Integrated high-voltage power stage produces smaller, more robust motor drives
In the new PWD5T60, STMicroelectronics has integrated gate drivers, power MOSFETs, bootstrap diodes, and high-speed protection functions in a single package, reducing the board space occupied by motor drive circuits.
STMicroelectronics has launched the PWD5T60, a three-phase motor driver which integrates gate drivers and six 500 V power MOSFETs with on-resistance of 1.38 Ω for superior application efficiency.
Ideal for applications operating at up to 500 V, the PWD5T60 also includes zero-drop bootstrap diodes, minimizing the need for external components, and occupying 30% less board space than comparable discrete drivers. Tightly matched propagation delays at both high- and low-side MOSFETs eliminate cycle distortion, giving the designer flexibility to set operating frequencies to optimize response time and power efficiency.
The PWD5T60 is backed by a dedicated evaluation board, the EVLPWD5T60, which enables engineers to quickly evaluate the performance of the PWD5T60 in applications consuming up to 100 W. The board features the PWD5T60 and an STM32G0 microcontroller, enabling field-oriented control or six-step control of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) and brushless dc (BLDC) motors.
High-voltage motor applications benefit from the PWD5T60 array of protection functions. The Smart ShutDown feature uses a comparator to provide fast over-current protection. When a fault is detected, the output is immediately turned off, and the subsequent output disable time can be set by connecting a capacitor and an optional pull-up resistor to a dedicated pin. The turn-off response is not affected by these components, so product developers can set the optimal disable time to ensure that the fault is resolved quickly while still implementing immediate turn-off.
The PWD5T60 handles a wide supply-voltage range of 9 V to 20 V, while CMOS/TTL-compatible logic inputs down to 3.3 V simplify interfacing with a host MCU.