STMicroelectronics UM1996 Getting Started With X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 Low-Voltage BLDC Motor Driver

Product Information

Specifications

• Three-phase driver board for BLDC/PMSM motors
• Nominal operating voltage range from 8 V to 48 V DC
• 15 ARMS output current
• Operating frequency selectable by firmware
• Overcurrent detection and protection (30 APEAK)
• Thermal measuring and overheating protection
• Full compatible with ST Six Step or ST FOC control algorithm
• Full support for sensorless and sensor mode
• 3-shunt and 1-shunt configurable jumpers for motor current sensing
• Hall / Encoder motor sensor connector and circuit
• Debug connector for DAC, GPIOs, etc.
• Potentiometer available for speed regulation

FAQ

• Q: What is the nominal operating voltage range for the X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1?
  • A: The nominal operating voltage range is from 8 V to 48 V DC.
• Q: What are the target applications for the X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1?
  • A: The target applications include low voltage PMSM motor driver, low power fans, power tools, and industrial drives.

Introduction

The X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 is a three-phase brushless DC motor driver expansion board based on STripFET™ F7 Power MOSFET STL220N6F7 for STM32 Nucleo. It provides an affordable and easy-to-use solution for driving a three-phase brushless DC motor in your STM32 Nucleo project. The X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 is compatible with the ST morpho connector and supports further stacking of additional boards on a single STM32 Nucleo board. You can also mount the Arduino™ UNO R3 connector.

The X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 is fully configurable and ready to support different closed loop control scenarios based on sensorless or sensor mode control, and it is compatible with three-shunt or single-shunt current sense measuring. The L6398 IC driver used on this STM32 Nucleo expansion board is a single-chip half bridge gate driver for the N-channel power MOSFET. This combination of the L6398 gate driver and the STL220N6F7 Power MOSFET forms a high current power platform for BLDC motors, while the digital section supported by the STM32 Nucleo board allows for a 6-step or FOC control algorithm solution, which you can select via the firmware. This document describes how to configure the X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 expansion board to operate with STM32 Nucleo board.

System overview

Main characteristics

• Three-phase driver board for BLDC/PMSM motors
• Nominal operating voltage range from 8 V to 48 V DC
• 15 ARMS output current
• Operating frequency selectable by firmware
• Overcurrent detection and protection (30 APEAK)
• Thermal measuring and overheating protection
• Full compatible with ST Six Step or ST FOC control algorithm
• Full support for sensorless and sensor mode
• 3-shunt and 1-shunt configurable jumpers for motor current sensing
• Hall / Encoder motor sensor connector and circuit
• Debug connector for DAC, GPIOs, etc.
• Potentiometer available for speed regulation
• User LED
• Compatible with STM32 Nucleo boards
• Equipped with ST morpho connectors
• RoHS compliant

Target applications

The target applications for the X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 include:

• Low voltage PMSM motor driver
• Low power fans
• Power tools
• Industrial drives

Getting Started

System architecture

A generic motor control system can be basically schematized as the arrangement of three main functional blocks (see System functional hardware blocks):

• Control block accepts user commands to drive a motor. The X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 is based on the STM32 Nucleo board, which provides all the digital signals for effective motor driving control.
• Power block is based on the 3-phase inverter topology. The core of the power block is the embedded L6398 driver, which contains all the necessary active power and analog components to perform low voltage PMSM motor control.
• Motor the X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 is able to proper drive a low voltage BLDC/PMSM motor.

This section describes how to set up different hardware parts before writing and executing an application on the STM32 Nucleo board with the low-voltage BLDC motor driver expansion board.

Building the system

The X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 expansion board (Power block in the figure above) is a complete hardware development platform for the STM32 Nucleo board allowing effective evaluation of motor control solutions for single BLDC/PMSM motors. For regular board operation, please follow the steps below:

1. Plug the expansion board on an STM32 Nucleo main board (Control block) through the ST morpho connector; there is only one position allowed for this connection. Ensure that the blue (B1) and black (B2) buttons on the STM32 Nucleo board are not covered, as shown below.

The interconnection between the STM32 Nucleo board and the X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 expansion board is designed for full compatibility with a wide range of STM32 Nucleo boards without any solder bridge modifications.
The stacked system is ready to operate with the connection of a BLDC/PMSM motor. For correct use, please follow the hardware and software settings. For software details, please refer to X-CUBE-MCSDK documentation available on www.st.com.

1. Connect the three motor wires U,V,W to the J16 connector.
2. To select the control algorithm (6-step or FOC), ensure no voltage supply is connected.
   On the STM32 NUCLEO board, set jumpers: JP1 open, JP5 (PWR) on E5V side, JP6 (IDD) closed.
   On the X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 expansion board, set jumpers: J9 open, JP3 closed.
   • For 6-step control, set jumpers: JP1 and JP2 open, J5&J6 on the 1-Sh side. Keep capacitor C5 mounted; in case of poor motor current regulation during startup, reduce its value.
   • For FOC control, set jumpers: JP1 and JP2 closed, J5&J6 on the 3-Sh side. Remove capacitors C3, C5 and C7.
3. Connect the DC supply voltage to the J1 connector. An external power supply is required to power up the power board and the STM32 Nucleo board. Be sure to supply the right power for the connected motor; (e.g., max. 12V and 2A for the BR2804 motor).

Note:

When using a different motor rated greater than 12 V, keep jumper J9 on the power board open before applying power-on voltage at J1 to avoid damaging the Nucleo board. To supply the STM32-NUCLEO via usb, connect jumper JP5 between PIN 1 and PIN2. For further details on Nucleo settings, refer to UM1724 at http://www.st.com.

Hardware settings

By default, the X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 provides the power supply voltage for STM32 Nucleo board (+5V on E5V) independently through the power voltage applied at the J1 connector. Removing resistor R170 on the expansion board, you can disconnect internal voltage regulation and select jumper J9 to supply the STM32 Nucleo board directly from J1 connector (see Table 1. Jumper settings) if, for instance, higher conversion efficiency is required. For this last configuration please read the recommendation below.

Table 1. Jumper settings

Table 2. Screw terminals

The X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 power block features the ST morpho male pin header connectors (CN7 and CN10) accessible on both sides of the board, which can be used to connect this power board to the STM32 Nucleo board. All the MCU signal and power pins are available on the ST morpho connector.
For further details, please refer to UM1724 document (5.12 STMicroelectronics morpho connector) available on website www.st.com.

Table 3. ST morpho connector – CN7

1. By default the potentiometer is connected on PA4. For DAC usage remove resistor R181.

Table 4. ST morpho connector – CN10

Board schematics

Circuit Description

Power section

L6398 gate driver and STL220N6F7 STripFET™ F7 Power MOSFET

The main section is based on:

1. L6398 single-chip half bridge gate driver for the N-channel power MOSFET – a high-voltage device manufactured with the BCD “OFF-LINE” technology. The high side (floating) section is designed to handle a voltage rail of up to 600 V and the logic inputs are CMOS/TTL compatible down to 3.3 V for easy microcontroller/DSP interfacing.
2. STL220N6F7 260 A – 60 V N-channel Power MOSFET – based on the STripFET™ F7 technology with an enhanced trench gate structure that results in very low on-state resistance, while also reducing internal capacitance and gate charge for faster and more efficient switching. It features:
   • Among the lowest RDS(on) on the market: 0.0014 Ω
   • Excellent figure of merit (FoM)
   • Low Crss/Ciss ratio for EMI immunity
   • High avalanche ruggedness

Together, these devices form the high current power platform for the BLDC motor. The main supply voltage is provided through an external connector (J1) and you can set jumper (J9) to choose whether the digital section
(STM32 Nucleo board) is supplied via USB (USB type A to Mini-B USB cable) or through the expansion board. By default, the STM32 nucleo expansion board provides the supply voltage to the STM32 Nucleo board through its internal voltage regulator, but you can choose to supply it directly from the J1 power connector if higher conversion efficiency is required and if the input voltage is lower than 12 V DC (see Table 1. Jumper settings).

Overcurrent detection (OCP) and current sensing measurement

Over Current Protection (OCP) is implemented by hardware with a detection circuit. The current is compared with an embedded current reference (by the MCU) and the output generates a fault condition at the BKIN pin that goes to ground. This pin, connected to STM32 Nucleo board (BKIN Timer function), detects this condition and immediately disables the driving signals (see the schematic below).

The current sensing inputs (refer to the following three schematics) are connected to the sensing resistors and you can choose between a three-shunt or single-shunt configuration through jumpers J5 and J6 (see jumperSETtable).

Note: The board must be configured according to the motor control algorithm:

• for 6-step control, keep capacitor C5 mounted but, in case of poor motor current regulation during startup, reduce its value;
• for FOC control, remove capacitors C3, C5 and C7.

Analog section

Hall/Encoder motor speed sensor

The X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 expansion board implements the Hall/Encoder sensor detecting circuit for speed measurement, the schematic for which is given in the figure below. The motor sensor pin, through the J3 connector and an analog circuit, are connected to the STM32 Nucleo board in order to determine motor spin; a +5 V and GND are also provided to power the sensors. Jumper JP3 is available for sensors that require external pull-up (see jumperSETtable).

BEMF detection circuit

The X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 expansion board provides two hardware solutions for motor position measurement: one based on sensors (refer to Section 4.2.1: Hall/Encoder motor speed sensor) and other based on sensorless detection. In 6-step driving mode, one of the three phases is left in the high-impedance state and we can detect BEMF zero-crossing events by comparing the voltage of this phase with the center-tap voltage. This signal is acquired through an analog circuit embedded on the board, as shown below.

The X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 expansion board provides the hardware for bus voltage sensing and temperature measurement. This signal is acquired with a resistor divider and with an embedded NTC (placed close to STL220N6F7 Power MOSFET), as shown below.

Bill Of Materials

Table 5. BOM

Table 6. BOM

X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 STM32 PMSM FOC SDK Parameters

Table 7. STM32 PMSM FOC SDK Parameters

Revision history

Table 8. Document revision history

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Documents / Resources

STMicroelectronics UM1996 Getting Started With X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 Low-Voltage BLDC Motor Driver [pdf] User Guide UM1996 Getting Started With X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 Low-Voltage BLDC Motor Driver, UM1996, Getting Started With X-NUCLEO-IHM08M1 Low-Voltage BLDC Motor Driver, Low-Voltage BLDC Motor Driver, BLDC Motor Driver, Motor Driver

References

• User Manual