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TI’s new Stellaris ARM CortexM microcontroller motor control kit spins and tunes three-phase brushless motors in minutes

12th December 2011

Texas Instruments

ES Admin

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Adding to its growing portfolio of motor control solutions, Texas Instruments Incorporated today announced a new motor control kit for spinning three-phase brushless motors with a Stellaris Cortex-M3 microcontroller (MCU). The new DK-LM3S-DRV8312 motor control kit features a 32-bit Stellaris LM3S818 microcontroller and DRV8312 motor driver to spin sub-50V, 6.5A three-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motors in minutes. The easy-to-use kit is a low-cost solution for high-volume motor control applications, including low-voltage fans, blowers, pumps, tools and compressors.

The Stellaris LM3S818 controlCARD module included in the kit has the required firmware pre-programmed in flash memory to run TI’s new InstaSPIN-BLDC™ solution out-of-the-box, along with other customer-developed applications, when plugged into the DRV8312 motor driver base board. The InstaSPIN-BLDC solution is an innovative and free back-electromagnetic field (EMF) technique that spins any motor in seconds without knowledge of any motor parameters. Unlike traditional back-EMF zero crossing techniques, InstaSPIN-BLDC extends sensorless operation down to lower speeds and exhibits high immunity to miscommutation caused by rapid speed changes. Reliable motor start-up has been demonstrated over a wide range of conditions, including full torque.

Features and benefits of the Stellaris motor control kit:
• The controlCARD module with Stellaris LM3S818 MCU features 50 MHz performance, 64 KB flash, 8 KB SRAM and 6 PWM generators, allowing developers to create complex motion control designs with a tiny footprint
• DRV8312 motor driver provides the highest current output in its class, delivering up to 6.5A, without the need for a costly external heat sink. It is a reliable, fully protected motor driver with cycle-by-cycle over-current, over-temperature, cross-conduction and under-voltage protection, reducing design complexity and board space and ensuring higher system reliability
• Kit includes a 24V three-phase BLDC motor operating at up to 3.5A continuous
• Supporting software includes StellarisWare® software with TI’s IQmath Library for easy fixed to floating point conversion and InstaSPIN-BLDC software for quick and reliable motor start-up on any motor
• Accelerate system design with intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) powered by third party Crosshairs Embedded. Customize the existing GUI or create your own with easy drag and drop development by downloading Crosshairs Interface Designer.