The new SA303-IHZ and SA53-IHZ offer the same highly integrated solution as their sibling products, the SA306-IHZ and SA57-IHZ. These new devices also integrate the gate drivers, protection logic, current limit logic and power MOSFETs in a single, space-saving package that requires 50% to 70% less board real estate than a comparable discrete design. The high degree of integration enables trimming the design cycle, knowing a single component is being employed that has been tested and debugged for reliability, thus minimizing problems associated with printed circuit boards and connections.

The SA303-IHZ and the SA53-IHZ offer a balance between cost and the performance delivered. It’s a story of lower price for lower power compared with the SA306 and SA57. Now there is a migration path in drive capability, from 2~3A (SA303/SA53 ‘-I’ grade), through to 5A (SA306/SA57 ‘-I’ grade) and ultimately 8A continuous current (SA306/SA57 ‘-A’ grade). Peak current performance for the SA303/SA53 is 10A peak, up to 17A peak for the SA306/SA57. All this in the same package, allowing easier design of a common platform for driving various motors, loads or applications.

In addition to their output current performance, the SA303-IHZ and SA53-IHZ offer a virtual match to the SA306-IHZ and SA57-IHZ in terms of voltage supply. Both devices operate on supplies ranging from a low of 10V, up to a high of 60V.

One truly unique feature brought to the marketplace by all of these ICs are their ability to control motor current with “cycle-by-cycle” current limit. Cycle-by-cycle refers to the capability of the driver to continuously monitor and regulate the current in all motor phases in real time and thus eliminate the need to tax the bandwidth of the processor to accomplish current control calculations. The only compromise to be struck in spinning up the motor with cycle-by-cycle current limitation is the acceleration. The upside is that a much lower power rating can be designed than otherwise necessary to handle the start-up current.

Apex Precision Power products have a rich legacy of success stories across the industrial motor drive market space, and Cirrus Logic continues to fill out the Apex product offerings to address gaps in the availability of “off-the-shelf” solutions. The new SA303-IHZ and SA53-IHZ join more than 25 models of IC, open frame and hybrid motor drivers.

How do the SA303-IHZ and the SA53-IHZ differ?

The SA303-IHZ is a three-phase driver, so that it works with BRUSHLESS DC motors (BLDC), while the SA53-IHZ is designed to spin BRUSH DC motors. The manner in how each IC interfaces with its respective motor type represents their inherent difference.

Just like the SA306-IHZ, the 3A SA303-IHZ has a three-phase output consisting of two totem-pole MOSFETs per output. This topology enables the device to drive brushless DC motors, but could also drive permanent magnet AC motors, and even an AC induction motor, if the voltage limitations are respected.

The SA303-IHZ and the SA306-IHZ also are capable of driving MULTIPLE brush DC motors. If bi-directional rotation is not required, then either the SA303-IHZ or the SA306-IHZ can drive three independent brush motors at the same time. If the application does call for bi-directional rotation, then these ICs can drive two brush motors, one at a time. If only a single brush DC motor is to be driven, then either the SA53-IHZ or the SA57-IHZ is the most economical solution.

With the SA53-IHZ or SA57-IHZ, getting a brush motor to spin is extremely easy. All four devices in this family are designed for easy interfacing with an intelligent system controller, such as an MCU or DSP, to control the motor.