COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF AUTOMOTIVE USB TYPE-C POWER DELIVERY CHARGER ICS

Abstract

Automotive charging systems in EV two-wheelers operate under continuously changing battery and load conditions during real-time usage. In an EV scooter cluster, integrating wired smartphone charging requires the charging system to deliver stable performance, high efficiency, and reliable protection across different operating conditions. USB Type C Power Delivery (USB PD) technology has become a suitable solution for such applications because it supports fast charging and flexible power delivery. The thesis focuses on three automotive USB PD charging ICs: the Injoinic IC from Injoinic Technology, the power delivery evaluation board from Monolithic Power Systems, and the Renesas evaluation board featuring a three-level buck converter integrated. The Injoinic IC charger circuit was implemented on a 5-inch TFT display board using a custom schematic designed in Cadence software for the S1X cluster PCB. At the same time, the MPS and Renesas devices were evaluated using dedicated evaluation boards. Hardware testing was carried out using laboratory instruments, including a DC power supply, an electronic DC load, a DSO and a USB PD analyser for protocol detection. USB PD negotiation and protocol analysis were performed using a PD sink trigger board and Charger LAB PD analyzer. Hardware testing mainly included efficiency measurements at different load currents, protocol verification, and protection validation under various USB PD voltage profiles. Performance characterisation was carried out under PDO operation at 5V, 9V, and 12V. The MPS evaluation board demonstrates higher efficiency and greater configurability via the Virtual Bench Pro software interface when testing the charger IC across different voltage profiles. The Injoinic IC offered a compact, integrated charging solution suitable for integration into TFT displays. Initial testing of the Renesas board is for higher-power applications in laptops. However, further validation was not possible due to hardware damage. Experimental measurements indicated that passive component selection and output voltage profiles significantly influence the buck converter's efficiency, switching behaviour, and thermal performance. The results were utilised to compare the practical implementation, protocol capabilities, efficiency characteristics, and protection behaviour of various automotive USB PD charging.