Software for three-phase motor drive design
STMicroelectronics released new controllers for the STM32 series to simplify design and save more energy.
STMicroelectronics offers resources to simplify design and speed development of energy-saving intelligent motor drives for applications such as white goods, air conditioners, industrial automation, power tools, and fitness equipment.
Electric motors operated by traditional on/off drives reportedly consume as much as 50% of the world’s electricity. Intelligent drives enable improved energy ratings, but present complex design challenges and historically have required expensive processors such as digital signal controllers. ST’s advanced STM32 microcontroller family and ready-to-use firmware building blocks for intelligent drives help designers overcome these challenges.
The STM32 FOC PMSM SDK v3.0 motor-control firmware library release adds support for the low-cost STM32 Value Line series (STM32F100x), enabling designers to realize intelligent drives at lower price points for highly cost-sensitive applications. It also targets the STM32 Performance Line High-Density series (STM32F103xx), exploiting the large program Flash memory combined with the advanced peripheral offering, to implement a dual-motor drive in a single controller, saving cost, size and development time. This is the first ST library to support dual motor controls and will benefit designers of equipment such as air conditioning units, industrial automation and robotics systems.
A further innovation offered as part of ST’s motor-drive solution is the MC Workbench v1.0.2, which is a graphical PC tool for the configuration of the firmware library. This simplifies the task of assembling the blocks and customizing the drive to perform as required.
STM32 microcontrollers reportedly feature an advanced architecture that delivers high processing performance and integrates functions such as the timers needed for motor control at highly competitive cost. ST has more than 180 STM32 variants, from low-cost devices to versions offering high feature integration, performance and memory density. Pin-assignment, peripherals and software compatibility enhances scalability and flexibility for developers.
- Edited by Chris Vavra, Control Engineering, www.controleng.com
http://www.controleng.com/new-products/motors-and-drives.html
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