Companies develop a safety-focused automotive gate driver board for brushless motors

Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH has partnered with MIKROE to integrate its robust TB9083FTG gate-driver IC into the Brushless 30 Click, a compact add-on board for precise and reliable control of BLDC motors in automotive applications.

Toshiba’s TB9083FTG has been designed in accordance with ISO 26262 (2nd edition) and integrates nine gate drivers, including six for driving MOSFETs to control BLDC motors in the 1000W range or below. Also, it consists of three drivers for driving external MOSFETs, which can be utilised either for system control or safety relays, enabling the device to support ASIL-D, the highest level of functional safety for automotive applications. The device also includes a built-in charge pump, adjustable current sense amplifiers for each motor phase oscillator circuit and an SPI communication interface for configuration via a host MCU.

The Brushless 30 Click board is designed to operate from a range of external power supplies ranging from 4.5V to 28V and can produce a peak output current of up to 10A. It also offers a comprehensive suite of error detection capabilities, including undervoltage, overvoltage, over-temperature and an external MOSFET VDS detector, making it ideal for demanding automotive applications such as EPS, powered brakes, and automotive pumps where precise motor control is essential.

The Click board measures only 57.15mm x 25.4mm and is fully compatible with the mikroBUS socket. It can be utilised on any host system supporting the mikroBUS standard and comes with the mikroSDK open-source libraries to deliver ultimate flexibility for system evaluation and customisation. An innovative ClickID feature allows a host system to automatically detect and identify the Click board once it is connected.