The new MCU Motor Studio firmware suite supports all common energy-efficient motor control strategies, including sine wave commutation and field-oriented control (FOC), with or without sensors and with precise position sensing. Single-shunt and triple-shunt current sensing are available, and PWM frequencies up to 156 kHz are supported. The firmware supports all common motor types, including brushless DC (BLDC) and permanent magnet synchronous (PMSM) motors. It also supports switched reluctance (SRM) motors and asynchronous AC motors.
Users can control up to three independent motor channels with a single MCU, depending on the variant selected. The TXZ+™4A series, based on the Arm® Cortex®-M4 core, comprises the M4K and M4M groups, enabling motor control even with low-cost 64-pin MCUs. On-chip motor control features include hardware motor vectoring, an advanced high-resolution encoder for servomotors, and a self-diagnostic system that facilitates compliance with functional safety standards such as IEC 60730 Class B.
The firmware package offers selectable functions that allow users to quickly configure controls such as zero-current point detection, motor start position detection, and common stop controls, including rapid braking. Other features include magnetic field stop recovery, load-based speed reduction, advanced rotor control with sensorless precise positioning, and linear motion control with sensor-based precise positioning.
The PC-based motor control tool helps users quickly configure the proportional-integral (PI) controller, input the chosen inverter board and motor parameters, and begin evaluating the solution. The tool graphically displays measurements of target and actual speed, torque, current, temperature, and DC link voltage, and monitors fault status, all in real time. Users can dynamically change motor, system, and control parameters and schedule tests to run automatically.
To help users get their projects up and running, Toshiba has collaborated with MikroElektronika to create the MIKROE Clicker 4 evaluation board for the TMPM4K and a 6V-48V inverter shield. Together, they provide a low-cost development hardware platform suitable for controlling a single motor channel. The evaluation board contains an M4K MCU and can be powered from a USB port, a battery, or the inverter board, which has its own switched-mode converter. The inverter allows for single- or three-shunt current measurement and features a flexible interface for user-defined position sensing.
The firmware and graphical user interface for MCU Motor Studio can be downloaded from
https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/eu/semiconductor/product/microcontrollers/motor-studio.html
For more information, see the related Toshiba technical article:
The MIKROE Clicker 4 board for TMPM4K and the inverter shield are available at
https://www.mikroe.com/clicker-4-for-tmpm4k
and https://www.mikroe.com/clicker-4-inverter-shield
