STEVAL-ISB014V3

Being part of STMicroelectronic\'s STEVAL range of evaluation boards and kits, STEVAL-ISB014V3 is a Li-Ion battery charger evaluation board. It comprises of a high performance, high integrated, switch-mode battery charger based on the STBC03T1 and a companion USB microcontroller (STM32) board. It is designed to charge single cell Li-Ion/Li-Polymer rechargeable batteries. STEVAL-ISB014V3 helps to evaluate features like battery charging, monitoring of conditions like cell temperature and charging current.

The battery charger evaluation board is based on the STBC03T1, a highly integrated, Intelligent Secondary Battery charger controller. It features an input current limit of up to 3A and an output voltage of up to 18V with an output current of up to 1.5A. This single chip solution integrates a power MOSFET, current comparators, voltage references, temperature compensator as well as charge and safety timers. It also provides an EOC (end of charge) feature which allows the output voltage to float at a lower value once the charge current drops below 50mA, avoiding any possibility of overcharging the cell. The STBC03T1 can detect bad cell conditions as well as short or open cells.

The companion microcontroller board of STEVAL-ISB014V3 is based on the STM32F070CB Cortex M0 microcontroller. It is used for communicating with the STBC03T1 for setting up the various parameters like cell voltage, charge current and temperature thresholds as per user requirements. The STBC03T1 also provides real-time monitoring of these parameters and the microcontroller board is used for displaying this data. Additionally, this microcontroller board also provides a USB interface that allows PC access to the on board HID stack, meaning that PC communication with the board can be done through a generic GUI, included in the STSW-ISB014 software package.

STEVAL-ISB014V3 features two push buttons and a red LED. These push buttons are used to quickly set the charging current values to 0.1A, 0.2A and 0.3A respectively. The LED indicates the charging status along with the low battery cutoff status.

The application field of the STEVAL-ISB014V3 is suitable for practically any application which needs a portable power source. It is well suited for low power applications like USB powered portable products, lighting applications as well as battery powered medical devices. STEVAL-ISB014V3 is mainly useful for evaluating the features of the STBC03T1 like Over Temperature Protection (OTP), Short Circuit Protection (SCP) and Over Voltage Protection (OVP). It helps the engineers to quickly develop, test and release products which use rechargeable Li-Ion batteries.

In summary, STEVAL-ISB014V3 is an evaluation board and kit from STMicroelectronics, used to evaluate and demonstrate the features of the STBC03T1. It features an input current limit of up to 3A, an output voltage of up to 18V and an output current of up to 1.5A. The STM32F070CB based microcontroller board of the STEVAL-ISB014V3 is used for PC communication and to set up and monitor various parameters like charging current and voltage. The STEVAL-ISB014V3 suits a wide range of applications like low power USB powered devices, lighting applications and medical applications, which require a portable power source.