A power board to the STM32 NUCLEO-64 401RE board to control two 3-phase BLDC motors?

[Boris_L]

Hello. Could someone please recommend a good power board that can power and control two gimbal 3-phase BLDC 12V motors with encoders AS5048A https://www.sparkfun.com/gimbal-motor-with-encoder-12v-587rpm.html ? I use the STM32 NUCLEO-64 F401RE microcontroller board. Thank you.

[Peter BENSCH]

You won’t find an off‑the‑shelf ST power board specifically tailored to those gimbal motors + AS5048A, but there are a few options:

• for 3‑phase BLDC power stages compatible with NUCLEO‑F401RE, check the X-NUCLEO motor driver expansion boards (e.g. for low‑voltage BLDC). They provide the 3‑phase bridge and current sensing; you still need external 12 V supply dimensioned for your motor current

• the AS5048A encoders are SPI; you can connect them directly to the NUCLEO SPI pins (shared or separate chip‑selects) and run field‑oriented control (FOC) or simple commutation in firmware

A possible candidate could be the X-NUCLEO-IHM16M1 able to drive one BLDC motor with up to 1.5Arms, but as far as I can see, two of them cannot be operated simultaneously on one NUCLEO board.

What would be your continuous / peak current per motor?

Regards
/Peter

[Boris_L]

Hello Peter. I was recently told that STM32 NUCLEO-64 F401RE microcontroller board cannot control the two Sparkfun 3-Phase BLDC motors with the encoders. The peak current per motor cannot be more than 1.2 Ams.

I was told that the STM32G474E-EVAL1 microcontroller board can control the two 3-Phase BLDC gimbal motors. However, it is unclear what power boards and expension boards to use in this case? I was told that STmicroelectronics does not have a power board that can power two motors. Therefore, I need two power boards for two 3-Phase BLDC gimbal motors. Another question emerges here. How to connect two extension boards to the STM32G474E-EVAL1 board? Thank you. 

[Peter BENSCH]

Well, the STM32G474E-EVAL1 is already a good starting point. Some X-NUCLEO boards can be stacked on top of each other, so that you can potentially control several identical ones from a single NUCLEO. Unfortunately, this is not possible with all X-NUCLEO boards, including the X-NUCLEO-IHM16M1.

However, with the STM32G474E-EVAL1, you should be able to get it running if you handle the wiring to the 3-phase PWMs yourself, which is admittedly a bit more complex than just plugging it in. Notes on how you need to connect this can be found in the data sheet and the manuals of the STSPIN830 and the schematics of the STM32G474E-EVAL1.

Good luck!

Regards
/Peter

[Boris_L]

Hi Peter. I want to use two Sparkfun 3-Phase Brushless motor-drivers https://www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-brushless-motor-driver-3-phase-tmc6300.html for two gimbal Sparkfun 3-Phase BLDC motors with the encoders AS5048A. I plan to use a Pololu 9V 5A Step-Down Voltage regulator to power: the STM32G474E-EVAL1 board, the two motors (via the two motor-drivers). However, there is the following problem. 

The problem is that I cannot create a new project with two motors and two power boards by using the STM32 Motor Control Software Development Kit 6.4.1 https://www.st.com/en/embedded-software/x-cube-mcsdk.html I cannot create a new project because I do not know what two power boards to choose (please see screenshot attached). And, I cannot skip this step. By the way, I was told that I can change the chosen listed parts for the parts which I want to actually use after I have created a new project with the listed parts. 

One more problem is that it is unclear how many shunt resistors to use for each Sparkfun motor-driver. One of your employees wrote that only one shunt resistor is needed for each Sparkfun motor-driver. Your other employee wrote that three shunt resistors are needed for each Sparkfun motor-driver. Could you please clarify who is right? In my view, only one shunt resistor is needed. Thank you. 

[Peter BENSCH]

You did not include an URL where colleagues commented on your project, but I was able to find two of your threads here and there. However, I did not find anything about a contradictory number of shunts required for your motor driver.

But now I understand that your thread belongs to the forum STM32 MCUs Motor Control, although I am not sure if anyone can provide an answer for the specific configuration with TMC6300 and AS5048A.

What can already be said after a brief look at the TMC6300: it cannot use three shunts anyway, because the common point of two half-bridges is internally connected (BRUV) and not separately accessible, so only single-shunt mode is an option.

[Boris_L]

Hello Peter,

   What two ST power boards would you recommend to choose from the STM32 Motor Control Software Development Workbench list (please see screenshot attached) to control the two gimbal Sparkfun 3-Phase BLDC motors with the encoders AS5048A? I need them to create a new project. In this case, I will use your boards, not the Sparkfun motor-driver boards. Thank you.

[Boris_L]

Hello Peter. Because you did not response so far, I would lke to ask my last question one more time. What two ST power boards would you recommend to choose from the STM32 Motor Control Software Development Workbench list (please see screenshot attached) to control the two gimbal Sparkfun 3-Phase BLDC motors with the encoders AS5048A? I need them to create a new project. In this case, I will use your boards, not the Sparkfun motor-driver boards. Thank you.

[GMA]

Hello @Boris_L,

At this point, when clicking the power board icon, the Workbench tool displays all available power boards with voltage, current, and power characteristics to help the user select a board.

When connecting the control board to power, the Workbench tool notifies the user if an adapter board must be used.

[Boris_L]

Hello GMA and Peter,

   I tried to start a new project in the STM Motor Control Development Kit Workbench (version 6.4.1). I used the STM32G474E-EVAL1 microcontroller board, two X-NUCLEO-IHM07M1 motor-driver boards, and two gimbal GBM2804H-100T motors. However, I faced the following issue. The power boards (motor-drivers) and the microcontroller board have different connectors. I clicked on the button "Add Adapter", however, there is no any adaptor listed, please see the screenshot attached. Could you please advise how to add an appropriate adapter? I cannot create a new project in the Workbench without adding two adaptors. Thank you.