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Category: Aerospace/Military/Defence Product of the Year
The need to reduce size, weight and power on satellites and other space systems continues to challenge the aerospace market. The LX7720 radiation-hardened mixed signal motor controller from Microchip meets this need by combining more than 20 commonly used functions into a single chip.
As the industry’s first highly integrated radiation-hardened by design (RHBD) motor control integrated circuit (IC), the LX7720 significantly reduces weight and board space relative to conventional discrete motor control circuits. By reducing the number of components on a system, developers can inspect and test fewer parts, while also minimizing the physical points of potential failure due to a smaller number of connections and solder joints.
The LX7720 has already been adopted for various motor control applications in space robotics and human-rated space programs. It is the ideal solution for spacecraft applications involving motor driver servo control, linear actuator servo control and for driving stepper, brushless direct current (BLDC) and permanent-magnet synchronous (PMSM) motors.
The controller offers a unique solution for satellite manufacturers sensitive to board area and weight reduction by consolidating essential functions for the motor control and position sensing circuitry required for robotics, multi-axis pointing mechanisms and precise motion control of optical elements.
The LX7720 offers radiation tolerance to 100 krad Total Ionization Dose (TID), 50 krad to Enhanced-Low-Dose-Rate-Sensitivity (ELDRS) exposure and is single event immune.
Microchip’s controller combines four half-bridge N-channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) drivers, four floating differential current sensors, a pulse modulated resolver transformer driver, three differential resolver sense inputs, six bi-level logic inputs, power drivers via external Field Effect Transistors (FETs), loop control electronics for voltage or current control, position read-back (resolver, potentiometer, limit switches, etc.), fault detection and more into a single device.