Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced the industry’s first 70 W brushless DC (BLDC) motor drivers to provide code-free, sensorless trapezoidal and field-oriented control (FOC). The devices enable engineers to spin a BLDC motor in less than 10 minutes – eliminating significant design time for engineers designing a wide variety of industrial systems such as major and small home appliances and medical applications such as ventilators and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines.
With integrated real-time control and up to 18 discrete components – including power MOSFETs – the devices also speed system response time while reducing board space by as much as 70%, all while providing best-in-class acoustic performance, the company says.
The MCF8316A and MCT8316A BLDC motor drivers include a unique set of commutation control algorithms that eliminate the need to develop, maintain and qualify motor control software, which can eliminate months of design time. The algorithms, along with a high level of integration, enable these motor drivers to manage critical functions such as motor fault detection, while implementing protection mechanisms to increase system reliability. Because these motor drivers integrate sensorless technology to determine rotor position, they eliminate the need for external Hall sensors, which reduces system cost and increases reliability.
Additionally, the MCF8316A sensorless FOC motor driver intelligently extracts motor parameters, enabling designers to quickly tune a motor while delivering consistent system performance regardless of motor manufacturing variations. The MCT8316A sensorless trapezoidal control motor driver enables designers to tune a motor using only five hardware pins, simplifying systems by eliminating the need for a microcontroller interface.
The MCF8316A and MCT8316A provide advanced real-time control capabilities to help engineers achieve industry-leading acoustic performance in applications such as air purifiers, refrigerators, washing machines and fans. The MCF8316A includes a patented, precise automatic dead-time compensation technique that compensates for current distortion to enable engineers to optimise motor acoustic performance. The MCT8316A includes variable trapezoidal control techniques that designers can use to reduce motor noise.
The MCT8316A sensorless trapezoidal control motor driver can reach a maximum motor electric speed of 3,5 kHz, which TI claims is faster than any other code-free, sensorless motor driver. This speeds system response in applications such as robotic vacuums that require fast and precise motor control.
The MCT8316A and MCF8316A are also the industry’s first to provide a quick and controlled way to actively decelerate a motor, enabling engineers to stop a motor 50% faster than traditional motor control techniques. Furthermore, the devices can stop a motor without indiscriminately pumping energy back into the rail, which protects the system from damage.
The devices integrate three gate drivers and six high- and low-side MOSFETs with 50 mΩ of on-state resistance (RDS(on)) each, making them the first BLDC motor drivers to enable up to 70 W of power with 8 A of peak current for 12 and 24 V systems. The motor drivers also integrate components such as a low-dropout regulator, DC/DC step-down regulator and current-sense amplifiers, eliminating as many as 18 discrete integrated circuits.
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