Product category:
Drives, motors and power transmission, couplings, clutches
News Release from: Allegro MicroSystems Europe | Subject: A3950 motor driver
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 27 April 2006
DC motor driver for speed, direction,
torque
The new A3950 from Allegro MicroSystems Europe is a DMOS full-bridge motor driver integrated circuit for controlling the speed, direction of rotation and torque of a DC motor.
The new A3950 from Allegro MicroSystems Europe is a DMOS full-bridge motor driver integrated circuit for controlling the speed, direction of rotation and torque of a DC motor with externally applied PWM (pulse-width-modulated) control signals Key features of the new device include synchronous rectification, overcurrent protection, low 'on' resistance DMOS outputs, a diagnostic output and an exceptionally small package which is less than a quarter of the size of any other equivalent product on the market
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 6 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The A3950, which complements Allegro's parallel input DC motor driver family, is capable of peak output currents up to +/-2.8 A and operating voltages up to 36 V.
The wide operating voltage range reduces the requirement for power-supply regulation and reduces system cost, with no need for a driver logic supply.
Speed, direction and torque are controlled via the device's 'phase' and 'enable' input terminals, while a mode input is also provided to select fast (coast) or slow (brake) PWM current decay control.
Further reading
Dual-channel Hall-effect sensor for speed
A dual-channel Hall-effect sensor designed for use in speed and direction sensing applications, incorporating encoder ring-magnet targets, has been launched by Allegro MicroSystems.
Hall-effect linear sensors are user programmable
Programmable Hall-effect linear sensors can be optimised to reduce inaccuracies caused by manufacturing tolerances, and simplifies the assembly process.
Internal synchronous rectification control circuitry reduces power dissipation by switching on the appropriate DMOS outputs to effectively short out the body diodes during PWM operation.
This internal control technique can reduce output power dissipation by 10 to 30% in most applications.
The A3950's overcurrent protection feature prevents damage to the integrated circuit that might occur as a result of short circuits between the motor lead and the supply and ground.
Other internal circuit protection features include thermal shutdown with hysteresis, undervoltage lockout of the motor supply and charge pump output, and crossover current protection.
A diagnostic open-drain output is provided to alert the external system controller to fault conditions such as undervoltage, overtemperature and overcurrent.
The low 'on' resistance DMOS outputs result in lower power dissipation: up to 50% lower than other devices on the market.
A 'sleep' mode is also provided to reduces power consumption when the device is not in use.
The A3950 is supplied in a lead-free (Pb-free), 16-lead eTSSOP package with exposed power tab.
The small size of only 5 x 4.4 x 1.2 mm makes it the ideal solution when printed circuit board space is limited, and the small size does not compromise the thermal performance, typified by a 34C/W thermal resistance.
Target applications include office equipment, vending and ATM machines, industrial servo drives, and medical instrumentation.
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