16-bit Motor Control

Air conditioner (A/C) designs need to meet stringent energy efficiency ratings and power factor specifications to reduce overall power consumption. High energy efficiency is achieved by using an inverter-based variable speed drive for the brushless motor-based compressor and condenser fans. The variable speed drive and the sensorless field-oriented control (FOC) of brushless motors allow an appliance to operate at an optimal power setting compared to a fixed speed single phase AC induction motor (ACIM) drive. Power factor correction (PFC) is required for all high-power appliances to connect to the electrical grid.

Microchip’s Air Conditioner reference design, based on the dual core dsPIC33CH family of digital signal controllers, demonstrates efficient control of the condenser fan, compressor, PFC and the overall application logic implementation. The high-performance dsPIC33C DSCs (Dual core dsPIC33CH DSCs and Single core dsPIC33CK DSCs) offer the right set of peripherals that is ideal for dual motor control and enables replacing three controllers with one for a cost advantage in your design.

This reference design has proven power stages for high power PFC (220V, 1.8 KW), condenser fan (120 W) and compressor (1.34 KW) motor control. Additional features like temperature sensor interfaces, field communications and valve drives will enable you to develop on this platform for a wide variety of air conditioner systems like window A/Cs and the outdoor unit of split A/Cs.

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Benefits

• Single chip solution to optimize cost 

• Simplifies the development by enabling independent code development for the PFC and Dual motor control using the dual core dsPIC33CH DSCs 
  • Slave core implements dedicated time-critical dual motor control algorithms  
  • Master core implements Interleaved Boost PFC, system functions and other custom features 
• 3-phase motor control power stage for driving Low Power High Voltage BLDC/ PMSM motors

Refrigerator compressors are now driven by brushless DC motors or permanent magnet synchronous motor to meet high energy efficiency ratings. You must use an inverter-based variable speed drive for the brushless motor to achieve this high energy efficiency. The variable speed drive allows you to operate the compressor at an optimal speed in order to maintain a constant temperature setting as compared to a fixed-speed single-phase AC induction motor (ACIM) drive. Field-Oriented Control (FOC) of brushless motors enables you to implement the variable speed drive and add advanced motor control features like on-the-fly startup and stall detection with auto-recovery.

This refrigerator compressor reference design will help you to rapidly prototype and develop a cost-effective design using a dsPIC® Digital Signal Controller (DSC). The design is suitable for a variety of compressor motor types, supporting both Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (IPMSM) and Surface Mount Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (SPMSM). This reference design implements sensorless control and single-shunt current sensing technique to save BOM cost. This design also addresses the challenges of reliable startup of the compressor with high pressure and low standby power consumption.

Microchip provides Class-B Safety Software libraries for the dsPIC33 to reduce your development time for appliances requiring functional safety.

Ready for a live demonstration? Please contact Microchip’s local sales office in your geography to request a demonstration. This reference design is provided with full user’s guide, source code, schematics and PCB layout.

Benefits
• Speeds development time with turnkey example design including rich protection features, motor control and application source code, user guide, multiple communication ports
• Reduces system level BOM cost due to high-performance core and control peripherals enabling sensorless FOC, low cost auxiliary power supply, and single-shunt current sensing with on-chip Op Amps
• Supports a power range for most home refrigerators and can be easily optimized for your application
• Provides smoother torque and better start and stop characteristics using Field Oriented Control (FOC) which enables a quieter compressor operation and a longer lifespan
• Implements motor control techniques for a reliable start up in the presence of high compressor pressure.
• Saves power with low standby current consumption

The dsPIC33CK Low Voltage Motor Control (LVMC) Development Board is a cost-effective rapid development platform for Brushless DC (BLDC), Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) and Internal Permanent Magnet (IPM) motor control applications. The LVMC development board is ideal to explore and prototype motor control applications that operate from 12 to 48 Volts and up to 10A of continuous current. The board can also support higher current, up to 20A with an optional fan. The board supports application development for sensored six-step trapezoidal or sinusoidal control with hall sensors, sensorless BEMF measuring phase voltages, or Field Oriented Control (FOC) with single, dual or triple-shunt resistor current sensing circuits. This flexibly in architecture allows you to evaluate various design techniques that suit your application requirements, balancing the cost and performance.

The LVMC board features the high-performance, single core dsPIC33CK256MP506 Digital Signal Controller (DSC) with 256KB Flash, 8-pairs of advanced motor control PWMs, three integrated 3.5Msps ADCs for implementing math intensive motor control algorithms like sensorless FOC, initial position detection, field weakening, etc

The LVMC board comes with two mikroBUS™ headers to expand the board features to meet your application needs. It features a high-speed USB to UART interface for debug purpose and to monitor key parameters in your control algorithm using a graphical PC tool like X2C Scope or RTDM.

Benefits

• Low-cost development board to prototype your low-voltage motor control designs

• A complete design serving as a reference to implement your motor control solution using the dsPIC33CK DSC and MIC4605 MOSFTET gate drivers in a small form factor

• Flexible development board to explore various BLDC/PMSM/IPM commutation techniques:

• Supports trapezoidal 6-step control or FOC of BLDC/PMSM/IPM motors

• Multiple feedback methods to support both sensored and sensorless operation, phase voltage feedback, Hall sensors, optical/magnetic encoders using the QEI, and operation using single, dual or triple low-side current sensing circuits

• Signal conditioning circuit using either the on-chip op amps of the dsPIC33CK DSC or the external op amps populated on the LVMC board

• PICKit-on-Board (PKoBv4) built into the board provides a standalone development tool eliminating the need for an external programmer or debugger

The Microchip dsPICDEM™ MCHV-2 Development board aids the user in the rapid evaluation and development of a wide variety of motor control applications using a dsPIC® Digital Signal Controller (DSC). This development system is targeted to control Brushless DC (BLDC) motors, Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSM), and AC Induction Motors (ACIM) in sensor or sensorless operation. This flexible and cost-effective tool can be configured in different ways for use with Microchip’s specialized motor control DSCs. The dsPICDEM™ MCHV-2 Development Board supports the dsPIC33C, dsPIC33E and dsPIC33F Motor Control device family and offers a mounting option to connect either a 28-pin SOIC device or a generic 100-pin Plug-In Module (PIM). The development board has a three-phase power module device that contains the motor inverter and the gate driver’s circuitry. The circuit drives a BLDC, PMSM, or ACIM motor using different control techniques without requiring any additional hardware. The MCHV-2 supports using either the internal op amps found on certain dsPIC products or the external op amps found on the MCHV-2 board for current sensing.

The rated continuous output current from the inverter is 6.5A (RMS). This allows up to approximately 2 kVA output when running from a 208V to 230V single-phase input voltage in a maximum 30ºC (85ºF) ambient temperature environment. Therefore, the development board is ideally suited for running a standard 3-Phase Induction Motor of up to 1.4 kW (1.8 HP) rating or a slightly higher rated industrial servo-motor. The power module is capable of driving other types of motors and electrical loads that do not exceed the maximum power limit and are predominantly inductive. Furthermore, single-phase loads can be driven using one or two of the inverter outputs. The unit is capable of operating from 90V up to a maximum of 265V.

The MCHV-2(DM330023-2) replaces the previous MCHV (DM330023) and is fully backwards compatible with the previous MCHV(DM330023) and all motor control PIMs.

The Microchip dsPICDEM™ MCHV-3 Development Board aids the user in the rapid evaluation and development of a wide variety of motor control applications using a dsPIC® Digital Signal Controller (DSC). This development board is targeted to control Brushless DC (BLDC) motors, Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSM), and AC Induction Motors (ACIM) in sensor or sensorless operation. This flexible and cost-effective tool can be configured in different ways for use with Microchip’s specialized motor control DSCs. The dsPICDEM™ MCHV-3 Development Board supports the dsPIC33F, E and C Motor Control device family and offers a mounting option to connect either a 28-pin SOIC device or a generic 100-pin Plug-In Module (PIM). The development board has a three-phase power module device that contains the motor inverter and the gate driver’s circuitry. The circuit drives a BLDC, PMSM, or ACIM motor using different control techniques without requiring any additional hardware. The MCHV-3 supports using either the internal op amps found on certain dsPIC33E and dsPIC33C products, or the external op amps found on the MCHV-3 board for current sensing. It also has Power Factor Correction (PFC) circuitry to meet power regulatory requirements.

The rated continuous output current from the inverter is 6.5A (RMS). This allows up to approximately 2 kVA output when running from a 208V to 230V single-phase input voltage in a maximum 30ºC (85ºF) ambient temperature environment. Therefore, the development board is ideally suited for running a standard 3-Phase Induction Motor of up to 1.4 kW (1.8 HP) rating or a slightly higher rated industrial servo-motor. The power module is capable of driving other types of motors and electrical loads that do not exceed the maximum power limit and are predominantly inductive. Furthermore, single-phase loads can be driven using one or two of the inverter outputs. The unit is capable of operating from 90V up to a maximum of 265V.

The MCHV-3(DM330023-3) complements the previous MCHV-2 (DM330023-2) and is fully backwards compatible with the previous MCHV-2(DM330023-2) and all motor control PIMs.

The Microchip dsPICDEM™ MCSM Development Board is targeted to control both unipolar and bipolar stepper motors in open-loop or closed-loop (current control) mode. The hardware is designed in such a way that no hardware changes are necessary for 8-, 6- or 4-wire stepper motors in either bipolar or unipolar configurations. Software to run motors in open-loop or closed-loop with full or variable micro-stepping is provided. A GUI for controlling step commands, motor parameter input, and operation modes is included. This flexible and cost-effective board can be configured in different ways for use with Microchip’s specialized dsPIC33 Motor Control Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs). The dsPICDEM MCSM Development Board offers a mounting option to connect either a 28-pin SOIC device or a generic 100-pin Plug-In Module (PIM). A dsPIC33CK64MP105 External Op Amp MC PIM (MA330050-1) is included.

The dsPICDEM MCSM Development Board supports terminal voltages up to 80V and currents up to 3A. The dsPIC33C device uses the MOSFET driver to drive the two full-bridge inverters that power the motor windings. The board includes various circuits to perform the following functions:

• Drive two motor windings with the two on-board full-bridge inverters
• Measure feedback and other analog signals (i.e., current, DC voltage, Potentiometer and Fault signals)
• Communicate with a host computer or an external device via USB

The dsPIC33CK64MP105 devices feature an 4-channel, high-speed PWM with Complementary mode output, a programmable ADC trigger on the PWM reload cycle, digital dead time control, internal shoot-through protection and hardware fault shutdown. These features make the dsPIC DSC an ideal solution for high-performance stepper motor control applications where control of the full-bridge inverter is required.

The dsPICDEM™ MCLV-2 Development Board provides a cost-effective method of evaluating and developing sensored or sensorless Brushless DC (BLDC) and Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) control applications. The board supports Microchip’s 100-pin Plug-In-Modules with dsPIC33C, dsPIC33E and dsPIC33F Digital Signal Controllers and also for the PICM32MK and ATSAME70 families. The board supports the use of the internal, on-chip OpAmps found on certain dsPIC® or PIC32MK devices or the external OpAmps found on the MCLV-2 board. A dsPIC33EP256MC506 Internal OpAmp PIM (MA330031) is included. The board is capable of controlling motors rated up to 48V and 15A, with multiple communication channels such as USB, CAN, LIN and RS-232.  The MCLV-2(DM330021-2) replaces the previous MCLV (DM330021) and is fully backwards compatible with the previous MCLV(DM330021) and all motor control PIMs

Even though most high voltage (110Vac/220Vac) 3-phase motor control applications are high power (>1kW) there are many applications that are low power (<500W). In those cases running on a high power system is not very efficient.  To better demonstrate the capabilities in regards to efficiency in low power high voltage motor control we have developed this reference design (limited to 150W). This compact and cost-effective high voltage board is targeted to control various high voltage motors such as Brushless DC (BLDC) motors, Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSM) and AC Induction Motors (ACIM) in sensored or sensorless operation.

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Please contact local sales office in your geography to request a demonstration.
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The Low Voltage Motor Control Development Bundle provides a cost-effective method of evaluating and developing dual/single motor control power stage targeted to drive two Brushless DC (BLDC) motors or Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSM) concurrently. The bundle comes with a dsPIC DSC Signal board, Motor Control 10-24V Driver Board and dsPIC33EP512GM710 Dual Motor Control PIM.

The dsPIC (DSC) Signal Board supports both 3.3V and 5V operated devices for various applications and frequently used human interface features along with the communication ports. The Signal Board has two major connectors, a 120-pin connector and a 60-pin connector to enable connection to the plug-in boards.

The Motor Control 10V–24V Driver Board (Dual/Single) along with the compatible dsPIC DSC Signal Board provides a software development platform to build and evaluate embedded motor control application software using Microchip’s high performance motor control Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) and Microcontrollers (MCUs).