Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) has announced two new Piccolo Motor Control Kits that enable PFC and sensorless field-oriented control of up to two motors with a single low-cost microcontroller (MCU).

Using TI's Piccolo MCUs and high-performance analog, the kits include everything needed to immediately begin development of cost-sensitive motor control applications such as pumps, HVAC, refrigerators and other appliances/white goods. Allowing developers to efficiently meet their design needs, these controlCARD-based kits include a Piccolo controlCARD, Code Composer Studio IDE, software libraries and a hardware designer's package. The Motor Control and PFC Developer's Kit includes a single permanent magnet motor while the Dual Motor Control and PFC Developer's Kit includes two.

Key features and benefits of the Piccolo MCU Motor Control and PFC Developer's Kits

• Single 60 MHz TMS320F28035 MCU features 128 KB flash and control-oriented peripherals such as 12-bit, 16 channel on chip ADC and high resolution PWM outputs

• Sensorless field-oriented software tuned for kits' motors allows developers to easily begin design right out of the box

• Software is broken into incremental builds for easy, step by step learning and development of motor control plus PFC on Piccolo MCUs

• Dual full bridge PWM motor drivers include programmable cycle-by-cycle current limit and two stage thermal protection capabilities

• Isolated onboard USB JTAG emulation saves on cost by eliminating the need for an external JTAG emulator

• Detailed documentation of field-oriented motor control theory and PFC principles, including instructions for executing both with one Piccolo MCU.

Availability and Pricing

The Motor Control and PFC Developer's Kit (TMDS1MTRPFCKIT) is priced at $369 and the Dual Motor Control and PFC Developer's Kit (TMDS2MTRPFCKIT) is priced at $399. Both kits are now in stock and immediately available to order.

Related links:

Motor Control and PFC Developer's Kit

Dual Motor Control and PFC Developer's Kit