Industrial automation, robotics, and electrical mobility are more and more driving demand for improved motor driver ICs in addition to options that make it simpler to design motor drives. With power consumption being a key consider these functions, builders are on the lookout for motor drivers that provide larger effectivity and decrease energy consumption.
On the similar time, integrating motor drivers into present programs is changing into more difficult, as they should work seamlessly with a wide range of motors and management algorithms equivalent to trapezoidal, sinusoidal, and field-oriented management (FOC), in keeping with International Market Insights Inc.
The common electrical car makes use of 15–20 motor drivers throughout a wide range of programs, together with traction motors, energy steering, and brake programs, in contrast with eight to 12 models in internal-combustion-engine autos, and industrial robots sometimes use six to eight motor drivers for joint articulation, positioning, and end-effector management, in keeping with Emergen Analysis.
The motor driver IC market is anticipated to develop at a compound annual progress charge of 6.8% from 2024 to 2034, in keeping with Emergen Analysis, pushed by industrial automation, EVs, and sensible client electronics. A part of this progress is attributed to Trade 4.0 initiatives that drive the demand for extra superior motor management options, together with the usage of synthetic intelligence and machine-learning algorithms in motor management programs.
Emergen Analysis additionally studies that silicon carbide and gallium nitride (GaN) supplies are gaining traction in high-power functions due to their larger switching traits in contrast with silicon-based options.
Different traits embody the rising demand for exact motor management, the combination of superior sensorless management, and low electromagnetic interference (EMI), in keeping with the market analysis corporations.
Listed here are just a few examples of recent motor drivers for industrial and automotive functions, in addition to improvement options equivalent to software program, reference designs, and analysis kits that assist ease the event of motor drives.
Motor drivers
Melexis just lately launched the MLX81339, a configurable motor driver with a pulse-width modulation (PWM)/serial interface for a spread of commercial functions. This motor driver IC is designed for compact, three-phase brushless DC (BLDC) and stepper motor management as much as 40 W in industrial functions equivalent to followers, pumps, and positioning programs.
The motor driver targets a spread of markets, together with sensible industrial and client sectors, in functions equivalent to positioning motors, thermal valves, robotic actuators, residential and industrial air flow programs, and dishwashing pumps. The MLX81339 can also be certified for automotive fan and blower functions.
A key characteristic of this motor management IC is the programmable flash reminiscence, which permits full utility customization. Designed for three-phase BLDC or bipolar stepper motors, these superior drivers use silent FOC. It delivers dependable startup, stopping, and exact velocity management from low to most velocity, Melexis mentioned.
The MLX81339 motor driver helps management as much as 20 W at 12 V and 40 W at 24 V, integrating a three-phase driver with a configurable present restrict as much as 3 A, in addition to under-/overvoltage, overcurrent, and overtemperature safety. Different key specs embody a large provide voltage vary of 6 V to 26 V and an working temperature vary of –40°C to 125°C (junction temperature as much as 150°C).
The MLX81339 additionally incorporates 8× general-purpose I/Os and several other interfaces, together with PWM/FG, I2C, UART, and SPI, for simple integration into each legacy and sensible programs. It additionally helps each sensor-based and sensorless management.
Melexis gives the Melexis StartToRun net software to speed up motor driver prototyping, eliminating engineering duties by producing configuration information based mostly on easy consumer inputs. Along with the motor and electrical parameters, the software consists of prefilled mechanical values.
The MLX81339, housed in QFN24 and SO8-EP packages, is on the market now. A code-free and configurable MLX80339 for speedy deployment can be launched within the first quarter of 2026.
Earlier this 12 months, STMicroelectronics launched the VNH9030AQ, an built-in full-bridge DC motor driver with high-side and low-side MOSFET gate drivers, real-time diagnostics, and safety towards overvoltage transients, undervoltage, short-circuit situations, and cross-conduction, aimed toward decreasing design complexity and price. Delivering higher flexibility to system designers, the MOSFETs might be configured both in parallel or in sequence, permitting them for use in programs with a number of motors or to fulfill different particular necessities.
The built-in non-dissipative current-sense circuitry screens the present flowing by the machine to differentiate every motor part, contributing to the driving force’s effectivity. The standby energy consumption may be very low over the complete working temperature vary, easing use in zonal controller platforms, ST mentioned.
This DC motor driver can be utilized in a spread of automotive functions, together with useful security. The driving force additionally supplies a devoted pin for real-time output standing, easing the design into functional-safety and general-purpose low-/mid-power DC-motor-driven functions whereas decreasing the necessities for exterior circuitry.
With an RDS(on) of 30 mΩ per leg, the VNH9030AQ can deal with mid- and low-power DC-motor-driven functions equivalent to door-control modules, washer pumps, powered carry gates, powered trunks, and seat adjusters.
The driving force is a part of a household of gadgets that leverage ST’s newest VIPower M0-9 expertise, which allows monolithic integration of energy and logic circuitry. All merchandise, together with the VNH9030AQ, are housed in a 6 × 6-mm, thermally enhanced triple-pad QFN package deal. The package deal is designed for optimum underside cooling and shares a typical pinout to ease format and software program reuse.
The VNH9030AQ is on the market now. ST additionally gives a ready-to-use VNH9030AQ analysis board and the TwisterSim dynamic electro-thermal simulator to simulate the motor driver’s habits below varied working situations, together with electrical and thermal stresses.
Focusing on each automotive and industrial functions, the Qorvo Inc. 160-V three-phase BLDC motor driver additionally goals to scale back answer dimension, design time, and price with an built-in energy supervisor and configurable analog entrance finish (AFE). The ACT72350 160-V gate driver can exchange as many as 40 discrete parts in a BLDC motor management system, and the configurable AFE permits designers to configure their actual sensing and place detection necessities.
The ACT72350 features a configurable energy supervisor with an inner DC/DC buck converter and LDOs to help inner parts and function an elective provide for the host microcontroller (MCU). As well as, by providing a large, 25-V to 160-V enter vary, designers can reuse the identical design for a wide range of battery-operated motor management functions, together with energy and backyard instruments, drones, EVs, and e-bikes.
The ACT72350 supplies the analog circuitry wanted to implement a BLDC motor management system and might be paired with a wide range of MCUs, Qorvo mentioned. It supplies excessive effectivity through programmable propagation delay, exact present sensing, and BEMF suggestions, in addition to differentiated options for safety-critical functions.
The SOI-based motor driver is on the market now in a 9.0 × 9.0-mm, 57-pin QFN package deal. An analysis equipment is obtainable, together with a mannequin of the ACT72350 in Qorvo’s QSPICE circuit simulation software program at www.qspice.com.
Software program, reference designs, and analysis kits
Motor driver IC and energy semiconductor producers additionally ship software program suites, reference designs, and improvement kits to simplify motor drive design and improvement. Just a few examples embody Energy Integrations’ MotorXpert software program, Environment friendly Energy Conversion Corp.’s (EPC’s) GaN-based motor driver reference design, and a modular motor driver analysis equipment developed by Würth Elektronik and Nexperia.
Energy Integrations continues to boost its MotorXpert software program for its BridgeSwitch and BridgeSwitch-2 half-bridge motor driver ICs. The most recent model, MotorXpert v3.0, permits FOC with out shunts and their related sensors. It additionally provides help for superior modulation schemes and options V/F and I/F management to make sure startup below any load situation.
Designed to simplify single- and three-phase sensorless motor drive designs, the v3.0 launch provides a two-phase modulation scheme, fitted to high-temperature environments, decreasing inverter switching losses by 33%, in keeping with the corporate. It permits builders to commerce off the temperature of the inverter versus torque ripple, notably helpful in functions equivalent to sizzling water circulation pumps, decreasing heat-sink necessities and enclosure price, the corporate mentioned.
The software program additionally delivers a five-fold enchancment to the waveform visualization software and an enhanced zoom perform, offering extra knowledge for motor tuning and debugging. The host-side utility features a graphical consumer interface with Energy Integrations’ digital oscilloscope visualization software to make it straightforward to design and configure parameters and operation and to simplify debugging. Additionally easing improvement are parameter software suggestions and a tuning assistant.
The software program suite is MCU-agnostic and features a porting information to simplify deployment with a spread of MCUs. It’s carried out within the C language to MISRA requirements.
Energy Integrations mentioned improvement time is significantly lowered by the included single- and three-phase code libraries with sensorless help, reference designs, and different instruments equivalent to an influence provide design and evaluation software. Purposes embody air con followers, fridge compressors, fluid pumps, washer and dryer drums, vary hoods, industrial followers, and warmth pumps.
EPC claims the primary GaN-based motor driver reference design for humanoid robots with the launch of the EPC91118 reference design for motor joints. The EPC91118 delivers as much as 15 ARMSÂ per part from a large enter DC voltage, starting from 15 V to 55 V, in an ultra-compact, round type issue.
The reference design is optimized for space-constrained and weight-sensitive functions equivalent to humanoid limbs and drone propulsion. It shrinks inverter dimension by 66% versus silicon, EPC mentioned, and eliminates the necessity for electrolytic capacitors as a result of GaN ICs and high-frequency operation. The excessive switching frequency as a substitute permits the usage of smaller MLCCs.
The reference design is centered across the EPC23104 ePower stage IC, a monolithic GaN IC that permits larger switching frequencies and lowered losses. The facility stage is mixed with present sensing, a rotor shaft magnetic encoder, an MCU, RS-485 communications, and 5-V and three.3-V energy provides on a single board that matches inside a 32-mm-diameter footprint (55-mm-diameter outer body; 32-mm-diameter inverter).
Geared toward sooner improvement of motor controllers, Würth Elektronik and Nexperia have collaborated on the NEVB-MTR1-KIT1 modular motor driver analysis equipment. The equipment might be configured to be used in below two minutes and is powered through USB-C.
The businesses spotlight the modularity of the analysis board that may be tailored to a variety of motors, management algorithms, and take a look at setups, enabling sooner optimization in addition to sooner iterations and testing. With an open structure, the equipment permits MCUs and parts to be simply exchanged, and the open-source firmware permits builders to shortly adapt and develop motor controllers below real-world situations, in keeping with the businesses.
The equipment features a three-phase inverter board, a motor controller board, an MCU improvement board, pre-wired motor connections, and a BLDC motor. A key characteristic is the high-current connectors built-in by Würth Elektronik, which allow evaluations as much as 1 kW at 48 V.
The calls for on dynamics, fault tolerance, and power effectivity in drive programs are rising steadily, leading to more and more extra advanced motor management system design, in keeping with the businesses. The choice of the best switches (MOSFETs and IGBTs), gate drivers, and safety circuits is essential to make sure decrease switching losses, higher thermal habits, and secure dynamics.
The habits of the parts have to be fastidiously validated below real-world situations, taking into account components equivalent to parasitic components, switching transients, and EMI, in keeping with the businesses. The modular equipment helps with this by enabling totally different motors and management ideas to be evaluated.
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