Deliver measurements of current, voltage, power, and temperature with the TSC1641 and ATmega32

Digital power monitor for alerting undesirable operating conditions

Published Jun 06, 2024

Click board™

Current 12 Click

Dev. board

EasyAVR v7

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

ATmega32

Achieve precise regulation and monitoring of voltage, current, and power ensuring stable and reliable power delivery

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Current 12 Click is based on the TSC1641, a 60V 16-bit high-precision power monitor with an I2C interface from STMicroelectronics. The TSC1641 is a high-precision analog front-end (AFE) that monitors current, voltage, power, and temperature. It measures current through a shunt resistor and load voltage from 0V up to 60V in a synchronized manner. The current measurement can be high-side, low-side, and bidirectional. The device integrates a high-precision 16-bit resolution dual-channel sigma-delta ADC with a programmable

conversion time ranging from 128µs to 32.7ms. This board makes it ideal for applications such as industrial battery packs, power inverters, DC power supplies, data centers, telecom equipment, power tools, and more. Current 12 Click uses a standard 2-wire I2C communication protocol to enable the host MCU to control the TSC1641. The I2C interface supports clock frequencies of up to 1MHz, with the I2C address selectable via the ADDR SEL jumpers. The alert interrupt ALR pin allows the assertion of several alerts regarding voltage,

current, power, and temperature, with thresholds that can be set for each parameter in a specific register. This Click board™ can be operated only with a 3.3V logic voltage level. The board must perform appropriate logic voltage level conversion before using MCUs with different logic levels. Also, it comes equipped with a library containing functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

Current 12 Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

EasyAVR v7 is the seventh generation of AVR development boards specially designed for the needs of rapid development of embedded applications. It supports a wide range of 16-bit AVR microcontrollers from Microchip and has a broad set of unique functions, such as a powerful onboard mikroProg programmer and In-Circuit debugger over USB. The development board is well organized and designed so that the end-user has all the necessary elements in one place, such as switches, buttons, indicators, connectors, and others. With four different connectors for each port, EasyAVR v7 allows you to connect accessory boards, sensors, and custom electronics more

efficiently than ever. Each part of the EasyAVR v7 development board contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. An integrated mikroProg, a fast USB 2.0 programmer with mikroICD hardware In-Circuit Debugger, offers many valuable programming/debugging options and seamless integration with the Mikroe software environment. Besides it also includes a clean and regulated power supply block for the development board. It can use a wide range of external power sources, including an external 12V power supply, 7-12V AC or 9-15V DC via DC connector/screw terminals, and a power source via the USB Type-B (USB-B)

connector. Communication options such as USB-UART and RS-232 are also included, alongside the well-established mikroBUS™ standard, three display options (7-segment, graphical, and character-based LCD), and several different DIP sockets which cover a wide range of 16-bit AVR MCUs. EasyAVR v7 is an integral part of the Mikroe ecosystem for rapid development. Natively supported by Mikroe software tools, it covers many aspects of prototyping and development thanks to a considerable number of different Click boards™ (over a thousand boards), the number of which is growing every day.

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

Architecture

AVR

MCU Memory (KB)

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

RAM (Bytes)

2048

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

RST

ID COMM

PA5

SCK

MISO

MOSI

Power Supply

3.3V

Ground

GND

PWM

Alert Interrupt

PD2

INT

I2C Clock

PC0

SCL

I2C Data

PC1

SDA

Ground

GND

Take a closer look

Click board™ Schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

EasyAVR v7 front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the EasyAVR v7 as your development board.

NECTO Output Selection Step Image hardware assembly

In the advanced settings, pay special attention to the Redirect standard output field. By default, it is set to Application output as the method of displaying final results. To show results via a UART terminal, select the “UART” option in that field and click the “SAVE” button. You will be returned to the Compiler field, and now you can move on to the next step by pressing the “NEXT” button.

GNSS2 Click front image hardware assembly

GNSS2 Click complete accessories setup image hardware assembly

EasyAVR v7 Access DIP MB 1 - upright/background hardware assembly

NECTO Compiler Selection Step Image hardware assembly

Necto DIP image step 7 hardware assembly

EasyPIC PRO v7a Display Selection Necto Step hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

1. Application Output - In Debug mode, the 'Application Output' window enables real-time data monitoring, offering direct insight into execution results. Ensure proper data display by configuring the environment correctly using the provided tutorial.

2. UART Terminal - Use the UART Terminal to monitor data transmission via a USB to UART converter, allowing direct communication between the Click board™ and your development system. Configure the baud rate and other serial settings according to your project's requirements to ensure proper functionality. For step-by-step setup instructions, refer to the provided tutorial.

3. Plot Output - The Plot feature offers a powerful way to visualize real-time sensor data, enabling trend analysis, debugging, and comparison of multiple data points. To set it up correctly, follow the provided tutorial, which includes a step-by-step example of using the Plot feature to display Click board™ readings. To use the Plot feature in your code, use the function: plot(*insert_graph_name*, variable_name);. This is a general format, and it is up to the user to replace 'insert_graph_name' with the actual graph name and 'variable_name' with the parameter to be displayed.

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for Current 12 Click driver.

Key functions:

current12_get_load_voltage - This function reads the load voltage measurement values [V].
current12_get_dc_power - This function reads the DC power measurement values [W].
current12_get_current - This function reads the current measurement values [mA].

Open Source

Code example

The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.

/*!
 * @file main.c
 * @brief Current 12 Click example
 *
 * # Description
 * This example demonstrates the use of the Current 12 click board 
 * by reading and displaying the input current measurements.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * The initialization of the I2C module and log UART.
 * After driver initialization, the app sets the default configuration.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * The demo application reads and displays the results 
 * of the input current, voltage, and power measurements.
 * Results are being sent to the UART Terminal, where you can track their changes.
 *
 * @author Nenad Filipovic
 *
 */

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "current12.h"

static current12_t current12;
static log_t logger;

void application_init ( void ) 
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;  /**< Logger config object. */
    current12_cfg_t current12_cfg;  /**< Click config object. */

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, " Application Init " );

    // Click initialization.
    current12_cfg_setup( &current12_cfg );
    CURRENT12_MAP_MIKROBUS( current12_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    if ( I2C_MASTER_ERROR == current12_init( &current12, &current12_cfg ) ) 
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Communication init." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }
    
    if ( CURRENT12_ERROR == current12_default_cfg ( &current12 ) )
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Default configuration." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }
    
    log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
    log_printf( &logger, "_____________________\r\n " );
    Delay_ms( 100 );
}

void application_task ( void ) 
{
    float meas_data = 0;
    if ( CURRENT12_OK == current12_get_shunt_voltage( &current12, &meas_data ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Shunt Voltage: %.2f [mV]\r\n ", meas_data );
        Delay_ms( 100 );
    }

    if ( CURRENT12_OK == current12_get_load_voltage( &current12, &meas_data ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Load Voltage: %.2f [V]\r\n ", meas_data );
        Delay_ms( 100 );
    }

    if ( CURRENT12_OK == current12_get_dc_power( &current12, &meas_data ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " DC Power: %.2f [W]\r\n ", meas_data );
        Delay_ms( 100 );
    }

    if ( CURRENT12_OK == current12_get_current( &current12, &meas_data ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Current: %.2f [mA]\r\n", meas_data );
        Delay_ms( 100 );
    }
    log_printf( &logger, "_____________________\r\n " );
    Delay_ms( 2000 );
}

int main ( void ) 
{
    application_init( );
    
    for ( ; ; ) 
    {
        application_task( );
    }

    return 0;
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END