Getting Started with the FRDMGD3100HB8EVM

2.1 Board Features

• Capability to connect to P6 SiC module for half-bridge evaluations
• Negative VEE gate low drive level (−3.9 V DC)
• VCCREG regulated high gate drive level (+15 V DC)
• Jumper configurable for disabling dead time fault protection when short-circuit testing
• Easy access power, ground and signal test points
• Easy to install and use SPIGen GUI for interfacing via SPI through PC; software includes double pulse and short-circuit testing capability
• DC link bus voltage monitor on low-side driver via AMUXIN and AOUT
• Negative temperature coefficient (NTC) connection and configurable for monitoring module temperature

2.2 Board Description

The FRDMGD3100HB8EVM is a half-bridge evaluation kit populated with two GD3100 single channel gate drive devices. The kit includes the Freedom KL25Z microcontroller hardware for interfacing a PC installed with SPIGen software for communication to the serial peripheral interface (SPI) registers on the GD3100 gate drive devices in either daisy chain or standalone configuration.

The GD3100 translator board is used to translate 3.3 V signals to 5.0 V signals between the MCU and GD3100 gate drivers. The evaluation kit can be connected to a compatible insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) or SiC module for half-bridge evaluations and applications development.

FRDMGD3100HB8EVM with Translator Board

FRDMGD3100HB8EVM with Translator Board

3.3 V to 5.0 V Translator Board

KITGD3100TREVB translator enables level shifting of signals from MCU 3.3 V to 5.0 V SPI communication.

Kinetis KL25Z Freedom Board

The Freedom KL25Z is an ultra low-cost development platform for Kinetis L series MCU built on Arm Cortex-M0+ processor.

2.3 Board Components

Overview of the FRDMGD3100HB8EVM half-bridge evaluation board

3.1 Configure the Hardware

FRDMGD3100HB8EVM is connected to a GD3100 translator board and a FRDM-KL25Z board. Double pulse and short-circuit testing can be conducted using Windows based PC with SPIGen software.

Suggested equipment needed for test:

• Rogowski coil high-current probe
• High-voltage differential voltage probe
• High sample rate digital oscilloscope with probes
• DC link capacitor
• SiC MOSFET P6 module
• Windows based PC
• High-voltage DC power supply for DC link voltage
• Low-voltage DC power supply for VSUP – +12 V DC gate drive board low-voltage domain
• Voltmeter for monitoring high-voltage DC link supply
• Load coil for double pulse and short-circuit testing

Software for FRDMGD3100HB8EVM is distributed with the SPIGen GUI tool (available on NXP.com). Necessary firmware comes pre-installed on the FRDM-KL25Z with the kit.

Even if the user intends to test with other software or PWM, it is recommended to install this software as a backup or to help debugging.

4.1 Installing SPIGen on your Computer

The updated version of SPIGen supports the GD3100 and is designed to run on any Windows 10, Windows 8 or Windows 7 based operating system. To install the software, do the following:

1. Go to SPIGen and click Download
2. When the SPI generator (SPIGen) software page appears, click Download and select the version associated with your PC operating system
3. If instructed for the SPIGen wizard to create a shortcut, an SPIGen icon appears on the desktop. By default, the SPIGen executable file is installed at C:\Program Files (x86)\SPIGen
   Installing the device drivers overwrites any previous SPIGen installation and replaces it with a current version containing the GD3100 drivers. However, configuration files (.spi) from the previous version remain intact

4.2 Configuring the FRDM-KL25Z Microcode

By default, the FRDM-KL25Z delivered with this kit is preprogrammed with current and up-to-date firmware available for the kit.

A way to check quickly that the microcode is programmed and the board is functioning properly, is to plug the KL25Z into the computer, open SPIGen and verify that the software version at the bottom is 5.4.7.

If a loss of functionality occurs following a board reset, reprogramming or you experience a corrupted data issue, the microcode may be rewritten per the following steps:

1. To clear the memory and place the board in boot loader mode, hold down the reset button while plugging a USB cable into the OpenSDA USB port
2. Verify that the board appears as a BOOTLOADER device and continue with step 3. If the board appears as KL25Z, you may go to step 6
3. Download the Firmware Apps .zip archive from the PEmicro OpenSDA webpage. Validate your email address to access the files
4. Find the most recent MDS-DEBUG-FRDM-KL25Z_Pemicro_v***.SDA and copy or drag-and-drop into the BOOTLOADER device
5. Reboot the board by unplugging and replugging the connection to the OpenSDA port. Verify now that the device appears as a KL25Z device to continue
6. Locate the most recent KL25Z firmware; which is distributed as part of the SPIGen package
   • a. From the SPIGen install directory, which is located in the SPI Dongle Firmware folder and is named in the form “UsbSPIDongleKL25Z_GD3100_v***.srec”
   • b. This .srec file is a product/family-specific configuration file for FRDM-KL25Z containing the pin definitions, SPI/PWM generation code and pin mapping assignments necessary to interface with the translator board as part of FRDMGD3100HB8EVM
7. With the KL25Z still plugged through the OpenSDA port, copy/drag-and-drop the .srec file into the KL25Z device memory. Once done, disconnect the USB and plug into the other USB port, labeled KL25Z
   • a. The device may not appear as a distinct device to the computer while connected through the KL25Z USB port, this is normal
8. The FRDM-KL25Z board is now fully set up to work with FRDMGD3100HB8EVM and the SPIGen GUI
   • a. There is no software stored or present on either the driver or translator boards, only on the FRDM-KL25Z MCU board

All uploaded firmware is stored in non-volatile memory until the reset button is selected the FRDM-KL25Z. There is no need to repeat this process upon every power up and there is no loss of data associated with a single unplug event.

4.3 Ready to Use

Begin embedded application development.