Power Distribution Rev 4 Scope:

Owned by Rishith Bomman
Jun 30, 2022
2 min read

  • Main purpose(s) of the board:

    • Make a Power Distribution Board that can send the appropriate voltages and current to each component on the rover from the 12s1p 36-50.4 V batteries

    • Communicate with rover using CAN

    • Needs to supply 24V, 17V, 5V and 3.3V to various components on the board.

    • Uses an onboard Buck Converter for large voltage drops to 17V and 5V power lines, while using an LDO for 5V to 3.3V conversions.

    • Routes external Multiphase Buck’s 24 V through it for compactness

    • Controls LED matrix and 4 ultrasonic sensors as well 

  • Criteria & constraints of the board:

    • CAN support

    • Reverse Polarity Protection

    • Power Rails

      • Current sensing required on multiphase buck for each power rail

      • Power connectors for motors need to be added

    • 17 V and 5 V Buck converters

      • May need to redesign 17V and 5V buck converters due to lack of stock

      • Need compensation circuit for 17 V Buck converter

      • 5V IC needs to be assembled without using hot air gun

      • Add connections to buck converter outputs for easier testing

    • 3.3 V LDO

    • Load monitoring switch circuits

      • Can be replaced with ICs or FETs  

    • Microcontroller

      • Replace USB A 2.0 with smaller connector like micro-USB

    • CAN Transceiver

      • Need new model as current one is out of stock

    • Ultrasonic sensors

      • Communicate with Software whether we are keeping or removing them

    • BMS

      • Removed off PDB entirely

    • Active Cell Balancing circuit

  • Who is involved with this board?

    • Electrical:

      • Farris Matar @Farris Matar - Electrical Team Lead, Power Distribution Board designer

      • Rishith Bomman @Rishith Bomman – Electrical Team, Power Distribution Board designer

    • Mechanical: Mechanical team lead?

    • Firmware: Firmware team lead?