STMicroelectronics Launches STSPIN9 High-Current Motor Drivers

STMicroelectronics has recently unveiled its latest innovation, the STSPIN9 series, featuring high-current motor driver chips that deliver cutting-edge solutions for advanced industrial equipment, household appliances, and professional devices. Introducing two flagship products, the 4.5A STSPIN948 and the 5.0A STSPIN958, this series integrates PWM control logic circuits and a 58V power stage. Offering system protection features and two operational amplifiers for current sensing, these chips are well-suited for driving DC brushed motors and bipolar stepper motors.

The STSPIN948, employing a dual-bridge topology, provides flexibility in configuring different drive modes to cater to multiple motors with varying power ratings. With various PWM current control modes, including fixed off-time or adjustable current threshold, this 4.5A chip supports a total of five operating modes, housed in a compact 7mm x 7mm VQFPN48 package.

In contrast, the STSPIN958, utilizing a single-bridge topology, can be configured to drive two unidirectional motors or a bidirectional DC brushed motor. Capable of driving higher current unidirectional motors by paralleling power output pins, the 5.0A chip supports seven motor drive configurations, including dual half-bridge, single full-bridge, and half-bridge parallel. The STSPIN958 chip is elegantly packaged in a 5mm x 5mm VFQFPN32.

The STSPIN948 and STSPIN958 motor drivers offer a broad operating voltage range and versatile configurations, making them ideal for diverse industrial applications, such as factory automation systems, textile machinery, industrial robots, household robots, stage lighting systems, ATMs, cash counters, antenna controllers, vending machines, and a myriad of common home appliances and industrial equipment.

Designers can leverage external resistors to fine-tune the output transistor's slew rate, striking an optimal balance between power consumption and electromagnetic compatibility. Additionally, the chips incorporate a dead-time mechanism to prevent breakdown occurrences effectively. With a conduction resistance of only 200mΩ per MOSFET, they ensure maximum energy efficiency. A propagation delay of 280ns guarantees a swift response to commands in the drive system.

To facilitate rapid application development and streamline project cycles, STMicroelectronics offers cost-effective, user-friendly evaluation boards. The EVSPIN948 evaluation board, featuring the STSPIN948 chip, can drive up to two motors, while the EVSPIN958 evaluation board, equipped with the STSPIN958 chip, is designed for single motor drive applications. These evaluation boards, designed as motherboard expansion cards, seamlessly integrate with most STM32 Nucleo development boards and Arduino® UNO R3 interfaces.