dsPICDEM™ MCHV-3 Development Board User’s Guide

The Microchip dsPICDEM™ MCHV-3 Development Board is intended to aid the user in the rapid evaluation and development of a wide variety of motor control applications using PIC32 and PIC24 Microcontrollers (MCUs), and dsPIC® Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs). This development system is targeted to control Brushless DC (BLDC) motors, Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSM), and AC Induction Motors (ACIM) in sensor or sensorless operation. 

This flexible and cost-effective tool can be configured in different ways for use with  Microchip’s specialized motor control devices. The dsPICDEM™ MCHV-3 Development Board is essentially an upgraded version of the dsPICDEM MCHV Development System. The dsPICDEM™ MCHV-3 Development Board is designed to support the PIC24F, PIC24E, dsPIC33F, dsPIC33E, and PIC32 Motor Control device families, and offers a mounting option to connect a generic 100-pin Plug-In Module (PIM). 

The system has a three-phase power module device that contains the motor inverter and the gate driver’s circuitry. The circuit drives a BLDC, PMSM, or ACIM motor using different control techniques without requiring any additional hardware. It also has Power Factor Correction (PFC) circuitry to provide a full set of tools used in motor control applications. 

The rated continuous output current from the inverter is 6.5A (RMS). This allows up to approximately 2 kVA output when running from a 208V to 230V single-phase input voltage in a maximum 30ºC (85ºF) ambient temperature environment. Therefore, the system is ideally suited for running a standard 3-phase induction motor of up to a 1 kW (1.34 HP) rating or a slightly higher-rated industrial servo motor. The power module is capable of driving other types of motors and electrical loads that do not exceed the maximum power limit, and are predominantly inductive. Furthermore, single-phase loads can be driven using one or two of the inverter outputs.

The unit is capable of operating from 90V, up to a maximum of 265V.