Simplify system development by adding additional features


Microchip Technology announced on the 8th that it has expanded its 'motor control product line' with digital signal controllers (DSC) and microcontrollers (MCU). The products are supported by design tools, development hardware, torque maximization algorithms, and refrigerator compressor reference designs.
Microchip's expanded motor control product family includes:

dsPIC® DSC
The dsPIC33CK64MC10x DSC for Field Oriented Control (FOC) motor control is optimized for cost and functional reliability and is supported by motor control plug-in modules (PIMs) for existing motor control development boards and new cost-effective low-voltage motor control development boards. The MPLAB® X Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and MCC support rapid code development, and the motorBench® development suite provides code generation optimized for FOC motor control.

PIC32MK MCJ and MCM MCUs for FOC motor control
The second-generation 32-bit MCU devices offer 32-bit floating point and DSP performance with flexible communication options, share analog functionality with the dsPIC33CK, and provide seamless migration between device classes. They also feature multiple CAN-FD and USB ports. The MCUs are supported by three development hardware options in the MPLAB® X Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Software support for the PIC32MK includes a motor control software suite for sensored and sensorless applications delivered through MPLAB® Harmony software framework version 3.0 (v3).

motorBench development suite
Version 2.35 of Microchip's GUI-based software development tool uses FOC to reduce the time it takes to spin a motor and generates source code optimized for a given motor. This 2.35 release expands support for the dsPIC33CK family of devices and includes a new Angle Track-Phase Locked Loop (AT-PLL) estimator, Field Weakening (FW), Maximum Torque Per Ampere (MTPA), and Dead-Time Compensation (DTC).

Zero Speed/Maximum Torque (ZS/MT) Algorithm
Eliminates Hall sensors in applications that require high torque from a standstill or low speeds for low-inductance motors. Support is provided for dsPIC33 DSC, SAM, and PIC32MK motor control MCUs.

dsPIC33CK Low Voltage Motor Control Development Board
Provides an application development platform and reference for customer board design supporting the dsPIC33CK family.

Low-cost, high-efficiency refrigerator compressor reference design
It is part of a family of turnkey designs that demonstrate best practices for application-specific motor control design that shortens time to market.

Products are available as products and tools to efficiently drive systems as electric motors expand into a wider range of system applications, reducing board size, component count, and power consumption.

“The dsPIC33C DSC devices with their high levels of analog integration will enable significant bill of materials (BOM) cost reduction in automotive, industrial, medical and consumer applications,” said Joe Thomsen, vice president of Microchip’s MCU16 business unit.