The universal fast-charging ecosystem is rapidly expanding and the latest USB PD chargers can have power ratings up to 100W and can optimise charging by dynamically adjusting current and voltage thanks to the USB Programmable Power Supply (PPS) feature of USB PD.
A huge diversity of products such as smart speakers, power tools, wearables, robots, gaming controllers, power banks, and drones, traditionally recharged at 5V through older USB micro-B or proprietary connectors, will now be able to leverage this ecosystem to benefit from the advantages and interoperability of USB-C technology while charging faster.
To support this migration, ST has developed a USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) certified evaluation board for up to 100W PPS USB Power Sinking Devices (PSD) that helps developers accelerate new designs and supports certification of the end product.
The certified device (USB-IF TID: 3036) combines ST’s Nucleo-G071RB and X-Nucleo-USBPDM1 development boards. The Nucleo-G071RB features an STM32G0 microcontroller, the first general-purpose microcontroller to integrate a USB Type-C Power Delivery controller on-chip, enabling greater system integration as well as the possibility to support new application use cases. The X-Nucleo-USBPDM1 board contains ST’s TCPP01-M12 companion chip for port protection.
Customers will also be able to leverage the powerful tools and software of the STM32 ecosystem to complete their projects quickly and easily. Applications already using a microcontroller with legacy 5V USB charging can be updated to USB Type-C with only a small number of external components.
