Hi team,
a customer is looking for a stepper motor driver with a long production prediction. I have offered them HB200x, however there seems to be no software for the stepper motor. Could you please check the customer requirements and possibly offer them a better solution? If there is some. Please see the description.
DESCRIPTION
My customer at, is looking for a design that will drive a pair of permanent magnet Stepper motors. Current will be specified at 4A.
From the your web site below, it looks you have a selection of H bridge drivers For stepper motors one needs a total of four half H bridges and most of your devices have three half H bridges. Would we use two IC’s, one for each full H bridge.
https://www.nxp.com/products/power-management/motor-and-solenoid-drivers/bldc-h-bridge-stepper:PWRHB...
Or do you typically recommend using FETs and the FET drivers such as the GD3100?
Question 1 : Can you advise on your recommendation for current best solution with longevity for driving 4 AMP Steppers? How many needed per Stepper.
Question 2 : NXP offers many canned software solutions for more complicated motors like BLDC, so you have sample code developed for running steppers that runs on the DSC and RT devices? I realize this is much simpler than BLDC, but the customer would still like a canned starting point. They currently buy off the shelf Stepper Motor drivers that go from SPI input and it drives the stepper, so they are looking for example code to move to driving this themselves.
Question 3 : It looks like you also have a solution of your own integrated motor drivers from the link below. These appear to use older HCS908 cores… Do these devices support long life still? What of these devices you recommend for this 4A solution that would have the longest commitment to being produced? This is a medical customer so are looking for a partner that continues to develop in this space and will have products out for a decade or more…
https://www.nxp.com/products/power-management/motor-and-solenoid-drivers/high-current-motor-control:...
MY ANSWER DESCRIPTION
You would need one HB200x driver for each unipolar stepper motor. Two HB200x drivers for each bipolar stepper motor. Only difference between these two is in Rds(on) of the integrated MOSFETS. HB2000 Rds(on)=235mOhm, HB2001 Rds(on)=125mOhm.
Question 2 : NXP offers many canned software solutions for more complicated motors like BLDC, so you have sample code developed for running steppers that runs on the DSC and RT devices? I realize this is much simpler than BLDC, but the customer would still like a canned starting point. They currently buy off the shelf Stepper Motor drivers that go from SPI input and it drives the stepper, so they are looking for example code to move to driving this themselves.
[A] I have found a software for the HB200x. You can download it from this link. I would also recommend your customer to purchase FRDM-HB200x-EVM for evaluation of brushed DC motors. Please scroll down at the bottom of the page.
Follow up questions:
The software only shows the low level driver for the hbridge, and not example code for implementing a stepper motor drive. Are you saying there are no example code for Stepper Motor as a complete example solution.
Finally, this software seems very old and targeted for KDS… There is nothing that is ported to MCUXpresso? OK I understand it can be ported, but it no Stepper morot drive example, and the only example code we have for the driver is for 5 year tools, it does not represent a compelling story to the customer. Its not your fault, but I DO NEED TO KNOW IF THIS IS THE BEST WE HAVE TO SUPPORT STEPPERS, or if there is a more current solution, and a full stepper motor driver example?
For example this site has great documentation for other motor solutions, but nothing for Steppers…?
https://www.nxp.com/applications/industrial/aerospace-and-mobile-robotics/motor-drives:MOTOR-DRIVES
With Best Regards,
Jozef
