The development of smaller and more powerful motors, along with recent
advances in high-energy batteries, has opened new markets to a wide
range of motorized products, from home appliances and electric vehicles
to entertainment devices and toys. New designs for AC and DC motor control must be highly efficient and consume little power in order to provide longer operation without affecting performance quality. The need to implement smaller, more cost-effective
motors in traditional motor applications is also influencing electronic motor control techniques for the industrial sectors.
Expensive computer and power electronics have been significant obstacles to overcome for motor control applications. Tremendous technology
improvement in semiconductor processes and integration are helping designers face these challenges. The Actel Fusion mixed-signal
FPGA offers unprecedented integration by combining analog,
flash memory, and FPGA fabric in a monolithic Programmable System Chip
(PSC). For the first time, engineers can combine the
motor control analog frontend, high-speed flash lookup tables and deterministic
algorithm processing capabilities of programmable logic into a single-chip
solution.
For more information, visit the Fusion Devices web
page.
Portable devices using miniature motor control are growing dramatically. They are used in consumer, automotive, medical, and industrial applications, offer a small form factor and substantial cost savings. Actel's low-power IGLOO family is an ideal solution for the control of miniature motors. When used in brushless DC or Stepper motors Actel's IGLOO family can be implemented to work with sensor or sensorless applications. Actel offers a Miniature Motor Control Board and demonstration platforms that showcase IGLOO devices as controllers for miniature motors. IGLOO devices can be used for miniature motor control, which can be implemented using the minimum amount of the FPGA fabric. This leaves plenty of room for the rest of your design, and enables you to use a smaller, low-cost, and low-power device.
For more information, visit the IGLOO Devices web
page.
Performance
- Robust, customizable pulse-width modulation (PWM) enables more
precise control algorithms
- Faster more deterministic control loop than software solutions
- Reduces current ripple and noise
- Immediate response to user I/O (i.e., emergency braking alert)
- Hardware acceleration of control algorithms
- High-speed flash memory provides faster access to lookup tables
One-Chip Integration
- Single-chip solution
- Increased reliability, smaller form factor, and board space
- Functional integration
- System manager and motor control in a single chip
- Data logging and subsystem diagnostic
- Fusion can support multiple axis motors simultaneously
- Fusion supports multiple types of analog data acquisition
- Direct sampling of voltage, current, and temperature
- Single platform supports multiple standards for local and remote
communications
Other Technology Solutions Still Apply
| Motor Control Need |
Fusion Benefit |
| PWM Frequency Control |
On-board PLL and clock generators can target a wide range of
motor frequencies |
| Sensing and Protection |
Easy-to-set internal threshold flags to control and protect the motor (i.e.,
over-current, over-temperature, etc.). |
| Real-Time Monitoring System |
Internal real-time counter to log/record drive parameters and
characteristics |
| Configuration Storage |
On-chip flash memory stores system parameters for fast starts
and efficient drive operation.
Reprogrammable during run-time |
| Damping |
To coast and brake, use Dedicated on-board PWM IP. |
| BEMF — Zero Crossing |
Reduce component count with sensor-less operation |
| Multiple Drive Support |
Parallel and flexible operation enables simultaneous control
of multiple motors (i.e., multi axis systems). |
Miniature Motor Control Daughter Card
Actel offers a demonstration platform that showcases an IGLOO device as a controller for miniature brushless DC and stepper motors. The platform consists of a miniature motor control daughter card for Actel IGLOO Icicle Kit.
Fusion-Based Motor Control Daughter Card
The mixed-signal capabilities of Fusion allow for a single-chip solution for motor control applications. This motor control solution demonstrates the unique advantages of Fusion and its flexibility in controlling varied types of motors on a single platform. The daughter board is designed to work along side the Fusion Starter Kit.
- Fusion
Starter Kit
- Intellectual
Property—Required intellectual property (IP) depends
on the application requirements.
- CorePWM:
The essential IP is the PWM. Actel offers this robotic 8-channel
PWM IP module, which is ready for plug-n-play development.
- Cortex-M1: The ARM FPGA IP Processor
- CoreMP7: ARM7 processor IP
- Core8051:
8051 compliant IP
- CAN
IP: Provides easy integration benefits to support CAN interface
that is widely deployed in the industrial control applications.
- Fusion
IP
