STMicroelectronics’ Motor Control Reference Design Kit is designed to simplify the evaluation and implementation of practical 3-phase brushless direct current (BLDC) and ac drive applications across three power ranges, up to 3 kW. The kit sets up quickly and easily, and CAD files are available to enable the layout to be reused directly in the production application.
The modular four-board kit consists of a control board, the STEVAL-IHM001V1, and three power boards, the STEVAL-IHM003V1, 004V1 and 005V1. These boards are designed for 300-W, 1-kW and 3-kW motors, respectively. The hardware architecture used here is based on an inverter topology designed for a range of 3-phase applications, including ac induction motors, PMDC/ac or BLDC/ac (6-step sensorless) control, and PMAC or BLAC (sinusoidal driven, with Hall sensors), as well as for single- and 3-phase UPS applications.
The inverter stages of the power boards consist of six rugged, short-circuit protected IGBTs, with current capability determined by the board’s power rating. The 300-W and 1-kW boards can operate directly from an ac or dc power supply, while the 3-kW board uses only dc power. All boards provide an auxiliary power supply, and are host to the control board via inline connectors. The partitioned design between power and control boards provides highly effective system noise immunity.
Control of the reference design kit is based around an ST7FMC microcontroller, which is designed specifically for motor control applications and offers significant performance benefits compared to DSP-based MCUs. A dedicated graphical user interface enables easy configuration, with firmware libraries enabling customization to meet particular user requirements. The Motor Control Reference Design Kits are available now. Pricing for the 300-W, 1-kW and 3-kW kits is $38, $45 and $55, respectively.