Sensors

Industry’s most integrated resolver sensor interface

9th June 2016
Nat Bowers
0

Texas Instruments has introduced the industry’s first resolver sensor interface with integrated power supply, exciter amplifier and functional safety features. The PGA411-Q1 is capable of simultaneously exciting the resolver sensor coil and calculating the angle and velocity of a rotating motor shaft without the external components required by competitive solutions.

The PGA411-Q1 architecture of the Resolver-to-Digital Converter (RDC) helps enable designers to increase system accuracy and stability for: automotive applications such as EV/HEV traction inverters, electric power steering and integrated start-stop alternators; industrial applications such as AC servo motor control, robotic arm control and elevators; and aerospace and defence applications such as angle of attack sensors and high lift systems.

The PGA411-Q1 reduces BOM cost and saves up to 50% PCB space by eliminating at least 10 external and passive components. Its integrated exciter amplifier, high-voltage boost power supply with short protection and programmable fault detection thresholds and filters allow the PGA411-Q1 to support a wide range of 4 and 7Vrms resolver sensors and often eliminate the need for external circuitry.

The integrated Built-In Self-Test (BIST) performs an analogue and logic component self-check automatically upon startup, enabling enhanced latent fault coverage. The self-test and built-in diagnostics largely eliminate the need for external protection and enable engineers to develop systems that meet ASIL D functional safety certification for ISO 26262, unlike competitive solutions.

The device architecture provides overvoltage, undervoltage and thermal protections, including separation of the high-current and high-voltage blocks from other parts of the device, like the AFE, which are highly susceptible to damage. This enhances stability. Additionally, the AFE’s integrated comparators remove the need for an external ADC, which helps enable stability by reducing the effects of quantization noise on the input signals from the sensor.

Built-in programmable features such as an internal clock, AFE and increased diagnostics and protection enable engineers to scale the device to fit a range of resolver sensors and system needs. Designers can easily change internal parameters and move to a new platform design without the extensive engineering effort typically required to redesign hardware or debug a new system.

The RDC has been designed with ISO 26262 certification taken into consideration at all stages of the design process, helping to enable designs up to ASIL D. TI also offers a Device Safety Manual, Safety Analysis Report and Safety Case Report to help engineers designing with the PGA411-Q1 ensure that their designs meet the relevant functional safety standards (Safety reports available to customers who sign a SafeTI design package NDA).

Developers can pair the PGA411-Q1 RDC with TI’s C2000 F28379 MCUs and DesignDRIVE Position Manager technology for functional safety redundancy. The DesignDRIVE Position Manager technology gives engineers access to the base functionality needed to interface to resolver sensors, saving time in development, support and testing in industrial servo and AC inverter drives.

The PGA411-Q1 joins TI’s growing portfolio of sensing innovations that provide the performance, accuracy and power consumption required in sensing designs.

Engineers can quickly and easily evaluate the performance of the PGA411-Q1 RDC with an EVM integrating the BIST, boost power supply, exciter amplifier and programmable fault thresholds and filters. The PGA411-Q1 EVM is available now for $149 from the TI store and authorised distributors. Designers can also evaluate the suitability of this device for their systems with two TI Designs reference designs: Automotive Resolver-to-Digital Converter Reference Design for Safety Application; and Industrial Single-Chip Resolver-to-Digital Converter which will be available in Q3 this year.

The PGA411-Q1 is now available in a 64-pin HTQFP PowerPAD package starting at $12.96 each in 1,000 unit quantities.

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