The ISL81601EVAL1Z evaluation board integrates the ISL81601, a true bidirectional synchronous controller with four 60V high-voltage switches. The chip, which utilizes the silicon vendor's proprietary buck-boost algorithms, offers average and peak current detection and monitoring in both buck and boost modes. Furthermore, it ensures high reliability in the equipment using it by providing current limiting in each cycle under fast transient conditions in both directions and at the line or load end.
Among other capabilities, the ISL81601 features external soft start, independent trigger functions, and a wide range of protections, including overvoltage, undervoltage, overcurrent, and overtemperature protection. The IC also offers a maximum efficiency of 99% for point-of-load (POL) and rail voltage conversion; a gate driver with up to 20 A for buck-boost output; and a programmable switching frequency between 100 and 600 kHz, which helps optimize inductor size.
The evaluation board offers a very wide input voltage range: from 9 to 60 V, and both the board and the IC are suitable for a wide variety of applications, such as backup batteries, power supplies and USB Type-C chargers, and redundant power supplies.
Furthermore, thanks to the chip's wide input voltage range, it is expected to be commonly used in telecommunications applications, battery-powered industrial equipment and the automotive aftermarket, as well as in other applications for medical equipment, robots, drones and the security surveillance sector.
