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Full-Bridge DC Motor Driver with Real-Time Diagnostics Targets Automotive Apps

Jan. 30, 2025

An intelligent full-bridge drive with integrated protections and a dedicated output-status pin simplifies designs of low/mid-power DC-motor systems.

Lee Goldberg

Related To: Electronic Design

The VNH9030AQ integrated full-bridge DC motor driver from STMicroelectronics addresses a wide range of automotive applications, including functional-safety systems. In addition to its driver functionality, the IC reduces bill-of-materials (BOM) count and cost by integrating advanced diagnostic circuitry and a dedicated pin for real-time output status. These features, plus the low R_DS(on) (30 mΩ per leg) suit it for mid- and low-power DC-motor-driven applications such as door-control modules, washer pumps, powered lift gates, powered trunks, and seat adjusters.

The motor driver integrates the high- and low-side MOSFETs with gate drivers, diagnostics, and protection against overvoltage transients, undervoltage, short-circuit conditions, and cross-conduction. Its integrated non-dissipative, current-sense circuitry monitors the current flowing through the device to distinguish each motor phase.

Flexibility to configure the MOSFETs either in parallel or in series allows for its use in systems involving multiple motors or to meet other specific requirements.

Other devices in the series share a common pinout. They’re housed in a 6- × 6-mm thermally enhanced, triple-pad QFN package designed for optimal underside cooling.

The VNH9030AQ is in production now and available from $2.48 for orders of 1,000 pieces.

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About the Author

Lee Goldberg | Contributing Editor

Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.

Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.

Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.

Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.

Lee also writes the regular PowerBites series.