Design Tool from Fairchild Semiconductor Assists Engineers in Selecting Motion-SPM™ Devices

Designers of home appliances – such as washers, refrigerators and air conditioners – are faced with the challenge of developing motor control solutions that meet stringent and evolving energy guidelines and regulations, such as ENERGY STAR® and European Commission Energy Using Products (EUPs), all while reducing footprint, reducing electrical and mechanical design cycle, bringing system efficiency and reliability to the application.

To help designers meet this challenge, Fairchild Semiconductor developed the Motion Control Design Tool to assist in the selection of the optimum Fairchild Motion-SPM™ device for their specific applications. This tool addresses three-phase inverter sinusoidal modulation for variable speed drive applications powering permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) and AC induction motors.

Part selection is based on a detailed entry of application specific I/O information. The program output includes module component losses, junction temperature increases, cooling requirements and junction temperature ripple at the motor / output frequency.

The Motion Control Design Tool provides motor motion control design engineers with:

A quick and accurate method for selecting the correct Fairchild SPM® device for their application

A simulation means for identifying their design’s worst case input and output conditions from a loss and temperature rise aspect

A delineation of the module’s power component switching and conduction losses for their specific application, enabling them to quickly consider “what if” scenarios to optimize the design

Graphical presentation of internal component losses, junction temperature rises and maximum allowable case temperature as a function of output phase current and switching frequency

Total module losses and heatsink / cooling requirements

A PDF soft copy documentation of their application analysis

Fairchild Semiconductor recently developed a new series of smart power modules (SPM®), the SPM45H, that offers high system efficiency while replacing up to 23 discrete components.

Designed with system reliability in mind, the SPM45H series features the integration of 15 fully tested components compared to 23 discrete components, providing designers significant advantages for 1.5kW motor designs. The SPM45H series provides system efficiency, with built-in advanced NPT IGBTs, providing optimal tradeoffs between conduction losses and switching losses, resulting in higher power density. Advanced STEALTH™ FRDs provide a good softness factor and low EMI characteristics.

Fairchild has a wide SPM package portfolio for driving highly efficient inverter-based motors and enabling energy-efficient designs. The Motion Control Design Tool complements and supports all SPM devices in the portfolio by providing motion control design engineers with an efficient means of calculating the power losses and temperature rise in Fairchild Motion-SPM packages.

For more information, or to access the motion control design tool, please visit our website.