Universal low cost controller for electric motors with programmable characteristic curves

The realization of a universal low-cost controller for electric motors in CMOS technology with programmable characteristic curves is presented. With regard to the required chip area of 2.7 mm/sup 2/ in a 1.6 /spl mu/m, 40 nm technology, the general advantage in comparison to microcontroller-based solutions lies in the low factory costs. The analog dc power supply is generated directly from the 230 V ac power line. An on-chip functional unit controls the firing current for the off-chip motor driving triac. Features of this functional unit are torque control and overload protection, firing, and post firing control. A new method was used to implement programmable multidimensional characteristic curves which are temperature and technology insensitive. In the actual controller application for a drilling machine motor, the mask-programmed curve shapes have been generated with the help of fuzzy algorithms. An impression of the reproducibility of multidimensional characteristic curves in manufacturing, as well as the accuracy of their precalculation, is given by introducing simulated and measured statistics of the actual design.