Cutting-Edge Reference Design for 3-Phase BLDC Motor Drive Inverter

EPC Introduces 3-Phase BLDC Motor Drive Inverter Reference Design

EPC, a leading provider of power management solutions, has unveiled a groundbreaking 3-phase BLDC motor drive inverter reference design. This innovative design operates within a wide input supply voltage range of 14 V to 60 V and is capable of delivering up to 60A output current.

The versatility of the EPC9194 makes it suitable for a variety of 3-Phase BLDC motor drives, including eBikes, eScooters, drones, robots, and DC servo motors. With its compact size of 130 mm x 100 mm (including the connector), this board is designed to fit seamlessly into various applications.

The board features six 100V eGaN FETs, housed in a 3 mm x 5 mm QFN package. These FETs offer an impressive RDS(on) of just 1.8 mOhm, combined with small QG, QGD, and QOSS parameters, resulting in reduced conduction and switching losses.

One of the key advantages of the EPC9194 is its thermally enhanced QFN package, which allows for enhanced heat dissipation to the heatsink. Additionally, the package features wettable flanks for easy inspections.

Compared to a Si MOSFET solution operating at a 16 kHz PWM frequency, the EPC9194 offers an estimated total power loss that is half as much when operating at a 100 kHz PWM frequency with six EPC2302's at 20 ARMS. This higher PWM frequency enables a quasi-pure sinusoidal current, resulting in reduced vibration and distortion in the motor, and ultimately leading to approximately 7% higher motor system efficiency.

The EPC9194 incorporates all the necessary circuit functions required to support a complete motor drive inverter. This includes gate drivers, regulated auxiliary power rails for housekeeping supplies, voltage and temperature sense, accurate current sense, and protection functions.

With a 48 V input and a 100 kHz PWM frequency, the EPC9194 can deliver 20 ARMS steady state without a heatsink, with a temperature rise of 60 °C. With the addition of a heatsink, it can deliver more than 30 ARMS.

The EPC9194 is compatible with various controllers from different manufacturers, allowing for quick development and reduced design cycle times. EPC also offers control interface boards (EPC9147X) that can be used to operate this inverter reference design with many common BLDC motors. The EPC9194KIT includes the EPC9194 evaluation board and a controller board that facilitates easy interfacing with a microcontroller design kit.

"Designers can use EPC GaN FETs to create lighter-weight and more efficient battery-operated motor drives for a wide variety of e-mobility and robotic applications," said Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC. "GaN enables motor systems that are smaller, lighter, quieter, more powerful, and more precise, while also improving EMI and reducing the need for EMI filtering and capacitors, as well as eliminating electrolytic capacitors and input filter inductors."

The EPC9194 reference design board is priced at $909.00 and is available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key. For more information, visit https://www.digikey.com/en/supplier-centers/epc.