News: Microelectronics
9 November 2021
EPC adds 1kW, 3-phase BLDC motor drive inverter for eBikes, eMotion, drones and robots
Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA — which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits for power management applications — has announced the availability of the EPC9145, a 1kW, 3-phase BLDC (brushless DC) motor drive inverter using the EPC2206 eGaN FET.
The EPC9145 demonstration board is a 3-phase BLDC motor drive inverter board featuring the 2.2mΩ maximum RDS(on), 80V maximum device voltage EPC2206 eGaN FET. The board is tailored to ebikes, eMotion, drones and robot motor applications. With 48V bus voltage, it can deliver 15ARMS steady state at 50°C temperature rise in natural air convection and can reach 20ARMS (28APEAK) with a heatsink attached. The EPC9145 has been tested up to 100kHz, 60V input, and 50APEAK.
The EPC9145 contains all the necessary critical function circuits to support a complete motor drive inverter, and the dimensions of the board are only 130mm x 100mm (including connector). The EPC9145 also features ST Microelectronics’ STDRIVEG600 smart motor drive GaN half-bridge driver.
GaN FETs switch fast with zero reverse recovery. This feature enables higher switching frequency in the 100kHz range to eliminate the need for electrolytic capacitors and to reduce the motor losses. Additionally, the deadtime can be reduced to about 20ns to allow higher torque per ampere. Overall, GaN devices improve inverter and motor system efficiency and reduce size and weight by integrating the inverter inside the motor.
Major benefits of a GaN motor drive exhibited with this demonstration board are lower distortion for lower acoustic noise, lower current ripple for reduced magnetic loss, lower torque ripple for improved precision, lower filtering for lower cost. The board’s lower weight and size enables incorporation of the drive into the motor housing, and also supports low-inductance, higher-power-density motors.
EPC provides full demonstration kits, which include interface boards that connect this inverter board to the controller board development tool. Compatible controller interface and controller boards to the EPC9145 are the EPC9147A for Microchip, EPC9147B for Texas Instruments, EPC9147C for ST Microelectronics, and EPC9147E as a generic interface board.
“Everyone wants a motor that is smaller, lighter, is less noisy, has more torque, more range, and greater precision,” says CEO Alex Lidow. “Thanks to eGaN devices, a cost-effective motor plus a GaN inverter offers the same performance as an expensive motor with a silicon MOSFET-based inverter. This is a great way to save system cost without sacrificing performance.”
The EPC9145 demonstration board is priced at $667.18 each and is available for immediate delivery from distributor Digi-Key Corp.
