Three-Phase Gate Drivers Safeguard BLDC Motors
Microchip Technology's MCP8048 and MCP8049 are automotive-grade three-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motor gate driver system basis chips.
Working with a microcontroller (MCU) and six external power MOSFETs, the new devices provide independent or complementary control of three half-bridges, supporting up to 100% PWM duty-cycle operation through integrated charge pumps. The SBCs support low-power sleep modes with local wake-up and come in automotive-qualified VQFN packages for pumps, fans, blowers, steering systems, power tools, and other BLDC motor controls.
The functionally safe devices combine motor gate driving with integrated 5V and/or 3.3V regulators, configurable current-sense amplifiers, back-EMF detection, motor-line diagnostics, SPI control and a safety-focused window watchdog. Integrated protection features include gate-voltage undervoltage monitoring, short-circuit and current-limitation detection, cross-conduction protection, adaptive dead time, thermal monitoring, and limp-home signaling.
The MCP8048 adds an integrated LIN transceiver with selectable TXD dominant-timeout behavior, while the MCP8049 is offered without LIN.
About the Author
Lee GoldbergLee Goldberg
Contributing Editor
Lee is the author of the popular PowerBites series.
Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.
Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.
Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.
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