UG036 Rev 0.00
Page 3 of 17
August 7, 2015
lSL8273MEVAL1Z
Recommended Equipment
• DC power supply with minimum 15V/40A sourcing capacity
• Electronic load capable of sinking current up to 80A
• Digital Multimeters (DMMs)
• Oscilloscope with higher than 100MHz bandwidth
Functional Description
The ISL8273MEVAL1Z provides all circuitry required to evaluate
the features of the ISL8273M. A majority of the features of the
ISL8273M, such as compensation-free ChargeMode™ control,
soft-start delay and ramp times, supply sequencing and voltage
margining are available on this evaluation board. For sequencing
evaluation, the board can be connected to any Intersil digital
module evaluation board that supports the DDC bus.
Figures 2
and
3
show the board images of the ISL8273MEVAL1Z
evaluation board.
Quick Start Guide
Pin-strap Option
ISL8273MEVAL1Z can be configured in pin-strap mode with
standard 1% 0603 resistors. PMBus interface is not required to
evaluate ISL8273M in pin-strap mode. Output voltage (V
OUT
),
switching frequency (f
SW
), soft-start/stop delay and ramp time,
input undervoltage protection (UVLO) threshold, ASCR gain and
residual, and device PMBus address can be changed by
populating recommended resistors at placeholders provided in
the evaluation board. By default, the evaluation board operates
in pin-strap mode and regulates at V
OUT
= 1V, f
SW
= 364kHz,
soft-start/stop delay time = 5ms, soft-start/stop ramp
time = -5ms to 5ms, UVLO = 4.5V, ASCR gain = 200, ASCR
residual = 90 and PMBus address = 28h. Follow these steps to
evaluate the ISL8273M in pin-strap mode.
1. Set ENABLE switch to “DISABLE”.
2. Connect Load to VOUT lug connectors (J7-J8 and J9-J10).
3. Connect power supply to VIN connectors (J5 and J6). Make
sure power supply is not enabled when making connection.
4. Turn power supply on.
5. Set ENABLE switch to “ENABLE”.
6. Measure 1V V
OUT
at probe point labeled “VOUT REGULATION
MONITOR” (J11).
7. Observe switching frequency of 364kHz at probe points
labeled “PHASE1” (TP10) and “PHASE2” (TP11).
8. To measure the module efficiency, connect the multimeter
voltage probes at probe points labeled “VIN” (TP1), “GND”
(TP2) and “VOUT” (TP12).
9. To change V
OUT,
disconnect board from the setup and
populate a 1% standard 0603 resistor at RVSET placeholder
location on bottom layer. Refer to the “Output Voltage
Resistor Settings” table in the
ISL8273M
datasheet for
recommended values. By default, VOUT_MAX is set to 110%
of V
OUT
set by pin-strap resistor.
10. To change switching frequency, disconnect board from the
setup and populate a 1% standard 0603 resistor at the RFSET
placeholder location on bottom layer. Refer to the “Switching
Frequency Resistor Settings” table in the
ISL8273M
datasheet for recommended values.
11. To change soft-start/stop delay and ramp time, disconnect
board from the setup and populate a 1% standard 0603
resistor at R
6
placeholder location on bottom layer. Refer to
the “Soft Start/Stop Resistor Settings” table in the
ISL8273M
datasheet for recommended values.
12. To change UVLO, disconnect board from the setup and
populate a 1% standard 0603 resistor at the R
6
placeholder
location on bottom layer. Refer to the “UVLO Resistor Settings”
table in the
ISL8273M
datasheet for recommended values.
Notice that the UVLO programming shares the same pin with
soft-start/stop programming.
13. To change ASCR gain and residual, disconnect board from the
setup and populate a 1% standard 0603 resistor at the R
7
placeholder location on bottom layer. Refer to the “ASCR
Resistor Settings” table and the design guide matrix in the
ISL8273M
datasheet for recommended values.
PMBus Option
ISL8273MEVAL1Z can be evaluated for all features using the
provided ZLUSBEVAL3Z dongle and PowerNavigator™ evaluation
software. Follow these steps to evaluate theISL8273M with
PMBus option.
1. Install PowerNavigator™ software from the following Intersil
website:
www.intersil.com/powernavigator
2. Set ENABLE switch to “DISABLE”.
3. Connect Load to VOUT lug connectors (J7-J8 and J9-J10).
4. Connect power supply to VIN connectors (J5 and J6). Make
sure power supply is not enabled when making connection.
5. Connect the ZLUSBEVAL3Z dongle (USB to PMBus™ adapter)
to the ISL8273MEVAL1Z board using the 6-pin male
connector labeled “PMBus DONGLE IN”.
6. Turn power supply on.
7. Connect supplied USB cable from computer USB to
ZLUSBEVAL3Z dongle.
8. Launch PowerNavigator™ software.
9. It is optional to load a predefined setup from a configuration
file using the PowerNavigator™ software. The ISL8273M
device on the board operates in pin-strap mode from factory
default, but the user may modify the operating parameters
through the evaluation software or by loading a predefined
set-up from a configuration file. A sample
“Configuration File”
on page 7
is provided and can be copied to a notepad editor
to make desired changes. The default pin-strap
configurations will be overwritten if a user-defined
configuration file is loaded.
10. Set the ENABLE switch to “ENABLE”. Alternatively, the PMBus
ON_OFF_CONFIG and OPERATION commands may be used
from the PowerNavigator™ software to allow PMBus Enable.
11. Monitor and configure the ISL8273MEVAL1Z board using the
PMBus commands in the evaluation software. To store the
configuration changes, disable the module and use the
command STORE_USER_ALL. To restore factory default
