Efficient, high-performance sensorless field-oriented-control (FOC) motor design is easy and affordable with TI's C2000 InstaSPIN-FOC LaunchPad and DRV8301motor drive BoosterPack
Adding to the popular, low-cost TI MCU LaunchPad evaluation kit ecosystem, Texas Instruments announced the new C2000 InstaSPIN-FOC (field-oriented-control) LaunchPad and DRV8301motor drive BoosterPack plug-in module, creating a fully-functional sensorless motor control system for just $66 USD. Traditional sensorless motor control development is complicated and unattainable for most developers due to cost, time and real world application constraints. TI's InstaSPIN-FOC technology, with the key software sensor algorithms embedded in on-chip ROM, alleviates system complexity for designers of all levels while also reducing design time by identifying, tuning and efficiently controlling any type of 3-phase, synchronous or asynchronous motor in just minutes. By including InstaSPIN-FOC technology in the on-board Piccolo F28027F MCU, the new $17 USD C2000 InstaSPIN-FOC LaunchPad dramatically reduces the barriers to entry for motor control development.
A complete, fully functional motor kit for just $66
The compatible $49 DRV8301 motor drive BoosterPack plug-in module, also announced today, creates a low-voltage, medium-current, robust motor control solution that is ready for development of 6- to 24-V, up to 14-A applications and can be used as a low-cost prototyping and evaluation tool for developing a higher-powered system. The DRV8301 BoosterPack is an affordable option to help developers start designing with 3-phase motor control and is the only TI-designed motor driver BoosterPack on the market today – made specifically for the C2000 InstaSPIN-FOC LaunchPad. If designers purchase the LaunchPad and BoosterPack together, they can test and experiment with this unique pairing of motor control hardware and TI's InstaSPIN-FOC technology, including full hardware design files, debugging, GUI interface and more, to begin creating appliance motors, fans and pumps.
Features and benefits of C2000 InstaSPIN-FOC LaunchPad:
- Extremely low-cost tool which provides isolated real-time JTAG debugging and access to most input/output pins of the InstaSPIN-FOC enabled Piccolo MCU.
- Utilize the on-board, low-cost, 48-pin package, 64 KB of Flash-enabled Piccolo F28027F microcontroller with on-chip InstaSPIN-FOC motor control technology to identify and tune all 3-phase sensorless motor types, including synchronous (BLDC, SPM and IPM) and asynchronous (ACI) motors in minutes, cutting cost and design time.
- Begin software development easily with a free version of TI's Code Composer Studio integrated development environment (IDE).
- Evaluate quickly and develop full InstaSPIN-FOC based applications easily using the new motor control library (modules, drivers, system examples, documentation) through MotorWare software, which offers latest in C object-oriented and API-based coding techniques and over a dozen lab based projects that let you explore the features of InstaSPIN-FOC (Motor ID, saving motor parameters, torque control, tuning speed controller, run-time resistance monitoring, field weakening, modulation techniques and PowerWarp solution).
- Use InstaSPIN-FOC solutions to obtain near encoder performance (to eliminate the need for a physical sensor in most applications) with embedded on-chip FAST observer algorithm, which through only analysis of currents and voltages, calculates a reliable and robust estimation of rotor flux, angle, speed and torque across use conditions.
Features and benefits of the DRV8301 BoosterPack:
- When paired with the C2000 InstaSPIN-FOC LaunchPad, the DRV8301 BoosterPack provides a complete 3-phase brushless DC sensorless motor control solution.
- The complete brushless DC drive stage includes a pre-driver, power MOSFETs, and current sense amps in a small form factor.
- Experiment with motor drive systems at a low voltage with this 6- to 24-V, 14-A peak 3-phase inverter.
- Drive stage is fully protected and provides detailed fault reporting through a serial interface.
- NexFET power MOSFET technology enables higher system efficiency and excellent thermal performance.
- All hardware design files are provided allowing customers re-use of circuit and layout designs.
Pricing and availability
The new C2000 InstaSPIN-FOC LaunchPad development kit (LAUNCHXL-F28027F) is now available for $17 USD, and the DRV8301 BoosterPack plug-in module (BOOSTXL-DRV8301) is available for $49 USD.
