1EKA .
Above power MOSFETs belongs to the protected high-side PROFET+ 24V family
PROFET+ 24V is described here: https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/power/smart-low-side-high-side-switches/automotive-smart-high-side-switch-profet…
Switches provide embedded diagnostic and protective functions. Each power transistor is built by a n-channel vertical power MOSFET with charge pump.
The power switches are controlled via the INx (input) pins.
The PROFET + 24V devices also provide a sense current at the IS pin, which can be enabled via the DEN (Diagnosis ENable) pin.
For the two channel devices the sensed channel is selected via the DSEL (Diagnosis SELect) pin.
For each device the sense signal (IS) is connected to its own ADC channel of the microcontroller.
Documentation consist of technical datasheets, user manuals and application notes as well as software examples.
Detailed schematic below:
Power PROFET
https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/evaluation-boards/shield_bts50010-1tad/
Working in the range 8-18MAX V it provide up to 40A currents driving.
https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/evaluation-boards/shield_btf3050te/
The low-side smart switch consists out of three BTF3050TE of the HITFET family.
Together with above switches, I'v been provided with XMC1100 development board
The XMC1100 series belongs to the XMC1000 Family of industrial microcontrollers based on the ARM Cortex-M0 processor core.
XMC1100 is described here
More detailed description of the kit here:
https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/evaluation-boards/kit_xmc11_boot_001/#ispnTab1
In addition to extensive documentation, Infineon provides convenient users forum.
https://www.infineonforums.com/
Another outstanding support from Infineon is Infineon Designer
The online prototyping engine combining analog and digital simulation functionalities in an internet application.
It is available via web browser, neither installation nor licenses are needed.
https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/tools/landing/ifxdesigner.html
Examples of my experiments with Infineon Designer below:
regarding documentation. I found it very clear and informative. If you ask for my remarks or detected disadvantages I would complain on the sketch below:
(USER MANUAL - High Side Switch Shield with BTS50010-1TAD for Arduino)
The proposition of GND wiring is extremely uncomfortable. Instead I found ground terminal on XMC board.
The last definitely not least board in the set.
Is it really necessary to write about that amazing board
- I guess no, If you need something in the matter, there is no problem to start there:
In order to use and program the Infineon XMC 1100 in the Arduino IDE, SEGGER J-Link must be installed on the PC.
The most convenient way is to use GitHub Infineon repositories and proceed according to instructions.
https://github.com/Infineon/XMC-for-Arduino
Segger provides extensive J-Link control panel reach in features and informations:
After installation of Jlink,
the integration goes smooth
I need to be honest, After simple experiments with arduino+switch shield, I decided to concern strictly with XMC board.
Although it was possible to continue work in the Arduino IDE environment (according to above solution) I found,
that the best move would be install DAVE programming suite.
DAVE is free Eclipse based IDE using GNU C-compiler for XMC microcontrollers.
According to Infineons it is application oriented code repository merged with graphical system design methods
and automatic code generator to guide microcontroller user
along the entire process – from evaluation-to-production (E2P).
Infineon provides also example projects for DAVE™ Apps:
https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/promopages/aim-mc/dave_downloads.html
Using documentation and above examples I've realized that Dave environment is "programmer friendly"
It truly exceeded arduino IDE functionality. On the other hand as many eclipse environment it demands huge disc space. Installation takes significant time.
The only doubt was the problem with J-Link driver installation. According to papers and installation notices
the driver should be installed together with DAVE. Maybe I didn’t check appropriate box in menu during the process but finally I had to install it separately
After first power on the XMC board it invites us the simple chaser effect on its LEDs.
in order to use the arduino compatible boards with XMC1100, I had to solder the terminals
You can see, there are extra terminals available (beyond classic Arduino design)
Regarding extra completion
It is also worth adding a terminal to the BTS50010 board
Except of some space limitation : look -> green terminal is big too much and conflicts a little with TP Vout
Afterwards I realized, that prepared that way shield can't be used with original adruino board!!! 
Tested shields are perfect to drive 12V fans and halogen lamps.
Besides that technology (halogens) seems to be dying, I found it very useful in tests.
I conducted most experiments using 24VSHIELD
Probably there is still lack of detailed measurements. I tried to employ DAVE to read out smart shield diagnostic capability and protection features.
I watched the activation of thermal protection but did not dare to short circuit crash tests.
Programing with DAVE is really easy. I played with modification of examples provided with above switch boards.
XMC details in DAVe:
Infineons smart switches guarantee outstanding self-diagnostic and safety features. As the industrial standard devices they provides many advantages for designer.
There are no comparison with simple amateur home made solutions although using Infineons components one can dare to build competitive project.
Shields supports both arduino and Infineon XMC1100 development boards - in theory- in my opinion usage of them together with XMC seems to be easier.
I noticed some incompatibility with BTS50010.
My research showed the flexibility of DAVE programmer suite although, use of simple Arduino IDE is possible and - specially with small projects - even simpler.
Infineon papers and website - Infineon - https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/
Arduino papers and website - Arduino - https://www.arduino.cc/
Thank you again for selecting me as the roadtester.
Marek
Top Comments
It's nice to see that one of the road tests of this kit was actually a road test! A nice review.