Web-based design centre aids motor control

The Microchip Motor Control Design Centre aims to assist engineers in adding electronic control to their motor-driven products.

With over seven billion motors manufactured every year and only about 20% of them controlled electronically, Microchip has launched its Motor Control Design Centre to assist engineers in adding electronic control to their motor-driven products.

It is estimated that motors consume over 50% of the energy produced in the USA alone.

In response to this, regulatory initiatives such as Energy Star, the Kyoto Summit and the US Department of Energy Part 430 are increasing pressure to improve the efficiency of motor-driven applications.

Simply by adding variable speed control using Microchip's PIC 8bit microcontrollers or dsPIC 16bit digital signal controllers, designers can achieve typical energy savings of 14-30% in a number of motor control applications.

The Motor Control Design Centre features design flow charts for creating a motor control design, and a summary table of end applications by motor type.

The site offers comprehensive guidance to using Microchip's motor control products, offering system solutions for controlling stepper motors, brushed DC motors, AC induction motors, variable-speed brushless DC motors and switched reluctance motors.

It provides complete access to Microchip's technical documentation relating to motor control, including application notes and reference designs.

In addition, users can download Microchip's Motor Control Graphical User Interface (MC-GUI) software environment free of charge.

This can be used alongside the company's motor control development boards, which include the PICDEMTM MC and the dsPIC30F motor control development system.

The Motor Control Design Centre can be found on the Microchip website.

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