Fully-Integrated, Protected Bridge Circuits for DC Motors

The new VIPower™ M0-7 H-bridge family from STMicroelectronics is a set of fully-integrated and protected bridge circuits especially designed for dc motor control. Covering a wide range of load conditions, thanks to scalable power stages and packages, its combination of state-of-the-art embedded dc or 20-kHz pwm speed control modes with an embedded protection mechanism makes it suited for driving dc motors in cars.

Further embedded features including independent load current sensing on each branch of the H-bridge and open load in off-state as well as chip temperature and VCC reading enhance system simplicity and flexibility, avoiding having to use external components.

Thanks to very small packages and high integration, these devices allow the implementation of compact and reliable solutions for automotive dc motor control applications. The SO-16N is a full plastic triple-island package and has a body size of only 38mm2. VNH7070AS and VNH7100AS are housed in this package, combining small size with good thermal performance and at very reasonable price.

The PowerSSO-36 triple island has three exposed pads offering optimized thermal performance. This package houses the VNH7040AY, a device able to address motors operating at up to 60W.

Key benefits of VIPower™ M0-7 H-bridges:

• Targeting different DC motors - The availability of different on-state resistance (RON) classes in the same package ensures flexible driving and control of various DC motors from a few watts up to 200 W in automobiles:
  • Full H-bridge configuration
  • Double-half H-bridge configuration
  • Cascaded configuration
• New MultiSense diagnostics - Output current is multiplexed through selectors and reports:
  • In ON state: current on each leg, chip temperature, VCC reading, and short circuit/overload flags
  • In OFF state: open load, output shorted to battery or GND
• Advanced tiny power packages - Body size reduced up to 70% versus previous family for PCB shrinkage and system weight reduction.
  • SO-16N
  • PowerSSO-36 (single- and triple-pad)
• Ultra-low power consumption - Maximum 3µA standby current for low- and high-power dc motors. This keeps the power consumption of the module low in spite of the increased electronic components on board.