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INA238: Alert Pin function

SARA GALLINI
Prodigy 20 points
Part Number: INA238
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: INA4230, INA4235

Tool/software:

Dear technical support,

we are building an Automatic Test Equipment to power up 16 DUT while measuring the supply current through an array of 16 INA238.

I'd like to use the ALERT pin mainly as an overcurrent detector, so that its signal should  be fed back to the high-side switch controlling the DUT, in order to cut the supply from that specific DUT.

My question is: since the ALERT pin also has the "Conversion Complete" functionality, can I simply feed the ALERT signal to a logic that controls the high-side switch (e.g. and AND port: ALERT + the mcu signal)?

Is there a better way to manage 16 ALERT signals from 16 INA238? Note that only one DUT at a time is powered up.

Eventually, can I connect all the 16 ALERT signals to a single bus, and utilize a microcontroller deactivate an high-side switch during an overcurrent event?

Thanks for your support,

Andrea

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 25315 points

    Hello Andrea,

    If you want, you can disable the conversion ready flag on the ALERT pin and just use the pin for your logic control (you can even adjust the ALERT to be active high or active low to better control a logic circuit). But if you want to do a logic with conversion ready on alert pin enabled, then you would still have to read the INA register settings to see if there was the alert you were looking for, so in that case it may be easier to just control it from the MCU only. (If you do not have the conversion ready on the ALERT pin, you can still read from the device to check the conversion ready flag in the DIAG_ALRT register.)

    If you have all 16 devices on the same bus, then when one device triggers the alert, you can use the SMBus Alert Response to easily see which device triggered the Alert:

    Regards,

    Mitch

  • 0 in reply to Mitch M
    TI__Mastermind 25315 points

    As a side note, since you are using 16 devices, you may be interested in our new 4 channel devices, the INA4235 and INA4230.