Current semiconductor supply chain shortages can be a challenge for motor driver and controller designers. Employing a fully integrated solution allows the designer to obtain a high-performance microcontroller coupled with gate drivers, DC/DC switchers, LDO regulators, differential amplifiers, single-ended amplifiers, etc.
Semiconductor shortages in the supply chain can disrupt the plans of the best motor driver and controller designers. It becomes even more challenging when their designs use many discrete components, such as those required to drive tri-phase BLDC and PMSM motors. Failing to procure a single one of these components renders the entire solution non-manufacturable.
There is a better and easier alternative. Designers have the option to employ a highly integrated system-on-chip product which packages all of the electronic blocks required to drive and control typical tri-phase BLDC motors. By packaging the microcontroller along with the different power and analog blocks, designers save both on cost as well as space, while delivering high performance solutions despite a semiconductor shortage.
Jose I Quinones has been spinning motors for more than 25 years. With a BSSE in electronics and a MSEE in power electronics from the University of Puerto Rico, Jose works as an embedded system designer generating motion control designs for brushed, brushless DC and stepper motors. As an applications engineer, he enjoys helping customers design their respective motor drive and control applications, ranging in all sorts of power levels and sizes. From conception, through hardware, and software/firmware implementation, he helps customers create better and novel products using the most efficient power management solutions