New Industry Products

Four-Quadrant Current Control ICs for Velocity and Torque Control

February 05, 2018 by Paul Shepard

Performance Motion Devices has announced Juno® Velocity and Torque Control Integrated Circuits (ICs), the industry's first family of compact ICs for velocity and torque control capable of four-quadrant current control.

Designed for next-generation life science and healthcare applications, Juno ICs can profoundly improve the ability of design engineers to achieve greater motor efficiency, precise current control, and accurate velocity profiles.

Designed for servo motor applications in liquid pumping or high-speed motor control, Juno ICs deliver smooth, quiet, and efficient motor operation over a wide range of operating conditions for brushless dc, dc brush, and step motors.

The Juno ICs eliminate the need for design engineers to use multi-component solutions that demand significant amounts of board space and firmware development. These methods have limited speed control accuracy that result in noisy motor operation and significant heat generation.

Engineers have also been required to create their own interface and safety protocols. Juno ICs ensure safe and optimal motor performance and include over current, over and under voltage, over temperature, current integration limits, and communication monitoring.

"The Juno IC's four-quadrant control allows precise ramp up and down," said Chuck Lewin, President of Performance Motion Devices. "There is no other velocity IC on the market today that offers this functionality. The unique combination of velocity and torque control with intelligent safety and performance monitoring delivers the ultra-efficient motor control that will help our customers improve development time and system safety."

The Juno MC78113 delivers precise ramp-up and ramp-down, field oriented control, and smooth, quiet motor operation over a wide range of operating conditions.

Eliminating the need for homegrown multicomponent solutions, Juno ICs are easy to deploy with preprogrammed motion commands and onboard safety and performance-monitoring intelligence-including overcurrent, over- and under-voltage, overtemperature, current integration limits, and communication monitoring.

The Juno ICs are compact and available in a 64-pin TQFP or 56-pin VQFN package, and measure 10 mm x 10 mm or 7.2 mm x 7.2 mm, respectively.

Juno ICs are especially suited for lab automation and medical device applications. Lab automation applications include liquid pumping, centrifuges, and laser scanners. Medical device applications include dialysis, heart assist-pumps, drug infusion and ventilators.