COVER STORY Intelligent, efficient and precise motor control
The proliferation of electric motors in industrial and consumer applications has revolutionized the way we operate machines and equipment. This has helped to speed up the adoption of the intelligent manufacturing equipment used in Industry 4.0. These motors require sophisticated electronic control systems that need to be highly integrated and cost effective whilst at the same time provide the necessary current and voltages and achieve precise control and efficient operation. STMicroelectronics is a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for various industries, including eMobility, industrial, and personal electronics. One of their key areas of expertise is the design and manufacture of motor control ICs. The STMicroelectronics STSPIN and STDRIVE product families have been designed with the needs of modern industrial control applications in mind, such as industry 4.0, and are able to intelligently drive and control electric motors with high efficiency and precision. In this month’s issue Josh Barton, field applications engineer at Anglia, gives an overview of the STSPIN and STDRIVE product families, their features and advantages, and how they can be used effectively to drive and control electric motors.
Common motor types
Firstly, let’s look at some of the common motor types in use today and their specific strengths for different applications. DC brush are the most common motor type; however, these are now being replaced in many applications by brushless DC motors (BLDC) due to advantages such as higher efficiency, quieter operation and increased reliability. These versatile motors are used in applications that require high torque and high-speed operation such as robotics and power tools.
Three-phase induction motors (ACIM) are brushless motors commonly used in industrial drives, these motors feature self-starting, reliable and economical operation. Typical applications include industrial pumps and conveyer belt systems.
Stepper motors are designed to make small incremental movements/steps rather than just rotation like a traditional motor. They are widely used where precision position control is required such as in computer drives, security and industrial automation sectors.
Switched reluctance motors are more commonly used in traction, industrial pumps and domestic appliances. Their structure is similar to that of stepper motors, but they have fewer magnetic poles.
STMicroelectronics motor control and drive solutions are suitable for all of these common motor types and more besides.
STSPIN product family Firstly, we will look at the STSPIN product family, this is a range of integrated motor drivers that are designed to drive and control 3-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motors, stepper
motors, and single-phase DC motors. These products integrate the power electronics, control electronics, and protection features required for driving and controlling motors. The family also includes variants which have an
10 April 2023 Components in Electronics Figure 1. STSPIN230 block diagram
where less than 80nA is consumed in standby mode making it well suited to battery powered applications. All these features are squeezed into a compact VFQFPN16 package measuring just 3x3x1.0mm allowing for extremely compact designs.
Complementing this driver IC is the STSPIN233 which is a similar device but supports three shunt sensing topology and can be forced into a zero- consumption state, allowing a significant increase in battery life.
STSPIN830
For more advanced motor control, the STSPIN830 is a compact and versatile field oriented control (FOC) ready three-phase motor driver. This device is
embedded STM32 MCU offering a fully integrated System-In- Package solution.
The STSPIN product family includes various devices, each are tailored to the specific needs of different motor types. Below are some examples of a couple of devices which suit some of the more common applications.
STSPIN230
This device is a low voltage triple half-bridge BLDC motor driver with a current rating of up to
1.3Arms, the device integrates control logic, drive FETs and protection into a single IC. See Fig.1.
It is designed to operate from a 1.8V to 10V supply voltage and its comprehensive suite of protection features include non-dissipative overcurrent protection, short-circuit protection, thermal shutdown and interlocking function to prevent damage to the motor during fault conditions. Another key feature of the STSPIN230 is its energy saving feature
housed in a compact 4 x 4 mm QFN package and integrates all the control logic and a fully protected low RDSon triple half-bridge power stage. See Fig.2.
Designed to operate from 7V to 45V
supply voltage, the device can deliver a maximum output current of 1.5 Arms. The STSPIN830 supports both single and three shunt architectures and embeds a PWM current limiter based on user settable values of reference voltage and OFF time. The device can be forced into a low consumption state which reduces the total current consumption down to less than 45μA.
The STSPIN830 devices also have a dedicated MODE input pin which offers the freedom to decide whether to drive it through 6 inputs (one for each power switch) or using the more common 3 PWM direct driving inputs. As with all other devices from the STSPIN family, the STSPIN830 integrates a complete set of protections for
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