⚡️ New Digital Isolators from Toshiba for Industrial Control Systems: Low Power, High Security! 🚀

[Semih Asil]

🔌 Energy-Efficient and Secure Signal Transmission​

Toshiba has launched its DCL32xx00 series of dual-channel digital isolators to enhance energy efficiency and ensure secure signal transmission in industrial control and power conversion systems. This new series offers solutions to both space and energy constraints in applications such as PLCs, inverters, sensors, actuators, and motor control systems.

🛡️ Magnetic Coupling and Electrical Isolation​

Designed for stable operation despite the noisy nature of industrial environments, these isolators utilize magnetic coupling isolation technology and a specialized transmission circuit. The devices provide a minimum isolation voltage of 3,000 Vrms for 60 seconds and a minimum common-mode transient immunity (CMTI) of 30 kV/µs. This ensures uninterrupted data transmission even during rapid voltage fluctuations in factory environments. Furthermore, these isolators can operate within an industrial temperature range of -40 °C to 125 °C and support supply voltages from 2.25 V to 5.5 V, allowing for direct integration with standard 3.3 V and 5 V logic circuits.

📊 Data Transmission and Configuration Options​

Offered in an SOIC8-N package, these isolators support maximum data transmission speeds of up to 25 Mbit/s. Consuming only 0.2 mA per channel at a base speed of 1 Mbit/s, they significantly reduce the device's overall thermal output and energy footprint.

The series offers various channel direction configurations to accommodate different communication protocols:

• DCL320C00 and DCL320D00 models: Two forward-directional channels for unidirectional digital signals like I2C.
  
• DCL321C00 and DCL321D00 models: One forward and one reverse channel for interfaces requiring bidirectional transmit and receive paths, such as UART.
  

The C00 and D00 designations offer the flexibility to select the default output state (low or high) when the input signal is undefined or floating (e.g., during system startup).

💡 Competition and Low Power Advantage​

The Toshiba DCL32xx00 series directly competes with rivals such as Texas Instruments ISO772x and Analog Devices ADuM120x. Toshiba stands out with its magnetic coupling architecture, while the biggest difference lies in its base power consumption. With a consumption of 0.2 mA per channel at 1 Mbit/s, it offers an ultra-low power alternative compared to older optocouplers and standard digital isolators (which typically consume 1.0 mA - 1.5 mA).

The maximum data rate of 25 Mbit/s is optimized for standard industrial control applications and is not designed for high-speed data acquisition. Similarly, while the 30 kV/µs CMTI rating provides sufficient transient immunity for standard PLCs and motor drives, more demanding wide-bandgap (SiC/GaN) inverter applications typically use specialized isolators with CMTI thresholds exceeding 100 kV/µs.