Toshiba Releases a New Series of Mikroelektronika Click Boards Featuring Stepper Motor Drivers

By Chad Cox

Production Editor

Embedded Computing Design

April 05, 2022

News

Image Provided by Toshiba Electronics Europe

Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH announced a series of Mikroelektronika Click boards featuring Toshiba bipolar stepper motor drivers to allow for quick and easy device evaluation and prototyping.

The highly integrated motor drivers offer an extensive range of features and efficient operation, while saving PCB space and reducing bill of material (BoM) costs.

These motor drivers are used to control small-to-medium size stepper motors in a wide range of modern applications including:

  • 3D printers
  • linear actuators
  • Textile/sewing machines
  • Surveillance equipment
  • Industrial equipment
  • Point of sales (PoS) systems

The nine motor drivers offer footprint compatibility for easy interchanging with six devices in the series offering a clock interface, while the remaining three feature a phase interface. The integrated H-bridges are capable of driving up to 50V at up to 4A and offer efficient operation due to low RDS(ON) resistance.

The devices support up to 1/32 micro steps to ensure smooth operation of the motor. They are designed for flexible and simple operation, operating from a single supply and providing a constant current drive. An integrated voltage regulator derives logic voltages from the motor supply voltage (VM).

Despite their small form factor, the stepper motor drivers include broad functionality incorporating an advance dynamic mixed decay (ADMD) function that uses internal current feedback to control the threshold level when switching from fast to slow decay mode automatically.

Several protection functions are built-in including a thermal shutdown that operates when the junction temperature (Tj) of the IC exceeds 160°C (typ.) and an over current detection function that switches off output transistors when the output current exceeds a threshold

For more information, visit mikroe.com.

Chad Cox. Production Editor, Embedded Computing Design, has responsibilities that include handling the news cycle, newsletters, social media, and advertising. Chad graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.A. in Cultural and Analytical Literature.

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