HOW DOES IT WORK?

H-Bridge 15 Click is based on the DRV8834, a dual-bridge stepper or DC motor driver from Texas Instruments. The output driver block of each H-Bridge consists of N-channel power MOSFETs configured as an H-Bridge to drive the motor windings. Each H-Bridge includes circuitry to regulate or limit the winding current. There are two general control modes. The indexer logic with simple step/direction control and up to 1/32-step micro-stepping is one. The other is a phase/enable control that can drive external references for more than 1/32-step micro-stepping.

The PCA9538, a low-voltage 8-bit I/O port from NXP, controls the logic states of the motor driver inputs. By setting the CONFIG input pin of the motor driver to a High state, you can select the indexer mode. Otherwise, you can select the phase/enable mode. Please note that you can drive DC motors only in phase/enable mode, while a stepper motor can be driven in any of these. The PCA9538 allows you to control the enable inputs of both bridges, micro-step modes, step inputs, direction, sleep mode, and more. It even takes the fault outputs of the motor driver.

The voltage reference for both bridges is provided by the motor driver voltage reference output and two onboard potentiometers labeled VREF A and VREF B. Over those potentiometers, you can set the winding current for both bridges. The decay modes for both bridges are left for you to set over unpopulated jumper resistors.

H-Bridge 15 Click uses a standard 2-wire I2C interface of the PCA9538 to allow the host MCU to control the motor driver inputs. It also notifies the host MCU if any fault condition occurs over the INT pin. The RST pin allows you to reset the PCA9538. The i2c address for this I/O port can be set over the I2C ADDR jumpers. There is also the ENA pin, which, in indexer mode, can turn all outputs on or off.

This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the VCC 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