Motor Thrust Reference Design

The design is tailored to support applications in various sectors, including industrial equipment, household appliances, and advanced motor control systems.

The Motor Thrust Reference Design is a valuable tool for engineers working with 3-phase BLDC motors, enabling efficient evaluation of motor performance and optimization of motor-propeller setups. It provides precise thrust measurements linked to motor commands and load weight, allowing accurate analysis of power and efficiency. Featuring an easy-to-use interface, configurable settings, and data logging, it simplifies testing and speeds up prototype development. With built-in battery monitoring and broad motor compatibility, this design helps engineers improve accuracy and make informed decisions across various industrial and appliance applications.

The Motor Thrust Reference Design featuring the MCP3564 by Mircrochip Technology is a comprehensive prototyping solution developed for testing and analyzing the power profiles of various motor-propeller configurations. This design is universally compatible with any 3-phase Brushless DC (BLDC) motor, making it highly versatile for a broad range of applications. The core of the system lies in its firmware, which calculates the thrust characteristics by processing motor command inputs and weight measurements using a third-degree polynomial fitting method. Once the measurement sequence is complete, the system outputs the resulting coefficients, providing valuable insights into motor performance.

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A key highlight of this reference design is its user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI), which simplifies the setup, control, and data analysis processes. Users can connect any 3-phase BLDC motor and its controller, with battery connections and motor controller components integrated into the design for ease of use. The system can save analog-to-digital converter (ADC) datasets from tests in .csv format, allowing for straightforward data management and post-processing. The GUI provides visualizations to help users understand how motor thrust influences weight measurements, facilitating a clearer interpretation of the motor’s operational characteristics.

The design offers adjustable motor commands, thrust measurements tied to weight, and configurable calibration and measurement settings. It includes motor battery voltage monitoring for reliable testing. At its core is the MCP3564, a 24-bit ADC with configurable oversampling and gain, allowing users to optimize measurement accuracy. The GUI supports these settings and weight scale calibration, enhancing precision. Key components include the MCP9800 temperature sensor, MCP1603 buck regulator, MCP6444 low-power op-amp, MCP6V92 zero-drift op-amp, and MCP1754 LDO regulator for stable power and signal processing.

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Together, these components form a robust and flexible system ideal for prototyping and testing motor thrust and power characteristics in real-world conditions. This reference design facilitates efficient motor analysis, calibration, and data collection, making it an essential tool for engineers and developers working with BLDC motors.

Microchip Technology has tested this reference design. It comes with a bill of materials (BOM), schematics, assembly drawing, printed circuit board (PCB) layout, and more. The company’s website has additional data about the reference design. To read more about this reference design, click here.