STMicroelectronics — BLDC Motor Reference Design Features Compact FOC Control Board

STMicroelectronics’ EVALKIT-ROBOT-1 kit provides a ready-to-use Brushless DC (BLDC) servo motor reference design based on the highly integrated STSPIN32F0A motor controller system-in-package.

The kit’s motor control board provides a power stage which features an analog circuit for current sensing and over-current protection, and a microcontroller with an Arm^® Cortex^®-M0 core which runs Field-Oriented Control (FOC) software with closed-loop position measurement. The board’s footprint is just 40mm x 40mm.

The STSPIN32F0A board controls a three-phase, 100W BLDC motor supplied in the kit. The motor includes magnetic Hall position sensors which provide accurate position measurements in combination with a 1,024-pulse incremental encoder. These help the system to achieve high torque density and low cogging torque.