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GaN motor drive reference design for humanoid robots

GaN motor drive reference design for humanoid robots

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By Nick Flaherty



Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) has developed a 3-phase reference design for precision control of motors in humanoid robots.

The EPC91104 reference design uses gallium nitride (GaN) devices from EPC for higher efficiency to enable smaller brushless DC (BLDC) motors to fit into the wrists, fingers and toes of the robots. The low-distortion switching from the GaN device reduces torque ripple and motor noise.

“Humanoid robots demand motors with precision and compactness, and the EPC91104 is specifically designed to meet those needs for applications like small joint actuation,” said Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC.

The march of the humanoid robots

The design has an optimized PCB layout with a wide input voltage range of 14 V and 80 V to support different battery packs. It is also compatible with microcontroller boards from Microchip, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics and Renesas.

The board uses the EPC23104 ePower Stage GaN transistor that has a maximum RDS(on) of 11 mΩ and supporting DC bus voltages up to 80 V. The design supports peak currents of up to 14 A steady-state and 20 A pulsed current, ensuring reliable performance for humanoid robot applications that require fine motor control and precision.

The protection in the design includes overcurrent and input undervoltage protection, ensuring reliability in demanding applications.

For higher-current requirements, such as elbow and knee motors in humanoid robots, EPC offers the EPC9176 board in the same family. With enhanced current capacity, the EPC9176 complements the EPC91104 to cover a full range of motor drive applications in humanoid robotics. It is equipped with comprehensive sensing and protection features, ensuring rapid prototyping and testing.

The EPC91104 reference design boards are priced at $780.00. The EPC23104 is priced at $2.50/ea in 3Ku reels.

Reference design boards and devices are available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key

 

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