STMicroelectronics Introduces Plug-and-Play STSPIN32 Prototype Board to Simplify Wireless Power Tool Development

     STMicroelectronics has launched two new plug-and-play 56V lithium battery three-phase brushless motor control boards. The STEVAL-PTOOL1V1 and STEVAL-PTOOL2V1 evaluation boards are equipped with ST's STSPIN32 highly integrated motor control system package chip, which can meet the important requirements of small size and low standby current of power tools. The six-step drive scheme ensures that the motor torque fluctuation is small and the operation energy efficiency is high.

     STEVAL-PTOOL1V1 is suitable for electric equipment powered by two-cell (7.4V) to six-cell lithium batteries (22.2V). The board size is 70mm x 30mm, and it can continuously output up to 15A of current, and the standby current is less than 1µA. The core component of the board is the STSPIN32F0B motor controller, which contains the STM32F0* microcontroller, three-phase half-bridge gate drivers, 12V and 3.3V voltage regulators, op amps for current sensing, and power stage circuit protection functions such as , Configurable Over Current Protection (OCP), Cross Conduction Protection and Under Voltage Protection (UVLO). The STEVAL-PTOOL1V1 power stage circuit uses STMicroelectronics' power MOSFET N-channel 60V STripFET F7 technology.

     The STEVAL-PTOOL2V1 is suitable for 8-cell (29.6V) to 15-cell (55.5V) lithium-ion powered electric equipment, and can continuously provide up to 19A of current. The core component of the board is ST's STSPIN32F0252 motor controller, which includes a three-phase 250V gate driver, STM32F0 microcontroller, and a comparator that makes the OCP protection function fast and flexible. The robust design of the STSPIN32F0252 enhances the reliability of the power tool by allowing the output pins to withstand voltage spikes down to -120V. The STEVAL-PTOOL2V1 has an on-board bus voltage detection function and the board size is 77mm x 54mm. The power stage circuit uses STMicroelectronics' power MOSFET N-channel 80V STripFET F7 technology.

     Both boards provide speed potentiometer, switch, and rotational direction setting inputs, as well as thermal shutdown and power stage output reverse bias protection, with pre-installed heatsinks. In addition to cordless power tools, these two boards can be used in any battery-powered device that uses a brushless three-phase motor and a single-resistor current-sampling control algorithm.