ON Semi Extends Current Range & Flexibility For Stepper Motor Designs
ON Semiconductor announced that the company has extended its bipolar stepper motor control family to include two new Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) versions of a motor driver capable of peak currents up to 800mA and for use with an external microcontroller for added flexibility. The company claims that the AMIS-30511 and AMIS-30512 eliminate the need for many external components, reducing system cost and bill of materials (BOM).
Both of the new mixed-signal ICs contain two embedded H-bridges that can drive two-phase stepper motors with sustained peak currents up to 400mA and maximum currents up to 800mA for short duration. Each also allows a host microcontroller to detect blocked rotor and end-of-run conditions without additional switches, Hall sensors or optical encoders. In addition to stall detection, these functions allow the designer to program the microcontroller to calculate rotor position and to dynamically adjust current or speed as required to prevent step loss. This capability is said to eliminate noise and vibration at end-stops and improves motion-control accuracy and reliability without additional component.
The 30512 contains a 5V regulator to supply both internal logic and up to 50mA for external components, such as a microprocessor. The 30512 also has watchdog logic circuitry to prevent an external microprocessor from "hanging up."
"The AMIS-30511/512 devices extend our bipolar stepper motor micro-stepping driver family’s current drive range down to 400mA," said Eric Wallentine, ON Semiconductor’s Industrial Product Marketing Manager. "By combining high-voltage analog circuitry and digital functionality on the same chip, these motor drivers let our customers design low-cost, low component count motor driving systems for a wide variety of applications."
Typical uses for the 30511/512 include security cameras, building and industrial automation, motor control, textile processing, process equipment, robotics, HVAC and base station control and status.
Available in a 24 pin SOIC package, unit pricing in quantities of 1,000 start at $3.81 for the AMIS-30511 and $4.18 for the AMIS-30512.
