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[on:]

Hi!

I am trying to control four Brushless three phase motors.
All i need is to control the direction and speed of these motors.
The IC that seems to be the most common is the L6235:
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet2/9/0ol725wx0154d5udifhhd1ugx33y.pdf
but this chip can only handle 2.8 A and even though there is a part were it says:

Over current Protection

were it explains how to use it for bigger current, but even if it were to work i don't really think it's a 100% safe and efficient.
and also there is an image (Figure 22.)  which shows that that it can only handle 10W max while my motor is 15W.
So my question is does anyone know of an IC which can control the speed and direction of a  Brushless three phase dc motor
which is not to expensive, and is not SMT (as my soldering skills are that good)

Thanks

Regards
Jak24

[Reply #1 on:]

Any ideas????
or at least point me at some-kind of tutorial for controlling BLDC motors
Regards

Jak24

[Reply #2 on:]

Not from direct experience, but what I gather is that most folks use a commercial pre-built electronic speed control unit (ESC), which are mostly designed to accept inputs identical to a servo.  You would then connect this to Arduino and control it as if it were a servo, using the servo library.  I am confident that googling for Arduino + BLCD + ESC would  find you lots of details.

[Reply #3 on:]

But all of the Radio Control hobby BL ESCs that I know of only operate in one direction.
You can manually reverse the motor by swapping any 2 of the 3 wires to the motor.

[Reply #4 on:]

But all of the Radio Control hobby BL ESCs that I know of only operate in one direction.
You can manually reverse the motor by swapping any 2 of the 3 wires to the motor.

I think if you research R/C car applications you will should find bidirectional brushless ESC controllers.

Lefty

[Reply #5 on:]

Hi,

I think its just easier paying for a complete ESC rather than making your own. (Unless, of course, you're doing it for educational reasons.). I used a Turnigy 60A ESCs for a QuadRotor UAV and it worked great and it can be reversed.
Link: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7188
It is expensive and probably overkill at 60A, so you might have to search for something with lower current rating and thus cheaper. The ESC takes PWM input as control signal so Arduino should be able to control it. (I used an FPGA for controlling it).

HTH
-Igor

[Reply #6 on:]

The ESC takes PWM input as control signal so Arduino should be able to control it. (I used an FPGA for controlling it).

Did you mean to say that ESC excepts servo PPM commands from the Arduino using a servo library?

PWM and PPM are different things in the context of the Arduino and R/C world.

Lefty

[Reply #7 on:]

I used a Turnigy 60A ESCs for a QuadRotor UAV and it worked great and it can be reversed.
Link: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7188

Is this reversible as a startup, programming function, or is 1500 zero throttle, 2000 full throttle, and 1000 full reverse?

[Reply #8 on:]

retrolefty: I'm pretty sure it's PWM controlled. I varied the on time versus off time to control the speed and direction.

vinceherman: Its exactly how you said it: 1500 zero throttle, 2000 full throttle, and 1000 full reverse.

If anyone is interested let me know and I can try and dig out the VHDL code I developed for driving the ESC. (It's been a while tho, but I'm sure I still have it backed up somewhere)

HTH,
-Igor

[Reply #9 on:]

Thanks Igor!  I can see 2 of those in my future.