Other Parts Discussed in Thread: DRV8320
Hi, team,
we planned to use the DRV8343H-Q1 as a BLDC blower driver in our upcoming medical project. I got the DRV8343H-Q1EVM evaluation board to test a real performance. Although the blower provides the Hall sensors, I started testing with default sensorless firmware. Apart from blower phases, the only connected devices were laboratory power supply (set to 24V and 3A limit) and laptop with DRV8343Q1-1.0.0_EVM software.
The driver was successfully enabled in software tool and blower started to spin until timeout expired and fault was set (typically phase or stall fault as RPM was not detected because of improper parameters setting). The faults were normally cleared by pressing the corresponding button in the application GUI and start-up cycle was repeated.
Everything worked reasonably for dozens of cycles. Then the behavior had changed - I was not able to clear faults by repeated button activation, I realized the power supply entered the constant current mode and then I just saw smoke emitted by the driver chip (see attached picture).
Such a catastrophic failure of an automotive part on unmodified evaluation kit is rather surprising. I don't understand the reason - the voltage was well within recommended range and estimated dissipated power (related to gate switching) is not high enough to cause overheating.
Can you please help us to find a plausible explanation? It is critical for regaining confidence in this part. We really need a robust and reliable solution for our medical application.
Thanks.
Vladimir