TI launches industry’s first 70-W brushless DC motor drivers

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 months of design time for engineers designing a wide variety of industrial systems (such as major and small home appliances, and medical applications including ventilators and continuous CPAP machines).

With integrated real-time control and up to 18 discrete components, including power metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), the devices also speed system response time while reducing board space by as much as 70 percent. This is all while providing best-in-class acoustic performance.

“The need for real-time motor control is more critical than ever, thanks to broad-reaching trends like power efficiency and automation, as well as increasing demand for quieter motors,” said Noman Akhtar, senior research analyst, Omdia. “A growing number of industrial systems are transitioning from AC induction to BLDC motors, which are more power-efficient but require complex hardware and optimized software designs to deliver high performance.”

Akhar added: “Meeting designers’ needs for faster motor response while shortening the overall design cycle will be an important step forward for next-generation industrial systems.”

Accelerate design time
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 eliminates 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.

Best-in-class acoustic performance
The MCF8316A and MCT8316A BLDC motor drivers 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 optimize motor-acoustic performance. The MCT8316A includes variable trapezoidal control techniques that designers can use to reduce motor noise.

Read the application brief, “How to Reduce Motor Noise with Code-Free, Sensorless BLDC Motor Drivers” to learn how engineers can use these devices to achieve the best acoustic performance for appliance designs.

Speed system response
The MCT8316A sensorless trapezoidal control motor driver can reach a maximum motor electric speed of 3.5 kHz, which 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-percent faster than traditional motor-control techniques. Further, the devices can stop a motor without indiscriminately pumping energy back into the rail, which protects the system from damage.

Reduce board space — by as much as 70%
The MCF8316A and MCT8316A can enable designers to shrink their board space by as much as 70% and reduce total motor system cost.

The devices integrate three gate drivers and six high and low-side MOSFETs with 50 mΩ of on-state resistance (R_DS(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.