Brushless DC motors have several advantages
over their brushed counterparts: They have longer lifespans, run quieter,
and have built-in position control thanks to the hall-effect sensor
that tells the controller which coil to activate. Based on this feedback,
the controller selects which coil to activate, which causes the rotor
to be pulled into place.
The DCC1100 requires a 8-30V DC external power
supply and can control a single brushless DC motor from a port on
your VINT Hub (see the Connection and Compatibility tab for a list
of hubs). In software you can either control the motor velocity, acceleration
and stall velocity directly, or you can use the PositionController
object to set the motor position using our closed-loop PID controller.
For more information on how to use and configure the PositionController,
take a look at the technical section of the DCC1100 User Guide.
Safety and Reliability
An on-board temperature chip is accessible via the TemperatureSensor
object, so your program will be able to watch out for overheating.
The VINT port is electrically isolated from the rest of the board, making it simple to build a Phidgets system without having to worry about ground loops or damage to your hub or computer.
A fuse is included on-board for safety in case of power surges.
Hall-Effect Input
To make connection simple, the DCC1100 has a 5-pin molex connector to interface with the motor's hall-effect output. All BLDC motors sold at Phidgets have the mating connector soldered to the end of the cable. If you have your own motor, you can cut a Phidget Encoder cable in half and solder them together as follows:
3019 Cable |
Motor Wire |
Black |
Ground |
Green |
Hall-Effect 'C' |
White |
Hall-Effect 'B' |
Red |
+5V |
Brown |
Hall-Effect 'A' |
|