TI announced the availability of a three-phase gallium nitride (GaN)-based inverter reference design.

Developers can use this reference design to develop next-generation industrial robots and 200V, 2kW AC servo motor drives that deliver faster current loop control, higher efficiency, and more accurate speed and torque control.

The three-phase high-frequency GaN inverter reference design utilizes TI's latest LMG3410 600-V, 12-A GaN power module. The LMG3410 integrates FETs, gate drivers, and protection functions. This GaN module enables switching up to five times faster than silicon FETs and delivers greater than 98% efficiency at 100 kHz PWM frequency and greater than 99% efficiency at 24 kHz PWM frequency.

Using GaN allows developers to optimize switch performance, reducing motor power loss and saving board space by reducing heat sink size. The inverter can switch at 100 kHz, significantly improving torque ripple when used with low-inductance motors.

The GaN inverter power stage can easily interface with microcontrollers (MCUs), including TI's TMS320F28379D drive control system-on-chip (SoC), to dynamically adjust voltage frequency and achieve ultra-fast current loop control. TI also announced new DesignDRIVE Fast Current Loop software that includes an innovative sub-cycle PWM update technique.

This software enables servo drive current loop performance to sub-1µs, tripling motor torque response. The high-speed current loop software offers significant performance improvements over traditional MCU-based current loop solutions and is available free of charge with controlSUITE™ software.