Trinamic’s New Embedded Motion Control Modules
Trinamic Motion Control, now part of Maxim Integrated, has presented two new sets of slot type, embedded motion control modules and development tools that feature a unique, real-time, sensor-free control technology.
These complete controller/driver modules keep the motor control system’s communications traffic low by processing real-time critical functions onboard and offloading demand on the system processor.
“Offloading the processor of real-time critical calculations leaves processing power for other critical components driving intelligence to the edge, such as sensors, encoders, and cloud-based data transfers for status and health checks,” said Jonas Proeger, Director of Business Management at Trinamic. “Combined with the flexibility of a shared, swappable form factor, the modules offer an easy and straight-forward solution for powerful control of up to three times bigger motors.”
The types of solutions provided by the company includes:
2-Phase Bipolar Stepper Solutions: The 5A RMS TMCM-1230 and 6.5A RMS TMCM-1231 are integrated single-axis controller/driver slot type modules. Each power 2-phase bipolar stepper motors and share the same form factor and pinout for easy exchange. Both modules employ Trinamic’s unique, sensor-free technology to detect the power demands of the motor in real-time, and then instantly adjust the current, reducing power by more than 50 percent compared to competitive solutions.
Field Oriented Control Solutions: Trinamic also offers the 5A RMS TMCM-1637 and 7A RMS TMCM-1638 field-oriented motor controller/driver slot-type module that adds Hall and ABN encoder capability for field-oriented control (or vector control). These modules support single-phase direct current (DC) motors, 2-phase bipolar stepper motors and 3-phase BLDC motors.
Free Integrated Development Environment (IDE): To rapidly evaluate system performance and speed time to market, design engineers can use Trinamic’s free IDE software together with the single-axis TMCM-BB1 or 4-axis TMCM-BB4 baseboards controlled with the TMCM-0930-TMCL microcontroller module.
Key Advantages:
- Less Power and Cost to Drive Bigger Motors: Integrated critical control reduces compute demand on the processor while reducing wasted drive power by 50 percent – permitting the use of larger motors.
- Easy Upgrade: The modules share the same form factor and pinout for easy exchange without rewiring to an external baseboard.
- Accelerate Time to Market: Intuitive integrated development environment helps the designer develop and test the system quickly.
