STSPIN strikes hard, design, application, technology and production are all important

Industry 4.0 is often referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, which is bringing interconnection, integration, innovation and transformation to everything. Driven by this background, the traditional motor control industry is also undergoing changes, and new requirements are being put forward for motor control chips. Distributed, intelligent, remote control, decentralized diagnosis, real-time communication and flexible adaptation are all indispensable. In addition, there is also an unremitting pursuit of energy saving to achieve lower power consumption.

As a pioneer in the field of motor and motion control, STMicroelectronics (hereinafter referred to as ST) has more than 30 years of product development experience. With its own BCD technology, reliable and complete supply chain and a wide range of products, ST can easily grasp the latest needs and trends in the motor drive market. The various ICs it provides can meet the needs of various power ratings, motor types, and system divisions. Motor control has also ushered in the fourth industrial revolution.

David Lucchetti, Marketing and Application Director, Smart Power, IPAD, and Protection Devices, Asia Pacific, STMicroelectronics

On April 17, 2017, ST held a media exchange meeting on STSPIN motor drive products in Beijing. David Lucchetti, Marketing and Application Director of Smart Power, IPAD, and Protection Devices Products Division of STMicroelectronics Asia Pacific, told the media how ST follows the market development trend and is brave enough to change and develop innovative solutions with high integration, high energy efficiency, and high cost-effectiveness.

"We have a complete solution from firmware, hardware, MCU to motion control." David Lucchetti said that ST has more than 125 types of DC brush motors, DC brushless motors and stepper motors; scalable solutions from 1.8V to 80V; and options from ultra-micro QFN to the industry's best power packaging. "High integration, small packaging and low power consumption are the important advantages of ST motor drive products in coping with demanding and complex industrial automation environments."

The world's smallest motor driver: designed for IoT battery applications

On July 11, 2016, ST launched a low-power micro motor driver with low power consumption, small size and high performance, promoting the widespread application of battery-powered IoT hardware.  

At just 3mm x 3mm, STSPIN-Battery-Powered products are the world’s smallest monolithic motor drivers and integrate all the functions product designers need to deliver innovative products that are compact, lightweight, and easy to use for their target markets. 

Currently, the series of products includes STSPIN220 stepper motor driver, STSPIN230 3-phase brushless motor (BLDC) driver and STSPIN240 dual motor driver, among which STSPIN240 integrates two complete MOSFET bridges on a single chip and can drive two brushed DC motors. The positioning resolution of STSPIN220 stepper motor driver reaches 256 microsteps per step, making the motor run extremely smoothly and positioning accurately. In April 2017, STSPIN-Battery Power Products expanded its product series and launched STSPIN250 for higher current application markets.

STSPIN-battery-powered products are mainly used in gimbals (handheld gimbals or drone gimbals), POS machines or barcode printers, educational robots, portable health care equipment, electronic valves and electronic locks, etc.

ST gimbal control solution, using STSPIN230 to drive brushless DC motor (BLDC)

The POWERSTEP01 launched by ST in 2015 integrates stepper control pre-driver and 8 discrete MOSFETs, with programmable, SPI interface, digital motion engine and sensorless stall detection. The device has an operating voltage of up to 85V, a maximum output current of 10A, and up to 1/128 micro-step. "Our POWERSTEP01 series has the characteristics of power and precision. It is a very smart product that can help customers save 67% of PCB space." David Lucchetti introduced.

POWERSTEP01 is mainly used for high-power bipolar stepper motors, such as textile machinery, robot welding, industrial barcode printing, industrial bulldozers and mixers, sewing machines and other applications.

High integration and flexibility: Intelligent motor control for smart industry

In November 2016, ST launched the STSPIN32F0 motor control system level package, which combines the processing performance and flexibility of a microcontroller-based motor driver with the ease of use and space utilization of a single chip. The STSPIN32F0's built-in highly integrated analog chip implements a three-phase half-bridge gate driver and has a built-in bootstrap diode.

Compared with other brands' microcontroller-based motor drive solutions, the STSPIN32F0 greatly simplifies development design. The feature-rich STM32 ecosystem, including software tools, firmware libraries and middleware, especially popular motor control algorithms such as vector control (FOC) and 6-step control, helps developers simplify firmware development.

The STSPIN32F0 is suitable for high-end intelligent applications including: drones (gimbal and servo control), robotic arms, power tools, vacuum cleaners, industrial automation and control.

When asked how to win in the "Spring and Autumn Period" of motor drives as the motor drive industry enters a stage of stock competition and mergers and reorganizations continue, David Lucchetti replied, "In terms of technology, we still hope to have ST's own core technology, such as the BCD process. From the first generation to the eighth generation, there will be the ninth and tenth generations in the future. We will follow the market demand and continue to forge ahead in the pursuit of higher integration, lower power consumption, and smaller size. We will go deep into the entire industry chain from design, application, technology, and production, and none of them can be lost."

Exhibits

Motor Control Nucleo Development Kit

Air conditioning fan demo board, based on STM32F0 and IPM NANO air conditioning indoor fan and ceiling fan solution

Candy machine model, based on STM32 and X-Nucleo series development board

3D Printing