DC Motor Drivers

DC motors offer low cost and accurate drive performance for a range of applications. Depending on the application, a full-bridge, half-bridge, or just a step-down converter is used to drive the armature winding. The switches in these converters are pulse-width modulated (PWMed) to achieve the desired voltage. Analog Devices’ high-side or bridge-driver ICs like the MAX15024/MAX15025 can be used to drive the FETs in the full-bridge or half-bridge circuit. DC motors are also widely used in servo applications where speed and accuracy are important. To meet speed and accuracy requirements, microprocessor-based closed-loop control and information about rotor position are essential. ADI’s MAX9641 Hall effect sensor provides information about rotor position. Here is an example of an ultra low power, ultrasmall DC brush motor: MAX14870.