Arduino shield for easier and faster stepper motor driver designs

ROHM Semiconductor’s new Arduino-based evaluation kit supports the evaluation of its motor driver devices as well as to enable, facilitate and accelerate customers’ developments. Designed as a ‘shield’ to plug directly into the Arduino main board, this EVK integrates the company’s HTSSOP-B28 packaged stepper motor drive IC and complements their support ecosystem, allowing engineers to rapidly prototype their stepper motor systems. The global stepper motor market is expected to grow dramatically over the next few years. Known for their accuracy, excellent response and reliability motor driver ICs are easy to control and open up many design options. However, engineers have to consider various aspects such as speed, vibration, performance optimization and the choice of the devices and support tools is critical to both, application success and speed of development. The new EVK comes in 15 different variants for the company’s stepper motor driver ICs from standard, micro step, low voltage to high voltage. This comprehensive solution covers supply voltages from 8V to 42V, enables up to 2.5A per phase, as well as micro-stepping and single or multi-phase control of one or two stepper motors. It is ideally suited to drive bipolar stepper motors available in a wide range of supply voltages and current capabilities. It drives with CLK-IN or PARA-IN variants and provides high efficiency, easier power control and comprehensive protection functionalities in a robust and compact design, enabling accurate fine-tuning of the motor performances. Moreover, the EVK is designed to be stackable so that a second shield can be added on top to drive two motors. The ‘easy to adapt’ kit is supplied with a software library, an extensive user guide and example programs to facilitate a rapid learning curve. Once the design is proven, engineers can move rapidly from prototype to production phases fully supported by the BOM and Gerber-based PCB layouts that are provided as well.