New Industry Products

ST Provides Design Solution for 3-Phase Drives up to 3kW

February 27, 2006 by Jeff Shepard

STMicroelectronics has released a Motor Control Reference Design Kit that will simplify the evaluation and implementation of practical 3-phase BLDC (brushless Direct Current) and AC drive applications across three power ranges, up to 3kW.

The modular four-board kit consists of a control board, the STEVAL-IHM001V1 and three power boards, the STEVAL-IHM003V1/004V1/005V1, that are designed for 300W, 1kW and 3kW motors, respectively. Its hardware architecture is based on an inverter topology designed for a range of 3-phase applications, including AC induction motor, PMDC/AC or BLDC/AC (6-step sensorless) control, and PMAC or BLAC (sinusoidal driven, with Hall sensors), as well as for single and 3-phase UPS (Uninterriptible Power Supplies).

The inverter stages of the power boards consist of six rugged, short-circuit protected IGBTs, with current capability determined by the board's power rating. The 300W and 1kW boards can operate directly from an AC or DC power supply, while the 3kW board uses only DC power; all provide an auxiliary power supply, and are host to the Control board via in-line connectors. The partitioned design between power and control boards provides highly effective system noise immunity.

Control of the reference design kit is based around an ST7FMC microcontroller, which is designed specifically for motor control applications and offers significant performance benefits compared to DSP-based MCUs. A dedicated graphical user interface enables easy configuration, with firmware libraries enabling customization to meet particular user requirements. The physical design of all of the boards is reusable in the target application, aided by free availability of the OrCAD source files.

The Motor Control Reference Design Kits are available now, and US pricing for the 300W, 1kW and 3kW kits is $38, $45 and $55, respectively.