In it to Spin it!
14 April 2009
Toolkit for designing the optimal use and control of brushless DC motors.
A new development platform that helps software designers to optimise the use of the motor control specific features of NEC Electronics’ 78K0R/Ix3 16-bit microcontroller family has been released by Gleichmann Electronics. The Spin it! kit is for the control of brushless DC (BLDC) motors and is built on a single board, supports functions such as start/stop, direction of rotation and speed of rotation (rpm).
In addition to a 78K0R/Ix3 MCU, other components of the toolkit include a four digit 7 segment LED display, uPA2792 complementary power MOSFETs for control of a brushless DC motor with DC voltages between 12 V and 15 V as well as an uPD78F0730 8-bit microcontroller with USB functionality. This additional 8-bit MCU needs no additional hardware for source code debugging, flash memory programming and operation with the host computer.
The MINICUBE2 interface, which is integrated on-board, enables source code debugging based on an IAR environment. Furthermore, for wireless remote control operation an on-board ZigBee stack interface, which works together with NEC Electronics’ ZigBee based HF products, was also integrated on-board.
The Application Specific Standard Products (ASSPs) of the 78K0R/Ix3 family distinguish themselves with a number of functions and features specifically for motor control and regulation. These include an internal high-speed oscillator, which provides the clock frequency for the CPU and the motor control timer block (40 MHz). All analogue elements, including a programmable op-amp together with comparators, high speed A/D converters and a timer block, are designed to support typical requirements such as A/D triggering from PWM timer or dead time generation. Furthermore, an internal DMA controller for simultaneous data transfer and separate function units for multiplication and division guarantee the user, if required, DSP processing performance.
Safety features include a Power On Clear (POC) function and low voltage detection, these also include an Independent Watchdog Timer (WDT), a wide operating voltage range from 2.7 V to 5.5 V as well as a direct hardware shutoff of the timer outputs for motor protection and power stage protection.
Contact Details and Archive...
Related Articles...
Most Viewed Articles...