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Texas Instruments The Future of Robotics | 31 This means electronic drivers and power transistors can be smaller, weigh less, and deliver the same amount of work. Field-effect transistor (FET) drivers such as the tiny 8mm x 8mm Gallium nitride (GaN)-based LMG341xR150 (Figure 1) bring new levels of achievable power density and efficiency to drive motors, actuators, and virtually any power stage that needs small size and robust protections. The 100V/ns switching reduces ringing and transients while responding in less than 100ns with current limiting. These heavy-duty parts protect from over-current, over-temperature, and under- voltage conditions without any external components for protection. Going Through a Phase DC motors have improved performance by eliminating commutators and taking advantage of hall-effect sensors. Machines that used single-phase AC motors are improving performance by moving to three-phase versions. A three- phase motor has three independent 120-degree sets of windings that can deliver more power and torque at less current per winding, meaning even more of a reduction in component size and wasted heat. More efficient controllers for three-phase motors are ready to meet the next generation of challenges. A case in point is the TI DRV835x three-phase smart drivers. These highly integrated feature-packed three-phase brushless motor drivers use field-oriented sinusoidal control and feature integrated current shunt amplifiers to adapt to different motor types. To reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI), the DRV835x drivers allow adjustable slew-rate controls and minimize dead- time insertion to prevent shoot-through conditions. And since motors are rarely used continuously, a low 20-micro amps sleep mode draws virtually nothing at 48V. These drivers are packed with protections such as undervoltage, overcurrent, shoot through, and thermal warning to let the microcontroller in charge adapt. A fault condition signal allows the micro to set the gain stage (5, 10, 20, or 40) and select one of three pulse-width modulation (PWM) modes, all controlled through a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI). A Driver Evaluation Module, the DRV8353Rx-EVM, is readily available to allow quick prototyping, testing, and evaluation of the designs that can take advantage of these advanced features. All in the Family TI is a broad-based supplier of advanced technologies, and the Piccolo c28X family of 32-bit microcontrollers (Figure 2) is an ideal candidate for AMR system and subsystem control and management. From small 38-pin dedicated function processors to 100-pin multifunction processors, these parts feature floating-point and co-processor options, processing speeds up to 300MHz, up to 100K bytes of RAM, up to 1M bytes of flash, A/D converters, DMA, PWMs, USB, and dual- core versions. Programmable gain amplifiers are also available to help integrate analog functionality and condition signals internally with less need for external signal conditioning. Several development kits and evaluation modules are readily available from stock to help engineers quickly and efficiently get up to speed, test and evaluate performance, and prototype without the time and expense of rolling your own test boards. Conclusion AMRs are becoming a part of regular operation with the industrial factory context. The future will be full of AMRs operating independently from humans. Expect a move to voltage energy sources such as 48V. We have already seen this trend with power tools because of the benefits mentioned here. Expect larger and more sophisticated machines to follow suit. Whether its prosthetic aids, underwater submarine welding robots, or AMRs, our machines are getting stronger, our interfaces are getting more dexterous, and our computational prowess is getting better. TI is at every step in the process, and Mouser supports your needs for parts, inventory management, development, and information. ■ Learn More DRV835x Three-Phase Smart Drivers Learn More Piccolo™ C28x™ Microcontrollers (MCUs) Learn More LMG341xR150 GaN FET