Will USB-C ports replace all charging ports in cars?

The 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) has put many of our travel plans on hold or canceled. On one hand, some are wondering if air travel will shut down completely. For others, road trips have become their preferred mode of travel because they offer more limited exposure to COVID-19 than air travel. In the past, cars did not offer charging capabilities, so all devices needed to be fully charged before traveling.

Now, in some cars you can have a low-power USB Standard-A port for your phone or connect to your device via a long snake-like USB medium-power adapter cable from an available 12V adapter power outlet. But this still only meets the small needs of your phone and tablet. What if your laptop needs charging, too?

USB-C™ (also known as USB Type C) solves this problem, providing the ability to charge a laptop as well as a power-hungry 5G phone or tablet that might be running GPS throughout a trip.

If your entertainment device has Apple Carplay, the same front USB-C port that charges your phone can also carry Carplay data or Android Auto. Or if you prefer Bluetooth data and USB-C charging, it's all under your control. Sitting in the back seat and need to charge your device?

Individual USB-C charging ports are scattered throughout the car, with power converted directly from the vehicle battery to USB-C Power Delivery (PD) power ranging from 5 V to 21 V in tiny 20 mV increments. The power available to each USB-C port can be extended to 100 W, enough to fully charge a laptop in about an hour.

Current fast-charging-capable smartphones can achieve a 100% charge in as little as 15 minutes, depending on the design and products used in the USB-C solution.

But for system designers, where do you start designing an automotive USB charger module? Sure, you can start by reading the 1030-page USB Type-C and USB PD specifications, but that’s daunting and time-consuming, plus you’ll probably need to dig deep into any referenced specifications to understand what’s in them. Joining a USB standards organization is too time-consuming.

Additionally, these specifications are constantly evolving and being updated. While you may feel overwhelmed digesting all the specification information, ON Semiconductor can help because that’s what we do best.

ON Semiconductor provides a simple approach by providing all electronics and reference designs to help design a high power USB-C PD port.

Starting from a 12V battery, a buck-boost DC-DC regulator provides 5V to initiate USB-C communications once connected, and a USB PD controller manages the USB-C port to handle all the handshaking required to connect to phones, tablets, and laptops, deriving their respective voltages and currents for optimal battery charging.

ON Semiconductor also provides all MOSFETs, protection devices for reverse battery protection, overvoltage, overcurrent and overtemperature protection, battery short circuit protection, and combines them into reference designs.

A good example of such a 60 W reference design is the FUSB3307 evaluation board, shown below.

The FUSB3307 is a USB PD 3.0 source controller that provides a programmable power supply (PPS) to support the above fast charging algorithm. The output charging current is detected through a tiny 5mΩ resistor and directly controls the feedback of the NCV81599 Buck-Boost controller.

Figure 1. FUSB3307 evaluation board

It is a completely standalone solution that is compatible with USB PD and USB-C. All protections are designed in for easy design. Input voltages from 4.5 V to 32 V can be converted to USB PD voltages from 3.3 V to 21 V. If 5A current capability is required, no additional electronics are required because the existing system will interrogate the cable to ensure 5A capability and then provide 5A Source capability.

ON Semiconductor is not only a major supplier of automotive electronics, but is also the author of the charging chapter of the USB PD specification.

We pay close attention to the specifications and customize the solution to meet your design needs. With all the devices from ON Semiconductor, we ensure everything works together seamlessly and provide you with system support.

Check out the FUSB3307 evaluation board to learn more and how to easily and quickly implement it into your design (copy the link below to open in your browser).

https://www.onsemi.cn/support/evaluation-board/fusb3307mx-pps-gevb?utm_source=blog-USB-C-for-Automotive&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=USB-C&utm_content=link-fusb3307-eval-board-page

Please continue to learn about our USB-C solutions and how they can meet your next design and solution needs in automotive and various other applications (copy the link below to open in your browser).

https://www.onsemi.cn/solutions-applications/segments/internet-of-things-iot/iot-power-management/usb-type-c-solutions?utm_source=blog-USB-C-for-Automotive&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=USB-C&utm_content=link-usb-c-solution-page

USB Type-C source controller supports USB-PD 3.0, integrated PPS and 4-switch buck boost

https://www.onsemi.cn/pub/Collateral/EVBUM2710-D.PDF

60W USB Type-C PD Demo Board Video

https://www.onsemi.cn/video/60-watt-usb-type-c-power-delivery-pd-demo-board