November 10, 2020 — ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ON), which promotes energy-efficient innovation, has launched advanced and flexibleMotor Development KitTo accelerate the development of more energy-efficientMotor control scheme, Suitable for applications from less than 1 kW to more than 10 kW.

Electric motors account for more than half of all electricity generated and consumed in industrialized countries. Most of these motors are alternating current (AC) induction motors with an average energy efficiency of only 44%. To improve energy efficiency, motor drive designers must understand how these and other types of motors work under all load conditions and intelligently compensate for variable conditions. The motor development kit solves the urgent need to improve energy efficiency.

The Motor Development Kit (MDK) consists of one of a growing number of power boards, connected to a universal controller board (UCB). These power boards use ON Semiconductor's various motor drive frequency conversion solutions, from high-voltage integrated modules to low-voltage discrete MOSFETs. UCB is a universal control platform that can be connected to any power supply board, enabling engineers to evaluate motor control technologies that can replace various types of motors and various power levels.

Smart motor control requires flexible and programmable methods. UCB is based on the Zynq®-7000 system-on-a-chip (SoC) series from Xilinx. This powerful device integrates two ARM®Cortex™-A9 processor cores and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) architecture to provide the best combination of software and hardware configurations. The development board also provides a 10-channel differential analog-to-digital converter (ADC), 12 pulse-width modulation (PWM) channels and many configurable digital peripherals. Communication ports include USB, JTAG and UART, and Gigabit Ethernet PHY.

Efficient motor control is one of ON Semiconductor's business focus. The company applies its rich experience and a wide range of discrete devices,Intelligent Power Module (IPM)withDie Casting Mould Power Integrated Module (TM PIM)Lineup to improve energy efficiency. MDK brings together its expertise and technology to help engineers quickly develop more energy-efficient solutions for any application that uses motors.

ON Semiconductor's MDK provides an "out of the box" experience for evaluating variable speed motor inverter solutions. To achieve this, the modular ecosystem includes UCB and several power evaluation boards, developed using best-in-class power devices from ON Semiconductor. Software development support comes from Xilinx for high-level synthesis in the form of the Vivado® design suite. USB can also be programmed in Python through Xilinx's open source project PYNQ.

Ali Husain, senior manager of strategy and marketing of ON Semiconductor, said: "ON Semiconductor has provided a wide lineup of power solutions optimized for variable motor control. The motor development kit integrates these technologies into a single ecosystem. It really helps the design team accelerate the process of developing more energy-efficient motor control solutions."

Xilinx Industrial, Vision, Medical and Science Director Chetan Khona said: "Optimizing the energy efficiency of motors has a huge impact on the carbon footprint of factories and industrial equipment on the planet. ON Semiconductor's technology is combined with the high-performance motor control of Xilinx Zynq SoC. , Greatly reduce operating costs, provide the strongest adaptability for user customization, and make a positive contribution to the environment. ON Semiconductor’s new motor development kit makes it all within reach and promotes the process from prototype to production Migration."

MDK currently supports two motor power boards. SECO-1KW-MCTRL-GEVB is suitable for driving motors up to 1 kW, SECO-MDK-4KW-65SMP31-GEVB is suitable for driving motors up to 4 kW. Both power boards use ON Semiconductor’s IPM technology and will be available in the fourth quarter of 2020. Another power board based on ON Semiconductor’s TMPIM technology will also be launched in the first quarter of 2021 to drive motors up to 10 kW. The MDK ecosystem is expected to further add more power boards and expand design support.