I just made a BLDC motor controller, but I'd like it to be able to go to higher frequencies (have less dead time, faster firmware, etc). In particular, I'm aiming for 20kHz-to-50kHz range, but am having trouble getting beyond 10kHz without seeing my top speed drop off significantly.
I realize this depends on both circuit design as well as the firmware, and to some extent the layout, but am interested in a better microcontroller choice right now, maybe one that is more optimized for BLDC motor control. I like developing with PICs right now and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to pick a better PIC or if there was a family you've used before that you think would be good to sample.
I've recently discovered that some offer programmable dead time, although I'm fine with offsetting that manually. Are there any other features I should consider?
Thank you,
A look through the mini-manual does not seem to indicate that peak current or voltage are controllable so it sounds like 2 x LiIon max is the limit for this motor.
Best Answer
There are various PICs that have various level of motor control hardware built in. At the lowest level you can use just basic PWM generators. At the high end there are some intended for driving 3 half-bridges with programmable dead time and other logic.
Go to the Microchip site and look for the product selector. You can easily get a list of all PICs with various combinations of features, like motor control PWM, some minimum amount of program space, certain size package, etc.