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#640 – Software Defined Power Supplies with Werner Johansson
Welcome Werner Johansson of Qoitech!
- Chris and Werner met when Werner gave a talk at HDDG in 2017
- The talk focused on Xmega parts, which have a 2 Msps ADC
- Qoitech is a Sony spinoff, where Werner was working on testing batteries on the cellphones.He had previously also worked on automation during linux mainline work.
- Serial port control is an important thing when doing automated testing
- CDB assist
- PSOC5-LP has a CPLD in it
- The Otii Arc was the first product from Qoitech, it’s a 2 quandrant power supply. They started in 2015/2016.
- Chris asked if Werner had previously had used the Keithley 2306
- Field testing is an imporant area for the Otii product line. “Measuremenets on the go” are easier with the extruded case form factor.
- No computer will give you USB PD output power of more than 15W. Test equipment would benefit from a full 200W
- Analyzer (Twinkie?)
- A hub might be possible
- USB Extended Power Range (EPR) will allow 240W
- Are you sure you should plug that into your computer? Reminder about the OMG cable discussed on the show with MG
- New EPR at 48V has specific shape for arcing
- When designing a power supply for tattoo machine, it could only weigh half the weight of the cable (64g)
- Software defined buck boost was discussed on CNLohr episode
- Digital control is easier to get stable than analog because of programmable delays in the pipeline. You need to measure how long it takes to get the output to “show up”
- Audio project real time jam sessions
- The new product from Qoitech (that Chris got to see at Embedded World in 2023) is the Otii Ace
- PJRC convinced Werner to check out the NXP RT106x family (instead of RT105x)
- Otii is working on battery stuff
- Arc has been out since 2017, but was limited output voltages 500 mv – 5V
- Ace came out recently and goes up to 25V at 5A
- 3 isolation domains in Ace – chassis, banana jacks, expansion ports
- Want resistor on low side for coloumb counter
- Can stack Aces up to 200V
- Dealing with RFI when different domains
- Increased sample rate
- 8 simultaneous sampled ADCs
- Turns readings into audio signals for RT1060, which allows data to stream easier
- There is one reference voltage driving everything in the design, they send frequency spike across gaps to all isolated sections using RF isolators
- Hard time getting the RT1060 parts during shortage
- Battery stuff
- Stepping through the battery internal resistance
- Edging into the world of SMUs
- Building a curve
- Replaying battery data
- Battery emulation
- Continuous integration testing
- Syncing to firmware
- Battery aging
- Devices running on coin cells
- Cycling and automated testing and see it degrade over time
- Thinking of batteries as impedance devices
- Batteries having a passivation layer
- “Low power” means different things to different people
- Teardown of battery emulator
- Low power is less than 200W
- Qoitech equipment has been used in testing and production, including “in-the-loop” testing
- “Generational degrade” when using previous versions of the product to validate new versions of the product. Instead they have a NIST traceable DMM in the loop
- Chris mentions ever calibration shop has a Fluke calibrator. Apparently the HP 8753 wasn’t available in EU because of RoHS.
- To learn more about Werner and the Qoitech team, check out the Otii Ace page