GaN demo board for kW brushless dc motor drives

Author: EIS Release Date: Oct 20, 2022

EPC9176 is a GaN-based three-phase inverter with a 81 x 75 mm footprint (with connector) that can operate across 20 to 80V and up to 20A (28A peak).

 

EPC9179 GaN motor drive cct

“This voltage range and power level makes the solution ideal for a variety of three-phase brushless dc motor drive applications with 36 to 80V input including eBikes, eScooters, power tools, drones, robots, DC servos, medical robots and factory automation,” according to EPC, maker of the demo board and the GaN modules that go on it.

 

The three IC-sized modules are EPC23102 power stages that incorporate both half-bridge gate driver and two 5.2 mΩ (typ) GaN power transistors. The driver part includes level shifting and synchronous bootstrap charging, with a disable pin to save power. Such modules take the complexity out of designing the easy-to-get-wrong hemt gate drive.

 

EPC9179 GaN motor drive

 

The board includes regulated auxiliary power rails for housekeeping as well as protection and sensing for voltages, temperature and currents.

 

EPC has a number of ‘EPC9147x’ controller and interface boards that can be used with this power stage, built around ICs from Microchip, TI and ST. There is also a detailed example document snappily titled: ‘Commissioning a Motor for use with EPC motor drives that operate using Microchip motorBench Development Suite and EPC9147A-Rev.2.1‘

 

The design is expected to be taken up for e-mobility, power tools, robotics and drones.