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AFE031: Inquiry About AFE031 IC for Power Line Communication over 230V AC

Sergio Martins
Prodigy 20 points
Part Number: AFE031

Tool/software:

Hi,

I'm interested in learning more about your AFE031 IC and its capability to communicate over single-phase mains power lines (230Vac, 50Hz) within a compact footprint. Specifically, I'm looking for a solution that avoids the use of bulky isolation transformers while still maintaining compliance with standard isolation requirements between the mains and DC side.

Our application is not critical and only requires modest communication speeds, on the order of a few kbps, as we need to transmit small data packets across the existing 2-wire AC power lines. These packets will be used to keep all slave devices on the circuit synchronised.

The master device, which also uses the AFE031 IC, has sufficient space for additional components. However, the slave devices are space-constrained, so the electronics required to interface with the AC power lines (read data, transmit, and maintain isolation) must be as compact as possible, ideally relying on X2-Safety Class Film Non-Polarized  capacitors for isolation as these are small.

Could you please provide more details on how the AFE031 IC addresses these requirements?

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 23049 points

    Hello Sergio,

    Thank you for your detailed questions.  I have a few options I am researching for you, as well as checking my understanding with our experts on AFE031.  

    Can I confirm you are asking about AFE031 isolation & interface with AC power lines, including if the use of X2-class capacitors is sufficient compared to a larger (bulky) isolation transformer solution?

    The AFE031 does not have isolation internal to the device.

    Best,

    Alec

  • 0
    Prodigy 20 points

    Thank you Alec. To answer your question, having X2-class capacitors instead of transformer where the PCL IC taps to the power lines is a must.

    Further more to give you a bit of an insight to our challenge, the following depicts the type of control we want to achieve and the challenges. As you can see the Master PLC IC needs to communicate to the slave units via a step-down isolation transformer (230V AC to 12V AC) designed for 50 Hz which will likely attenuate and cancel the high-frequency PLC signal. The Isolation transformers are daisy chained in series so the 230Vac supply is all connected together with no obstructions. Only the 12Vac to the Slave PLC IC needs to go through the isolation transformer. The on the secondary side of the transformers to the Slave PLC IC  is a normal 2-wire stranded power copper cable from 20 to 40 metres long.

    To get around this problem in the current isolation transformer, we will add a another and appropriate PLC transformer designed for PLC signal coupling, not power transfer, with a turns ratio of 1:4 (step-up), 20 µH min inductance at 2 MHz. Is this something you seen other customers doing when faced with a similar type of application? 

  • 0 in reply to Sergio Martins
    TI__Mastermind 23049 points

    Hello Sergio,

    Thank you for sharing your transformer details & system-level setup.  I do not see an issue with the implementation you have selected; we have also seen our devices used with more inductive loads than the transformer you selected.  

    I will look into this setup more for you.

    Best,

    Alec