We have just released a new low-power brushed DC motor driver that can deliver a continuous 1 A and offers a wide operating voltage range of 8 - 36 V range. The module is a breakout board for TI’s DRV8801 motor driver that features a simple two-pin speed/direction interface, current-sense feedback, and built-in protection against under-voltage, over-current, and over-temperature, providing a great alternative to motor drivers such as the L293D, SN754410, and L298N.
Those parts looks a little difficult because of the extra 12V requirement; it also looks like they might not be able to do 100% duty cycle. They might make for an interesting low-voltage (3-12 V?) option, with an external boost regulator to get the 12V, but that is a waste of the 50V MOSFETs in the chip. For voltages above 6V, I think other parts like the MC33926 and VNH5019 are more compelling. Is there a performance point of these new TI parts that is particularly interesting for you?
I didn’t see the extra 12V requirement until you pointed it out. I can see that makes things harder.
What attracted me to those chips was the possibility of a high current stepper drive, 3A or 7A is a lot bigger than your offerings.
Since these chips offer “parallel mode”, I also wonder if a more versatile “brushed or stepper” driver could be made, where you select the motor type via jumpers.
Their graph on page 9 of the datasheet suggests to me it reaches 100% duty cycle, what makes you think they may not reach 100% ?
I’m thinking of 24/36 and maybe even 48V systems, we’re already spoiled for choices below 12V.
I’m basing the duty cycle limitation assumption on the “Bootstrap Capacitor Under Voltage Protection” section on page 11. Also, I do not see a separate charge pump for keeping the high-side N-channel MOSFET gate supply topped off to keep the MOSFETs on indefinitely.
I doubt that a dual-function, stepper/brushed motor driver would be that interesting. I suppose that if you have a driver for one of the purposes, it wouldn’t hurt to have the option of using it for the other kind of motor, but I suspect that the tradeoffs would make it not that great for at least one of the applications. For instance, looks like these chips do not have the step/direction interface that many stepper drivers do; if we added that externally somehow, people who want just the dual brushed motor drivers would be paying for extra stuff they don’t need.
