Power Line Transceivers
Evaluation Boards

Evaluation Board Selector

New ST7538/40 FSK Power Line Modem DEMO KIT

Fast and flexible evaluation of the ST7538 and ST7540 Power Line Transceivers (PLT) is now possible thanks to the new "ST7538/40 FSK POWER LINE MODEM DEMO KIT".

This new evaluation environment is composed by a PC that communicates, through an ST7 microcontroller placed on a general purpose board called EVALCOMMBOARD, with the new PLT boards equipped with ST7538 or ST7540 products, named respectively EVALST7538DUAL and EVALST7540-1.

The PC will control the EVALCOMMBOARD through the use of a RS-232 or USB serial interface.

A Windows compatible software tool allows the control of one or more ST PLT boards: at first run, the software automatically recognizes which type of device is connected to the PC and configures itself accordingly.

An outline of the Application Environment:

With the "ST7538/40 FSK POWER LINE MODEM DEMO KIT" it is possible to:

Click to download the Software

ST7538 demo kit GUI user manual

ST7540 demo kit GUI user manual

EVALCOMM BOARD
The EVALCOMM BOARD is a general purpose board developed around the following principles:

•  Provide a reliable and flexible communication channel between a controlling PC and the different reference design boards
•  Run dedicated FW available for all reference designs.
•  Interact with dedicated SW implementing a reference design specific Graphical User Interface (GUI).

The EVALCOMM BOARD is based on a ST72F651AR6 USB microcontroller, providing as main interface to the controlling PC a standard 12 Mbps USB, available on all recent PCs. An RS232 interface is also available, which can be used as spare communication port.

Specific interfaces to different reference design boards are present, providing high flexibility for several applications. Ten bits Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) and high gain, high bandwidth amplifiers are present on the board. Jumpers, switches and LEDs give further adaptability and visualization tools.

A full range of dedicated FW, GUIs and reference design boards are available for different Industrial products.

Click to download the User manual UM0240

EVALST7538DUAL BOARD
The EVALST7538DUAL board integrates the ST7538 Power Line Transceiver along with the power supply section, the signal coupling interface section, crystal oscillator and device protections. The coupling interface section has been realized for communication on CENELEC Band A used mainly for AMR applications, with the possibility of programmable switching between 72kHz and 86kHz communication channels. This half-duplex “dual channel” communication feature has been implemented through optimized receiving and transmitting filters on the board.

Schematics:

Bill Of Material     Modem Section        Power Supply Section

Application Note AN2451

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

All the boards developed for Power Line Communication must be used only by expert technicians, due to the high voltage (110-220 V AC) present on the not isolated parts.
Special care must be taken to avoid risk for people safety.

There are no protections against high voltage accidental human contact.
After disconnection of the board from the mains, all the live part must not be touched immediately, because of the energized capacitors.
Do not connect any oscilloscope probe to not isolated sections in order to avoid instruments and demo tools destruction.
It is mandatory to use mains insulation transformer (VARIAC) to perform any tests on the high voltage sections in which test instruments (for instance, Spectrum Analyzers) are used.

ST assumes no responsibility for the consequences of use of such development tools.