Electronics leader STMicroelectronics and leading motor manufacturer maxon are working together to improve designs in robotics applications and industrial servo drives.

Source: STMicroelectronicsThe EVALKIT-ROBOT-1 kit consists of a maxon 100 W brushless DC motor along with ST’s STSPIN32F0A intelligent 3-phase motor controller and a complete inverter stage built with ST power transistors ready to connect to the motor. The result is a plug-and-play solution aiming to help users easily approach the world of precise positioning and high-end motion in servo drives and robotics.

Motor-control firmware is also included, making it easy for users to start the motor and send commands.

The two companies demonstrated the jointly developed servo control kit at SPS 2019 in Nuremberg, Germany last November.

According to ST’s technical documentation, the EVALKIT-ROBOT-1 offers a ready-to-use servo brushless solution.

Thanks to the high integration level of the ST motor controller, the control board provides an impressive power stage. The analog circuitry implements current sensing and overcurrent protection and a Cortex-M0 microcontroller performing field-oriented control with closed-loop positioning. All packed into a 40 mm x 40 mm footprint.

The maxon EC-i 40 motor, thanks to the optimized magnetic circuit, offers a very high torque density and very low cogging torque. In combination with the maxon ENX 16 EASY 1,024 pulses incremental encoder, it is an excellent choice for reliable, robust and high-precision position and speed control.