We are looking for a bidirectional DC-DC converter for one of our intended EV applications. We have gone through your product catalogs and shortlisted two evaluation kits namely EPC9163 & EPC9163. Now, we would like to know, whether either of these two boards can be dynamically controlled to ensure seamless transition between boost and buck operating modes for load power delivery and recuperation of regenerative power respectively.
Please also let us know whether the source code can be provided for possible modification as per our requirement.
Hello,
thank you for your interest in EPC products. The firmware for these boards is supported by Microchip and they are in the process of setting up the support page on Github. In the meantime please find attached the project file.
bdbb-1to4phase.X.zip (2.5 MB)
To ease the switch between different boards, you need to change the description header files for each platform (EPC9163C and EPC9137), the default is EPC9137
Switching between configurations, will assign different sets of header files. As all related settings are made there, the firmware automatically maps to the selected hardware platform.
Important:
No matter what hardware platform is selected, the firmware will always operate in fixed boost mode on 4 phases.
Changes to the default operating mode (buck or boost) as well as changes in the number of phases still requires reworking the epc91xx_config.h header file.
Microchip is working on a version that will enable easier switching, but it is not ready for now.
I hope this helps!
Thank you for your reply. We are already in a process of procuring EPC9165KIT. Is the project file bdbb-1to4phase.X.zip, send by you, is applicable to EPC9165KIT as well?
Yes, the EPC9165 is also supported
The ZIP file appears to be password protected. Is this intentional?
never mind – the password was easy to guess → “microchip”
Also, please note that this version is using PowerSmart version 1.2, which is not fully released from Microchip as of this writing. The new version is required for the additional features for phase multiplexing, current sharing and bidirectional control features. Until this version is released by Microchip, users won’t be able to adjust the control loops.