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Motor Controller Development Process Based Upon TI DRV8301

Ashley Bryant
Prodigy 90 points

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: DRV8301

We use motors for two types of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System [RPAS] function:

  1. To power individually controllable ducted-fan / propeller propulsion units (4) using speed control (potentially up to 20,000RPM, but more likely initially up to 10-15,000RPM). The power/torque curves are defined by the fan / propeller power curves. (We also have dyno load systems that motors can plug into).
  2. To drive a camera payload gimbal in pan, tilt and roll using PWM position control.

I want to test a range of motors (11V up to 10A, 11V up to 20A, 22V up to 30A), can I do this using the one DRV8301 high current kit? My goal is to be able to develop high-efficiency controllers and confirm performance (volts, amps, watts & speed accuracy) against industry standard controllers (that don’t have variable gain control).

Having established the required performance, we will need to translate the test environment into a final controller design. I am therefore seeking to get a clear understanding of what TI components will be required to develop the final controller. Clearly there will need to be the right Piccolo MCU programmed with appropriate firmware and we will have, let’s say an 11V voltage rail. What other elements are required to develop a complete motor controller and what are the approximate masses of each individual component?

My final question relates to the selected Piccolo MCU. Can this MCU drive more than one motor (i.e. up to a maximum of 4 motors), with each motor being speed controlled individually or do I require four Piccolo MCU’s, one for each motor? If I can use one Piccolo to drive 4 motors, then clearly I can save weight.

  • 0
    TI__Guru** 119680 points

    Ashley,

    Yes, you can test these 3 motors with DRV8301-69M-KIT.

    You will very likely need to change the voltage scaling on the HW itself. It is current at 66V and will need to be reduced to about 28V for your motors. When you design your own hardware you will want to design the boards for the 11V motors to something like 14V probably.  This is if you are using the InstaSPIN-FOC or -MOTION solutions, which from your other post I suppose you will.

    Final controller design: Host MCU for UI and to send and synchronize all of your speed/torque commands; transceivers; Piccolo for the motor control (as many as 2 motors controlled by a F2806x), a motor pre-driver + FETs for each motor, voltage and current feedback for each motor.

    The F2806x with InstaSPIN-FOC or -MOTION can interface for 2 motors. You will have to be careful about the MIPS impact though, especially if you are trying to control very low inductance motors where the current control needs to run at 15 KHz.  It is likely in these cases that you end up needing to decimate the FAST software sensor to say 7.5 KHz so that you have enough MIPS for both motors and the background system and communications code.