Standalone Vbus-powered controller is certified for 5V sink-only applications
For 5V USB-C charging applications, STMicroelectronics has developed the STUSB4500L, a small-footprint addition to its USB-C controller IC family designed and certified for pure 5V sink-only applications. Features that are required to use the USB-C connector as a 5V universal power plug are integrated, for designers to implement USB-C charging solutions quickly and easily without studying the standard or writing code, says ST.
USB-C is rapidly becoming established as a replacement for Micro-B or Mini-B plugs, for both power and data connections. Benefits are that it offers reversible orientation and robustness with up to 10,000 connect/disconnect cycles.
The STUSB4500L USB-C controller IC is a standalone, plug-and-play interface, targeting low-voltage applications such as Bluetooth speakers, computer accessories, Wi-Fi access points, point of sale (PoS) equipment, LED lighting, and USB dongles. It can also be used for powering equipment such as single board computers and hardware development kits. The controller IC runs without additional code and requires no external support from the microcontroller, saving time in design work to adopt the USB-C connector standard, ST says.
The STUSB4500L is auto-powered via Vbus from the connected source and does not need to be supplied from a local battery or on-board power. Zero leakage current prevents draining the battery when not charging. Input over-voltage protection prevents low-voltage equipment being damaged if it is incorrectly connected, for example, to a 20V source from a USB PD AC adapter rather than the required 5V supply.
There is also ‘dead-battery’ support to ensure correct identification by the source when the battery is fully discharged. Other features are true cold-socket implementation, which keeps the Vbus switch open by default until safe 5V input power is supplied, source power-budget identification and error-recovery support to ensure correct re-starting when a fault is triggered.
The STUSB4500L is in production now, in a choice of 4.0 x 4.0mm QFN-24 package or 2.6 x 2.6mm CSP-25 chip-scale package.
For prototyping, ST also offers the Eval-SCS002V1 reference design, which has a small footprint of just 2.5cm². For fast implementation into proprietary designs, the full PCB design libraries can be downloaded free of charge from the company’s website.
