HOW DOES IT WORK?

H-Bridge 13 Click is based on the DRV8411A, a dual H-Bridge motor driver with current regulations from Texas Instruments. The Tripler charge pump integrates all capacitors and allows for 100% duty cycle operation. The inputs and outputs can be paralleled to drive high-current brush DC motors. It also implements current sensing and regulation parts. Internal current mirrors output the current sense information on the IPROPI pins, eliminating the need for large power shunt resistors, thereby saving board area and reducing system cost, and allowing the host MCU to detect motor stalls or changes in load conditions. There are four screw terminals to connect the motors and one VM external power supply input to power the motors.

The motor driver comes with several protection features, such as a VM undervoltage lockout (UVLO), auto-recovery overcurrent protection (OCP), thermal shutdown (TSD), and fault indication. The integrated current regulation feature limits motor current to a predefined maximum based on the VREF and xIPROPI settings. The xIPROPI signal can provide current feedback to a microcontroller during the H-bridges drive and brake/slow-decay states. The reference voltage can be selected over the onboard 3.3V rail or an external one over the VREF SEL jumper, where the 3.3V is selected by default. The external reference voltage can be connected over the VREF EXT header.

The H-Bridge control inputs for the motor driver's full bridges A and B are fed by two TS5A23157s, dual 10Ω SPDT analog switches from Texas Instruments. These single-pole double-throw switches are designed to handle both digital and analog signals. They feature a low-charge injection, excellent ON-resistance matching, and low total harmonic distortion. Normally closed IO ports of this switch are controlled over the PCA9538A, a low-voltage 8-bit IO port with interrupt and reset from NXP Semiconductors. The analog current output that is proportional to the load current for full bridges A and B can be monitored by selecting one of the channels at a time over the 74LVC1G3157GV,125, a 10Ω single-pole double-throw analog switch from Nexperia.

H-Bridge 13 Clisk uses a standard 2-Wire I2C interface of the PCA9538A to communicate with the host MCU supporting fast mode up to 400KHz. The I2C address can be selected over the ADDR SEL jumper, where 0 is selected by default. By controlling the PCA9538A, you can control the switches, the PWM signal, full bridge inputs, and the motor driver itself. You can also read the DRV8411A's fault indicator over the I2C interface and the interrupt INT pin. The speed of the motors can be controlled over the PWM pin and the TS5A23157s switches. The analog current outputs can be read over the AN pin by selecting one of the bridges over the PCA9538A and I2C interface. The PCA9538A can be reset over the RST pin.

This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the PWR SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. Also, this Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used, as a reference, for further development.

SPECIFICATIONS