TI’s new motor driver evaluation platform spins brushed DC, stepper motors

This highly integrated, robust solution speeds development time for brushed DC and stepper motors running up to 6 A continuous/12 A peak at 50 V. Applications include medical pumps, gate openers, stage lighting, textile manufacturing tools, and industrial or consumer robotics.

Key features and benefits:

* Out-of-the-box motor control and driver solution includes the DRV8412 motor driver, a real-time control C2000™ Piccolo™ microcontroller (MCU) controlCARD module, a quickstart GUI, full development source code, Code Composer Studio™ (CCStudio) integrated development environment (IDE), and motors.
* Modular control architecture offers flexibility to choose the right level of processing performance for the application. In addition to the C2000 controlCARD module, more TI MCU options will be available in 2011.
* DRV8412 motor driver with integrated MOSFETs provides up to three times lower Rdson than competing solutions, enabling up to 97-percent efficient operation, and delivers 6-A continuous/12-A peak current at 50 V without the need for a costly heat sink. The DRV8412 motor driver also includes advanced on-chip protection, including cycle-by-cycle over-current, over-temperature, and under-voltage protection, to greatly reduce design complexity and board space, and ensure higher system reliability.
* C2000 Piccolo MCU performs control, communications, and debug. The industry-leading 32-bit C2000 MCU integrates the most advanced control peripherals and CPU capability in an embedded MCU device family starting under $2. This includes access to the most thorough set of motor control software modules, real-time debug capabilities, and open-tooled reference designs via free controlSUITE™ software.
* C source code and easy-to-use GUI demonstrate voltage and current control of one or two brushed DC motors, as well as speed and index, including up to 128 microsteps, of a stepper motor.