Microchip introduces new digital signal controllers and microcontroller products to enhance motor control support

As motors become more prevalent in a growing number of system applications, developers need products and tools that ensure systems operate as efficiently as possible, while reducing board size, component count, and energy consumption. Microchip Technology announced the expansion of its motor control product lineup with new digital Signal controller (DSC) and single-chip microcomputer (MCU) products, offering design tools, development hardware, torque maximization algorithms, and refrigerator compressor reference designs.

Joe Thomsen, vice president of Microchip's MCU16 business unit, said: "New products such as Microchip's dsPIC33C DSC device, with a high degree of analog integration, are the result of our ongoing commitment to simplify motor control system design, reducing development and bill of materials costs for automotive, industrial, medical and consumer applications. We have also recently enhanced our support ecosystem, which will help engineers balance and optimize performance, efficiency and reliability to complete designs faster."

Microchip's new line of motor control products includes:

● DsPIC DSC: dsPIC33CK64MC10x DSC for field-oriented control (FOC), cost optimization, functional safety, Motor Control Plug-in modules (PIM) to support existing motor control development boards, as well as new low-cost low-voltage motor control development boards. The MPLAB X Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC) support rapid code development, and the motorBench development kit provides optimized code generation for FOC motor control.

● PIC32MK MCJ and MCM microcontrollers for FOC: Second-generation 32-bit microcontrollers offer 32-bit floating-point arithmetic and DSP performance, as well as flexible communication options. Support seamless migration across device classes by sharing analog capabilities with the dsPIC33CK. They also feature multiple CAN-FD and USB ports. The MPLAB X Integrated Development Environment (IDE) supports these microcontrollers and offers three development hardware options. Software support for the PIC32MK includes a suite of motor control software for sensorless and sensorless applications through the MPLAB® Harmony v3 software framework.

● MotorBench Development Kit: Version 2.35 of Microchip's Graphical User interface (GUI) -based software development tool reduces the time required to work with FOC rotating motors and generates optimized source code customized for specific motors. The product expands support for the dsPIC33CK family with a new Angle tracking phase-locked loop (AT-PLL) estimation, weak magnetic field (FW), maximum torque per ampere (MTPA), dead zone compensation (DTC), and many other new features.

● Zero speed/Maximum torque (ZS/MT) algorithm: For applications requiring high torque at stationary or low speeds with low inductance motors, Hall sensors are not required. Support dsPIC33 DSC, SAM and PIC32MK motor control microcontroller.

● DsPIC33CK low-voltage motor control development board: provides application development platform and customer circuit board reference design for dsPIC33CK series.

● Low cost, high efficiency refrigerator compressor reference design: This reference design expands on the growing range of turnkey designs, demonstrating best practices for application-specific motor control design and reducing time to market.