Three-phase MOSFET gate driver maximises battery life

TRINAMIC Motion Control GmbH & Co. KG, now part of Maxim Integrated Products, has released the fully integrated TMC6140-LA three-phase MOSFET gate driver that eases design and maximises battery life of brushless direct current (DC) motor drives. The device combines all three bottom shunt amplifiers to give a complete motor drive solution with 30% improved power efficiency while simplifying design by decreasing component count by half compared to comparable solutions.

The device is optimised for performance across a broad voltage range, making it ideal for servo motors, brushless motors and permanent magnet synchronous motors. The three-phase gate driver is provided with pins to add a charge pump, statically stabilising the gate voltages of external MOSFETs in three-phase motors with up to 100A of coil current. Provided in a 36-pin QFN package, the gate driver is a flexible solution giving 0.5A or 1A gate driver current for 5V to 30V DC battery-powered applications, such as power tools where voltages can drop below 10V. Integrated current sense and diagnostics features add functional safety while simplifying design.

“The integrated current sense and diagnostics features are key for enabling functional safety without adding complicated circuitry or additional components to any system’s design,” said Michael Randt, founder of Trinamic Motion Control. “This allows engineers to increase efficiency by 30% with minimal effort.”