Toshiba Electronics Europe announces a new series of Mikroelektronika Click boards featuring Toshiba bipolar stepper motor drivers to allow for quick and easy device evaluation and prototyping. The highly integrated motor drivers offer an extensive range of features and efficient operation, while saving PCB space and reducing bill of material (BoM) costs.
These motor drivers are used to control small-to-medium size stepper motors in a wide range of modern applications including 3D printers, linear actuators, textile / sewing machines, surveillance equipment, industrial equipment and point of sales (PoS) systems.
The nine motor drivers offer footprint compatibility for easy interchanging with six devices in the series offering a clock interface, while the remaining three feature a phase interface. The integrated H-bridges are capable of driving up to 50V at up to 4A and offer efficient operation due to low RDS(ON) resistance.
Devices in the series support up to 1/32 micro steps to ensure smooth operation of the motor. They are designed for flexible and simple operation, operating from a single supply and providing a constant current drive. An integrated voltage regulator derives logic voltages from the motor supply voltage (VM).
Despite their small package size, the stepper motor drivers offer extensive functionality including an advance dynamic mixed decay (ADMD) function that uses the internal current feedback to control the threshold level when switching from fast to slow decay mode automatically. This leads to more effective and precise motor control.
A number of protection functions are in-built including a thermal shutdown that operates when the junction temperature (Tj) of the IC exceeds 160°C (typ.) and an over current detection function that switches off output transistors when the output current exceeds a threshold. A dedicated output signals an over temperature or over current shutdown to a system controller.