Efficient architecture for advanced motor control
The PSOC Control C3 series is an advanced motor control solution with high performance and high efficiency. These MCU are built around an Arm Cortex-M33 kernel with digital signal processing (DSP) and floating point arithmetic unit (FPU) (Figure 1). This core is supplemented by high-performance peripherals optimized for systems using power devices based on broadband gap technologies such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN).
Figure 1: The PSOC Control C3 MCU has a powerful peripheral built around an Arm Cortex-M33 kernel with DSP and FPU. Image Source: Infinion)
In particular, there are three Control C3 MCU peripherals:
High-performance 12-bit sequential approach register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) allows true synchronous idle sampling of up to 16 analog signals. This is essential to accurately capture fast changing waveforms, such as motor phase currents in field oriented control (FOC) systems or grid voltages in solar inverters.
Optional Coordinate Rotation Digital Computer (CORDIC) mathematical accelerators remove the burden of trigonometric functions and other transcendental functions from the Arm kernel. This is of great benefit to algorithms such as Park transform in FOC system and PLL in grid connected power transform.
The Timer/Counter Pulse Width Modulation (TCPWM) block generates accurate switching signals and integrates the Motion Interface (MOTIF), providing direct hardware support for Hall and quadrature encoders used in sensor-based motor control design.
These features provide closely integrated solutions for demanding applications such as efficient motor drives, digital power supplies, and renewable energy systems.
Other features I want to emphasize include rich I/O and low power mode that can reduce power consumption to less than 1 microampere (µ A). PSA Level 2 safety certification prevents tampering, while compliance with IEC 60730 Level B and IEC 61508 SIL 2 specifications ensures functional safety.
Optimize cost and functionality through two MCU product lines
Not every design requires all the features available and the budget may be tight, so PSOC Control C3 offers two models: a cost optimized entry and a more powerful standard. The main features of the entry include an Arm core of 100 MHz, an ADC of 6 megabits per second (MSPS), and a 48-pin or 64-pin package.
Standard upgrade to 180 MHz processor and 12 MSPS SAR ADC with 80 pin encapsulation option added. It also increases the PWM timing to better than 100 picoseconds (ps) to control switching frequencies above 200 kHz.
PSC3M5FDS2AFQ1 XQSA1 (Figure 2) fully demonstrates the capabilities of the standard version. The MCU adopts PG-LQFP-80 package, including 180 MHz Arm Cortex-M33F kernel and 256KB flash memory. It is ideal for applications such as robots and e-bike motor controllers that require high performance.