Motor drives and motor control

STMicroelectronics

The EVLPWD-FAN-PUMP evaluation board for the PWD5T60 motor driver power stage from STMicroelectronics supports flexible, ready-to-use control methods, and so helps to accelerate the development of reliable, compact and efficient fans and pumps. 

The EVLPWD-FAN-PUMP board features the PWD5T60 and an STM32G0 microcontroller based on an Arm® Cortex®-M0+ core, enabling field-oriented control (FOC) or six-step control of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) and brushless dc (BLDC) motors. The board offers a choice of single- or triple-shunt current sensing. Because the PWD5T60 is highly integrated, it has enabled STMicroelectronics to implement the board’s motor power stage in a small circular form factor, making it ideal for use in fans and pumps. It also includes a power-supply circuit which provides 12 V and 3.3 V supply voltages for the application, with a complete ac line filter at the input stage.

The EVLPWD-FAN-PUMP includes built-in bus-voltage detection to help to take advantage of the safety design of the PWD5T60, which provides over- and under-voltage lockout protection for each bootstrap circuit to prevent unsafe or inefficient operation. 

The PWD5T60 is also robust, and features shoot-through protection with interlock and preset default dead time, providing fail-safe protection against shoot-through currents. Additionally, the PWD5T60 withstands voltage drops below ground.

The board is ready to use and runs the FOC and 6-step control firmware included in the X-CUBE-MCSDK motor control software development kit, which is available free of charge from the ST website.

STMicroelectronics

The EVSPIN32G06Q1S1 board from STMicroelectronics is a complete three-phase inverter based on the STSPIN32G0601 controller, which integrates a three‑phase 600 V gate driver and an Arm® Cortex®-M0+ microcontroller. It is suitable for loads up to around 250 W, and drawing a 1 Arms phase current. 

The power stage features STGD6M65DF2 IGBTs, but can be populated with any IGBT or power MOSFET in a DPAK or powerFLAT 8 x 8 HV package. The board has a single-shunt sensing topology, and supports both field-oriented control and six‑step control algorithms in either sensored or sensorless mode. This means that the board can drive permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) and brushless dc (BLDC) motors.

The evaluation board is compatible with a wide input-voltage range from 35 V ac/50 V dc to 280 V ac/400 V dc. It includes a power-supply stage based on the VIPER06XS offline power converter in flyback configuration to generate the +15 V and +3.3 V supply voltage required by the application.

Other features are:

  • Over-current threshold set to 2.8 A peak
  • Smart shutdown over-current protection
  • Digital Hall sensors and encoder input
  • Bus-voltage sensing
  • External connection through STLINK-V3SET
  • Buttons and trimmer for user interfacing
Melexis

The FandriverEVB2 from Melexis is a 60 mm x 90 mm board which enables designers to program and control a device from the MLX9041x series using a graphical user interface (GUI) via a USB port.

Suitable for evaluation in the laboratory and for prototyping, the board is easy to use and portable. It offers a variety of peripheral connectors for device or motor module connections.
Software and supporting documentation, including step by step guidance, are supplied with the board.

Renesas

The MCK-RA8T1 evaluation kit by Renesas comprises several boards for easy testing of the RA8T1 series microcontrollers in brushless dc (BLDC) motor-control applications. The following items are included in the kit:

  • CPU board, based on the R7FA8T1AHECBD MCU
  • Communication board
  • Inverter board
  • BLDC motor
  • Cables, screws, and standoffs

When assembled, this kit enables designers to configure the motor-control system via a USB connection to a PC. It can control up to two BLDC motors by connecting two inverter boards to the main CPU board, which features two Pmod headers for connecting additional modules during development.

The complete assembly can be powered by a 12 V to 48 V dc supply via a dc jack or terminal block connection. Alternatively, it can be powered using a 5 V USB connection to the CPU board.

As well as the MOSFET-based motor control circuit, the inverter board features current detection circuits to measure the current in the 3-phase system. An over-current detection circuit is also present, but this does not protect the board or motor. Protection operations must be processed and controlled using the RA8T1 MCU on the CPU board.

The inverter board also features connectors for Hall sensor signal input and pins for encoder or inductive position sensor signal input. These can be used to support accurate motor positioning when developing an application.

STMicroelectronics

The EVSPIN958 single brushed dc motor driver expansion board is an easy-to-use solution for testing the performance of the STSPIN958 5 A full-bridge driver from STMicroelectronics. It supports a voltage range from 5 V to 58 V with a phase current up to 5 A.

STMicroelectronics

The EVSPIN32G4 and EVSPIN32G4NH are demonstration boards based on the STSPIN32G4 SiP and STL110N10F7 power MOSFETs. The boards support three- or single-shunt configurations, and can run both sensorless and sensored control algorithms.

The integrated operational amplifiers for current sensing, the drain-source voltage sensing at each power MOSFET, and comparators for over-current protection make this a fully integrated solution for motor control.

Thanks to the integrated voltage regulators, both the gate driver and control logic supplies can be generated from the motor supply without dedicated circuitry. The board is intended to drive three-phase brushless dc (BLDC) motors in applications such as power tools, e-Bikes, fans, and home appliances.

A connector enables the EVSPIN32G4 to be interfaced with expansion boards, such as MEMS sensors or Bluetooth® transceivers. The on-board ST-LINK/V2 programmer speeds up and simplifies the debugging of microcontroller firmware.

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