H-Bridge controlling circuit

comparatordc motorh-bridgemosfet

I'm in need of an H-Bridge capable of driving moderate-high current for motors on a small car (7A peak, 2-3A nominal, 12-14 VDC), and I'm hoping to control it with two (2) digital pins (5 VDC).

I've come up with the following controlling circuit which, based on the 2 inputs (FWD, REV), I think/hope are capable of the 4 desired states:

  1. Coast: FWD=Low, REV=Low
  2. Forward: FWD=High, REV=Low
  3. Reverse: FWD=Low, REV=High
  4. Braking: FWD=High, REV=High

So my questions are:

  • Are there any actual op-amps that will work in the circuit? I only have a few ICs in my stock (LM339N) and it doesn't work when prototyped (even with pull-ups since the outputs are OC).
  • I hope to be able to drive it using PWM (probably from an Arduino). With one pin Low and PWM on the other it should alternate between states 1-2 or states 1-3. Is this possible, and safe? Or are there timing issues at the transitions that I should concern me?
  • Ultimately, am I deluding myself or can the circuit work as I describe above, either as-is or with some tweaks?

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Schematic intents: R1-R4 limit current to the MOSFETs, R5-R6 give a ~2.5V reference voltage (Vref) for comparison with the input signals. R7-R9-D2 (R8-R10-D1) shift reference voltage on pin 5 (pin 8) so Q3 (Q4) cannot be on with Q1 (Q2) and short/drain the battery. R11,R12 pull the inputs low to disable the motors when the digital inputs are disconnected.

Edit: This is for a single, hobby project at home that I expect to wire up on a simple proto-board, not even a small-run fabricated PCB.

I added emphasis on the 2nd half of the first sentence (2-wire control) – which was my primary purpose in posting: I wanted a 2-wire controller to make it impervious to software bugs.

Best Answer

I recommend using a pre-built motor bridge controller chip. You have lots to choose from; Digikey has 4280 options.

I say this for several reasons:

  1. Non-overlap times must be enforced, or else you'll release the magic smoke.
  2. Driving MOSFET gates through large resistors makes them sensitive to Miller turn-on.
  3. Purpose-made ICs will be generally less noise-sensitive.
  4. These purpose-made circuits often have internal charge pumps, permitting you to use the same transistor (i.e., all-NMOS) for all of your switches.
  5. In the end, it'll take less board space and be cheaper.
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