FIELD ORIENTED CONTROL MOTOR DRIVER
Brushless DC motors are gaining in popularity in the hobby community as these motors have a high torque density, allowing them to be directly driven (no gear box). Without a gear box there is less wear and tear, the motor system is smaller and back drivable which allows for highly dynamic control. Currently these motors are mostly used for drones and RC vehicles due to the limitations of the drivers currently available. However, these motors are great for robotics and haptic applications with the right driver. A field oriented control driver could be used for both low speed (e.g robotics) and high speed (e.g. drones) applications. They are about 30% more efficient than other drivers which would extend drone ranges. They also would allow for dynamic position control which would open the possibilities for robotics projects.
Here are some examples of Brushless DC motors being used in action.
For the project, two motors were selected for testing and demonstration purposes. The goal of the driver is it to be versatile enough to work for a wide range of motors. We rated parts to allow to the driver to power a motor up to 32V. The limiting factor in the design are the power mosfets. Higher rating could be achieved at higher costs however it seemed unlikely that a hobbyist would want to power that big of a motor or at least not enough to merit the extra costs.
The motors that were selected were Turnigy Multistar 4822 (390Kv) and Multistar Elite 5010 (274KV). The multistar elite is one of the most popular hobbyist brushless DC motor and is often sold out. The turnigy multistar is the smaller version.