Infineon Expands its Application Kit Portfolio to Ease and Accelerate the Design of Energy-Efficient Motor Drives Based on its 8-Bit and 16-Bit MCUs

Neubiberg, Germany – March 13, 2009 – Infineon Technologies (FSE/NYSE: IFX) expands its portfolio of application kits for its leading 8-bit microcontroller and 16-bit microcontrollers, introducing scalable reference designs for motor drives which ease the evaluation and implementation of hardware and software solutions for high efficient drives and speed up the time to market. The new kits are built around members of the 8-bit XC800 and 16-bit XE166 family supporting advanced motor control techniques like Field Oriented Control (FOC) and Power Factor Control (PFC). These sophisticated control techniques are increasingly used in consumer and industrial drives addressing the design focus on higher efficiency, better dynamic response and reduced audible noise.

The three new application kits increase the scalability of reference systems for motor drive applications of Infineon: The Dual Motor Drive Kit based on the XC878 and XE166 improves energy efficiency supporting both FOC and PFC with a scalable solution from 8-bit to 16-bit and a power board driving up to 8A at 110V-230V. The FOC Motor Drive Kit enables FOC for XC878 and XE166 with a power board capable to drive up to 7.5A at 23V-56V. The 12V-Brushless DC Drive Kit uses the XC866 and makes BLDC (Brushless DC) motor drive design an easy task with the capability to drive motors with up to 20A at 9V-18V. All application kits from Infineon contain a free tool chain including compiler and debugger and offer Plug-and-Play design as all related hardware and software parts are provided. A USB to JTAG and CAN bridge allows digital isolated real time monitoring.

These new application kits widen the portfolio of application kits from Infineon serving a voltage range from 12V to 230V and currents to drive from 200mA to 20A for motors like Stepper, BLDC and PMSM (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor). All new kits are ready to be used also with Dave Drive, Infineon’s unique auto code generator for motor drives.

12V-Brushless DC Drive Application Kit

With the 12V-Brushless DC Drive Application Kit BLDC designers can implement the advanced techniques that make their design more reliable and get more power from existing motors, applying simple algorithms that increase control flexibility and improve efficiency. The user can examining the trade-offs of block commutation with Hall sensors versus sensor-less control and determine which approach is best for his applications like pumps, fans, valves or power tools.

The drive card of the kit is built around the 8-bit XC866 MCU providing the timer unit CAPCOM6E for flexible PWM generation unit, a fast 10-bit ADC with 1.5µs conversion time and embedded Flash memory up to 16KB. The Power Board provides an inverter circuit capable of driving up to 20A BLDC motors. The inverter is made by combining three NovalithIC motor drivers from Infineon, providing a low ohmic-protected half-bridge in a single package. The application kit includes a BLDC motor for first experimentation.

The software package includes a free tool chain inclusive SDCC compiler and HiTOP debugger and software examples showing sensored, sensor-less, phase-advance and 12-step control methods for motor control. The very comprehensive video tutorial will guide the user during set up and usage of the kit in a vivid way.

More details at www.infineon.com/bldc

Dual Motor Drive Application Kit

The Dual Motor Drive Application Kit offers a scalable solution for FOC and PFC. It is built around the 8-bit XC878 and 16-bit XE164, both supporting FOC and PFC by architecture. The power board is capable of driving two motors like a PMSM independently with Infineon’s gate driver IC EiceDRIVER, intelligent power module CIPOS and power management IC CoolSET.

Coming along with optimized motor control software as well as a digitally isolated real time monitoring tool, the kit offers an easy-to-use reference platform for industrial drives in fans, blowers, pumps, white goods or air conditioners. It is a platform to evaluate the performance of real time capabilities of the Infineon microcontrollers and offers designers a shorter time-to-market for energy efficient motor control designs targeting excellent torque dynamics, reduced noise and high system reliability.

The kit contains two drive cards: One is based on the XC878 which provide a Vector Computer, two independent PWM units and a fast ADC with 1.5µs sample time. This device can run FOC and PFC in parallel. The second drive card is equipped with the XE164 offering a MAC unit, three independent PWM units and two independent fast ADCs. With the XE164 users can drive 2 motors and run a PFC in parallel. The Power Board (110VAC - 230VAC, 8A) provides an inverter with 900W - 1800W, a second inverter with 100 -200W and a boost converter for PFC.

The complete software package, including source code enables simultaneous control of two PMSMs with sensor less FOC and digital PFC using the XE164 or the XC878. In addition V/f control of induction motors (ACIM) is provided for quick evaluation.

More details at www.infineon.com/dualmotordrive

FOC Motor Drive Application Kit

The FOC Motor Drive Application Kit is a scalable solution for FOC applications, built around the 8-bit microcontroller XC878 and the 16-bit MCU XE164. The power stage is capable of driving a PMSM with Infineon’s gate driver IC EiceDRIVER, OptiMOS MOSFETs and the power management IC CoolSET.

The FOC Motor Drive Application Kit comes with two drive cards, one based on the XC878 and the other one using the XE164. The Power Board (23V - 56V, 7.5A) drives a 15W PMSM motor which is part of the kit. A plug-in 24V power supply completes the hardware. The software package includes optimized source code for sensor-less FOC of PMSM for the XE164 and XC878 with PI controllers for speed and two currents. It allows an easy configuration of the motor parameters. The source code for V/f control for ACIM for quick evaluation is enclosed to the kit.

This kit targets FOC implementation in applications like washing machines, refrigerators, industrial drives, electrical power steering, electric vehicle traction drive, air conditioning, fans, blowers or pumps.

More details at www.infineon.com/foc

Availability and Pricing

The three new Application Kits are available at www.infineon.com or www.ehitex.de. The price for the 12V-Brushless DC Drive Application Kit with the XC866 is 249.00 Euro, while the FOC Motor Drive Application Kit, based on the XC878 and XE164 is offered for 399.00 Euro. The Dual Motor Drive Application Kit using the XC878 and XE164 and supporting both FOC and PFC can be ordered for 499.00 Euro.

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, communications, and security. In the 2008 fiscal year (ending September), the company reported sales of Euro 4.3 billion with approximately 29,100 employees worldwide. With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the U.S. from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX).