Freescale targets motor control with new Kinetis MCU series
1 min read
In a move which expands its portfolio of ARM based microcontrollers, Freescale has unveiled the first three families in the new Kinetis V series. The devices – the KV1x, KV3x and KV4x – are optimised for motor control and digital power conversion applications.
The KV1x range is based on the Cortex-M0+ core running at 75MHz, said by the company to be the industry's fastest such device. The parts are supplied with a hardware divide and square root block. Steve Tateosian, global marketing director for Kinetis, said: "While it's the fastest M0+ in the market, the MCU also needs things the ARM core doesn't do, including hardware division and square root functions. Motor control apps rely heavily on divide and square root, so putting them in hardware is a real differentiator. Users should see a 90% improvement in the square root performance and a 25% reduction in cycles needed to get the same work done."
Meanwhile, the KV3x and KV4x families are both based on the Cortex-M4 processor, with a floating point unit and clock frequencies of 100 to 120MHz and 150 MHz respectively. KV4x MCUs include 12bit cyclic A/D converters capable of 4.1Msample/s and an eFlexPWM module with a resolution of 300ps.
KV1x MCUs are designed for use with brushless DC motors, as well as with permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM). The KV3x and KV4x families will be suited to higher dynamic control PMSM and AC induction motor designs, including systems with multiple motors.
The launch is complemented with the introduction of the Kinetis Motor Suite, a software tool that helps to maximise motor efficiency while reducing development cost and time to market.
Tateosian noted: "Customers expect a certain level of performance from the core and peripherals, but they often needed PhDs to get motors spinning. Our intention is to change this."
The Kinetis Motor Suite consists of three software components: the Kinetis Motor Tuner, a GUI for motor parameter configuration that enables fast, precise PID loop tuning; Kinetis Motor Observer, software pre programmed into the MCU that enables tuning of control loops and estimation blocks; and the Kinetis Motor Manager, which provides a real time display of system variables and the MCU memory map.
KV1x MCUs are now available, with KV3x devices sampling. KV4x parts will sample in Q3 of this year.
