Electronic – PWM above 16v for speed control? Will it work

motormotor controllerpwm

I have recently ordered 1 x VNH3SP30 Motor Driver Carrier MD01B

I was just reading the charts and found below saying about the pwm,

VNH3SP30 and VNH2SP30 Comparison:   VNH3SP30        VNH2SP30
Operating supply voltage (Vcc)      5.5 - 36 V*     5.5 - 16 V
Maximum current rating              30 A            30 A
MOSFET on-resistance (per leg)      34 mΩ           19 mΩ
Maximum PWM frequency               10 kHz          20 kHz
Current sense                       none            approximately 0.13 V/A
Over-voltage shutoff                36 V*           16 V minimum (19 V typical)
Time to overheat at 20 A**          8 seconds       35 seconds
Time to overheat at 15 A**          30 seconds      150 seconds
Current for infinite run time**     9 A             14 A

* Manufacturer specification. In our experience, shoot-through currents make PWM operation impractical above 16 V.

** Typical results using Pololu motor driver carrier with 100% duty cycle at room temperature.

Does this mean if I want to PWM (vary the speed) of 24v actuators under load, will this work correctly with this VNH3SP30 board? or will it 'jump' voltage and not work
How/What would you recommend please?

Thanks in advance,
Galen

Best Answer

Shoot-through current refers to the condition where both switches/MOSFETs on one side of the H-Bridge are on simultaneously. Under normal conditions, the H-bridge is under one of the following conditions:

From Wikipedia

If, however, both switches on one side are on simultaneously, a huge current can flow (Only 34mΩ per leg, remember?), which is usually destructive. I'm not sure why both switches would be on - Possibly an issue with gate capacitance and switching time?

The datasheet says that the PWM pin is:

Voltage controlled input pin with hysteresis, CMOS compatible. Gates of low side FETs are modulated by the PWM signal during their ON phase allowing speed control of the motor.

You might get better luck with higher voltages if you modulated the PWM such that it was centered on the ON-pulses:

Motor on:     ----    ----     --      --
S-Left-Top__/------\________/------\________  
S-Rght-Bot___/----\___________/--\__________
S-Rght-Top__________/------\________/------\
S-Left-Bot___________/----\___________/--\__  

But you'll definitely want to look very carefully at Figures 4, 5, and 6 of that datasheet.