TechView: Analog & Power -- Design Platform Facilitates Sensorless Motion Control

The intellectual property (IP) library offered by International Rectifier’s iMotion can design variable-speed motion control systems with or without encoders. For example, the IRMCO203 algorithm is a licensable object code IP library for sensorless control of permanent magnet motors that feature high starting torque and smooth ramp-up. This version of the library targets encoder-based designs. In the future, the company plans to offer these algorithms within a dedicated processor chip. Accelerator features a feedback control-loop bandwidth up to 5 kHz.

The analog section of iMotion consists of three high-voltage ICs: a three-phase gate driver, a current-sensing IC, and a power-supply controller. Down the road, the company plans to integrate these functions onto a single chip. These components interface with the company’s 600-V non-punch-through (NPT) insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) for the power stage. Alternatively, the analog and power components are offered as PlugNDrive integrated power modules. These modules offer a complete, isolated three-phase inverter power stage that includes gate drivers and auxiliary circuitry in a compact single-inline package (SIP).