April 14, 2014 - Microchip Technology released MCP8063 – a highly integrated, automotive AEC-Q100-qualified motor driver in a small, 8-pin, 4x4 mm DFN package. It combines those features with 1.5A peak phase current for the 180-degree sinusoidal drive of a variety of three-phase brushless DC motor and fan applications. This integration reduces cost and PCB area, and the high sinusoidal-drive performance provides high efficiency, low acoustic noise and low mechanical vibration for energy savings and quiet operation. Additionally, the MCP8063 includes safety features such as thermal shutdown, over-current limiting and lock-up protection.
The designers of a broad range of motor applications in markets such as the automotive, IT, industrial and home-appliance sectors are faced with increasing regulatory and consumer demands for continued reductions in cost, space, noise and power consumption; with better performance and safety. The integrated features of the MCP8063 motor driver solve these problems cost-effectively, while providing a wide operating temperature range of -40 to +125-degrees Celsius. Additionally, it supports the sensorless driving of BLDC motors, which eliminates the cost and space of a Hall sensor. The MCP8063 motor driver works stand-alone or in conjunction with Microchip's portfolio of PIC microcontrollers and dsPIC digital signal controllers.
This offers a high degree of flexibility for everything from simple voltage control to closed-loop motor speed control using high-performance algorithms, such as sinusoidal sensorless drive.
Development support
To enable development with the MCP8063 motor driver, Microchip also announced the MCP8063 12V 3-Phase BLDC Sensorless Fan Controller Demo Kit (part # ADM00575). Additionally, this tool comes with a user-friendly configuration GUI. Microchip also supports its motor control and driver portfolios with a full range of development solutions, including firmware, algorithms, application notes, development tools, evaluation boards, and reference designs.