Wow! What a fantastic motor Twitter chat we had yesterday! Thank you to all who joined and participated for your feedback and questions! Dave and I both had a great time getting to engage with you on Twitter. We liked seeing how you are using motors and enjoyed trying our best to answer all your motor questions!
In case you missed the chat, get the complete recap below or see the chat on Twitter using #TImotorHr! Have any motor questions we didn’t get to? Be sure to include them in the comments of this blog or visit the Motor Driver Forum in TI’s E2E™ Community to check out existing posts from engineers already using motors, or create a new thread to address your specific need.
Thanks again for your participation!
#TImotorHr recap
Question 1
Q1: How does TI spin motors? #TImotorHr
— Texas Instruments (@TXInstruments) July 31, 2014
MikeCowgill: #TImotorHr They spin them right round, like a record baby, round round. #80sMusic
adroit_91: MSP430 for basic stuff (PMDCs, Steppers, etc), C2000 for precision, Tiva could also do it. And, a lot of DRV.* ICs to drive!
stevet49analog: Hi guys---I love Digital control. How accurate are sensorless vs. position or velocity sensors on the motor shaft? #TImotorhr
AlSaibie: by PWMing
TXInstruments A1: TI’s mission is to make spinning motors easier for you. We want to help spin motors safer, quicker, more efficiently at a lower system cost.
Question 2
Q2: What are some of your biggest concerns about safety for motors? #TImotorHr
— Texas Instruments (@TXInstruments) July 31, 2014
TXInstruments A2: It’s important devices comply w/ automotive & industrial safety standards. Look for ISO26262/ASIL-D & ISO61508/SIL-3 compliant devices.
Question 3
Q3: What cool or unique motor applications are you currently working on? #TImotorHr
— Texas Instruments (@TXInstruments) July 31, 2014
adroit_91: Low cost personal mobility vehicles for disabled. #TImotorHr
FClante: An RC Car for my Daughter ;-)
wojstod: Light motorized vehicle on rails for internal industrial use
Aeroengineer1: desktop pick and place machine on @eetimes. Looking at closed loop bldc drive.
Question 4
Q4: Do you more frequently use brushed or brushless motors for your designs? #TImotorHr
— Texas Instruments (@TXInstruments) July 31, 2014
Stevet49analog: #TImotorhr BLDC is used for Drones
FClante: #TImotorHr Brushed
JubertDias: BLDC motors are high efficient for power because they don't have brushes with reduces sparks.
JubertDias: #BLDC motors must be used for frequent operation.Eg: cabinet fans, mixing stirrers in laboratory, hard drives, drones..etc
Question 5
Q5: How do you select a brushed DC motor driver or a stepper DC motor driver? #TImotorHr
— Texas Instruments (@TXInstruments) July 31, 2014
adroit_91: #TImotorHr Depending upon what is important - precision (stepper) or freewheeling powerful drive (PMDC).
Stevet49analog: #TImotorhr For smooth motion---BLDC
Fclante: #TimotorHr Usually I look for the part most suited, then price.so if the stepper drv meet my rq. I go with that.
adroit_91: #TImotorHr We usually look at the overdrive capability, maximum frequency and efficiency (specially for battery powered ones)
A5: Check out http://ow.ly/zNHaA for selecting brushed DC motor drivers & http://ow.ly/zNHQ7 for stepper drivers.
Question 6
Q6: Speaking of motor drivers, what are the primary factors that determine a motor driver’s thermal performance? #TImotorHr
— Texas Instruments (@TXInstruments) July 31, 2014
adroit_91: #TImotorHr Depending upon what is important - precision (stepper) or freewheeling powerful drive (PMDC).
A6: Thermal performance/current ratings are determined by the drivers FET resistance (RDSON) and package thermal performance (theta JA)
Question 7
Q7: How do integrated motor drivers solutions compare to discrete implementations? #TImotorHr
— Texas Instruments (@TXInstruments) July 31, 2014
CptButtermilk:#TImotorHr Low RDSon MOSFETs
A7: Integrated advantages: smaller board space, simpler design, quicker time to market, better performance & improved protection. #TImotorHr
Question 8
Q8: Last question for #TImotorHr! How do you tune a #motorcontrol system?
— Texas Instruments (@TXInstruments) July 31, 2014
CptButtermilk: #TImotorHr Q:8 instaspin
A8: Short answer: you have to do a stability analysis. Long answer: http://ow.ly/zNOYW #TImotorHr Hope this helps @adroit_91.
Additional Questions:
Stevet49analog: Hi guys---I love Digital control but how accurate are sensorless vs. position or velocity sensors on the motor shaft?
TXInstruments: Generally, a few degrees of angle error, but is dependent on several factors. #TImotorHr
rei_vilo: Any plan to release a #BoosterPack with motor controllers for #TImotorHr: DC, counter, stepper?
TXInstruments: Good news! In May, we released the BOOST-DRV8711. It’s a stepper gate driver + TI Next FETs #TIMotorHr http://ow.ly/zNIjw
FClante: #TimotorHr What is the easiest way to control HVAC's with TI parts?
TXInstruments: Using C2000 microcontrollers which contain InstaSPIN-FOC software, like the F28069F More: http://ow.ly/zNHJV
CptButtermilk: #TImotorHr can you use instaspin for stepper motors too?
TXInstruments: Yes, but we don't have a solution ready for the market quite yet! Subscribe to http://ow.ly/zNJ9R for updates! #Timotorhr
Stevet49analog: #TImotorhr Switched Reluctance motors are difficult to ramp torque smoothly. Are there ways to help with Digital control?
TXInstruments: Yes. W/digital control you can handle the motor nonlinearities more effectively + overlap current profiles from phase2phase.
Aeroengineer1: Q: why do integrated motor drivers have much higher Rdson compared to discrete mosfets?
TXInstruments: FET process optimized for RDSON and cost; Integrated process is mixed signal, supporting digital, analog, & RDSON #TImotorHr
