NEC Electronics' latest Spin it! Development Kit is available

The 78K0R/Ix3 is a highly integrated 16-bit application specific microcontroller family, which offers best in class performance at ultra low power. 78K0R/Ix3 ASSP offers many feature rich on-chip peripherals such as the internal high speed oscillator providing 20MHz for the CPU and 40MHz for the motor control timer block at better than 2% accuracy. The integrated analogue features such as programmable op-amp, comparators, and high speed A/D Converter, together with the flexible timer block, are designed to support motor control specific requirements such as A/D triggering from PWM timer, dead time generation, and real time port operation.

The internal DMA for parallel data movement, separate multiply, divide hardware blocks and provide applications with near DSP performance. Loaded with safety features such as: POC (power on Clear), LVI (low voltage detection), independent WDT (watchdog timer), wide operating voltage (2.7V ~ 5.5V), and HIGH-Z output control for motor protection the 78K0R/Ix3 family is optimised to meet the most challenging safety requirements. A wide range of package sizes and memory configurations ensures the 78K0R/Ix3 family MCU will scale with both application requirements and project budget.

Primarily targeted at designers interested in the development of brushless DC motor control firmware the 78K0R – Spin it! highlights the NEC Electronics 78K0R/Ix3 ASSP MCU family for low voltage and low power applications such as: home appliances, pumps, fans, small servo drives, hand held power tools, and personal care appliances. The 78K0R – Spint it! single board drives controller features start/stop, direction and speed (RPM) control. Furthermore the 78K0R – Spin it! offers four digit 7 segment LED display, 12V to 15V BLDC motor drive using NEC Electronics uPA2792 complementary power MOSFETs as well as NEC Electronics 8-bit uPD78F0730 MCU with USB functionality. Debugging and interface with external devices have been made easier with the on-board connectors for both the NEC Electronics’ 78K0R microcontroller based ZigBee stick, and low cost debugger / programmer ‘MINICUBE 2’.

With three different interface options the 78K0R – Spin it! was designed with connectivity in mind. With the on-board NEC uPD78F0730 8-bit MCU with USB functionality for source code debugging, flash memory programming, and operation with the host computer there is no need for additional hardware.

In addition the on-board interface for the MINICUBE2 offers low cost support for source code debugging and emulation through dedicated hardware and the IAR environment. Finally if wireless remote control operation is required then the on-board ZigBee stick interface is available and designed to work together with NEC Electronics’ family of ZigBee based RF solution products.

Available at the end of March 2009 the complete and easy to use kit, includes the single board drive controller, low voltage BLDC motor, USB cable, and 15 volt @ 1A power supply unit. Spin it! provides everything one needs to quickly get started testing and running a low voltage brushless DC (BLDC) motor.