Evaluation board speeds development of sensorless BLDC motor control designs

New platform combines integrated IC with hardware needed to rapidly create fully operational motor drive

Toshiba Electronics Europe has expanded its family of motion control development platforms with a new evaluation board that will speed implementation of sensorless drives for three-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motors. The new board is ideal for testing and prototyping drives for motion control applications requiring motor bridge voltages ranging from around 10V to 42V.

Based around a Toshiba PWM sensorless driver ASSP, the new TB6588FG evaluation board allows engineers to modify key parameters that adjust start-up performance, motor efficiency and acoustic noise. The board is designed for direct control by voltage input or connection to a host processor, and connects directly to the motor under test with no additional hardware components. Target applications for the new board include home appliance, pump, industrial and automotive motion control designs.
At the heart of the new board is Toshiba’s TB6588FG PWM sensorless driver ASSP (application specific standard product). This IC brings together PWM sensorless motor control, protection functionality, an output power stage and an operational amplifier in a single 36-pin HSOP package. By combining sensorless operation with high levels of on-board functionality, the ASSP significantly reduces the component count, design complexity and development time of three-phase, full wave BLDC motor applications with power levels up to 60W.

The TB6588FG is a complete motor driver solution that controls forward or reverse rotation speed by changing the PWM duty cycle based on an analogue control signal input. Full wave PWM operation provides for high-efficiency and low-power operation while minimising electrical and acoustic noise. Lead angle control options of 0º, 7.5º, 15º and 30º allow designers to tune their application for optimum efficiency.