New Industry Products

Freescale Introduces Digital Signal Controllers For Motor Control, Appliance, Lighting & Power Conversion Applications

April 29, 2009 by Jeff Shepard

Freescale Semiconductor Inc. has introduced a family of digital signal controllers (DSCs) designed to provide energy-efficient motor control at very competitive price points. According to the company, it is one of the most cost-effective DSC offerings, helping reduce development expenses and power consumption for a wide range of motor control and motor drive applications, including appliances. The company, also says the advanced motor control and power conversion capabilities offered by these DSCs can significantly improve the efficiency, reliability and energy savings of appliances.

The MC56F8006 DSCs combine the functionality of a microcontroller (MCU) and the processing power of a digital signal processor (DSP) with a flexible set of peripherals to create an extremely cost-effective, powerful and versatile embedded control solution. The MC56F8006 family’s combination of price, performance, peripherals and energy efficiency makes it well suited for power- and cost-sensitive motor control applications, such as three-phase BLDC motors, variable frequency drives, permanent magnet synchronous motors and handheld tool motors.

In addition to motor control, MC56F8006 DSCs can be used to reduce the cost and complexity of digital power conversion applications, such as board-mounted digital power supplies for servers, industrial and telecom power supplies, and smart power metering. The devices’ powerful signal processing capabilities also can be applied to advanced lighting control in commercial buildings and factories.

Described as a smart choice for power-sensitive motor control applications, the MC56F8006 family is said to offer one of the lowest power consumption rates available in the DSC market. Up to four times more energy efficient than other available DSC offerings, the MC56F8006 devices are designed to operate at 50mA at 32 MHz and 3.3V. The DSCs provide an array of power-saving features, such as two power-saving STOP modes, the ability to shut down peripherals independently and fast wake-up time from STOP (less than six microseconds). The energy-efficient devices also feature a very low-power crystal oscillator and ADC modules with ultra-low run current and conversion speed.

The devices’ advanced power management capabilities enable continued application sampling in a reduced power state, which helps extend battery life for battery-backed applications. A partial power-down mode keeps the I/O, RAM, pulse width modulator (PWM) and computer operating properly (COP) module powered while the remainder of the device peripherals shut down. In this state, the DSCs are engineered to consume one microamp in lowest power mode while preserving key state information in RAM.

The MC56F8006 family’s on-chip peripherals are specifically designed to enhance the performance of motor control and power conversion applications and to reduce external component count and overall cost. Key peripherals include three high-speed comparators, dual 12-bit analog-to-digital controllers (ADCs), two programmable gain amplifiers (PGAs) and a PWM with up to six outputs.

The on-chip ADCs allow flexible configuration to meet high-performance and low-power requirements. The PGAs operate in concert with the ADCs to amplify small signals, increasing the ADC input dynamic range. The PGAs also perform differential-to-single-ended conversion of analog signals and enable precise conversion of analog values. The PWMs enhance power conversion functionality and accuracy for digital power supply and motor control applications. Multiple system faults are detected and processed by on-board hardware to immediately shut down the PWMs in the event of a threatening or dangerous situation. This capability helps ensure system protection with little or no software intervention required.

Suggested resale pricing for the MC56F8006 family starts at $1.50 (USD) in 10,000-unit quantities.