Simplify safe and power-efficient sensorless BLDC motor control design

Renesas Electronics Corporation has increased its motor control solutions portfolio with two SiP solutions to simplify BLDC motor control design for an extensive range of cordless battery-powered applications, including power tools, drones, vacuums, water pumps, fans, cleaning robots, and other systems. Combining multiple functions into a SiP solution, the new RAJ306001 and RAJ306010 motor drive ICs produce improved low-speed or high-speed rotation and high torque control compared with competing solutions while reducing needed board space and decreasing solution cost. This produces a turnkey design for easy, efficient, and safe BLDC motor control.

The devices are single-package motor control ICs that control three-phase BLDC motors employed in a broad range of battery-powered devices. The ICs integrate an RL78/G1F MCU and pre-driver into an 8mm x 8mm QFN package. The highly integrated SiP form factor enables customers to remove as many as 30 external components shrinking the solution area by up to 50% and lower control system costs.

Created with heat management in mind, the new ICs feature self-aligned dead time to stop the shoot through and provide adjustable pre-driver output current capacity – up to 500mA – to drive large-capacity MOSFETs, making heat dissipation design easier. This enables the ICs to drive MOSFETs at the optimum switching timing – decreasing FET switching margin times to approximately 1/10 the time compared with conventional systems and facilitating highly efficient motor drive control with reduced heat generation.

“Cordless devices offer many conveniences for users, and with the prevalence of motor-based devices such as power tools cutting the cord, demand is high for motor control solutions that deliver higher output levels, long-term operation, and safety improvements while adhering to size and cost constraints,” said Chris Stephens, vice president of Communications and Motor Control, Industrial and Communications Business Division at Renesas. “Smaller, lighter, and more reliable with long life than brushed DC motors, BLDC motors are a very effective solution to these challenges, and we are excited to introduce our new sensor-less motor control ICs, which pack the increased control, high-precision, and high-efficiency levels customers require in a smaller package.”