BLDC Single-Wire Control for Lower Pin Count and PCB Area
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional brushless DC motors require a large number of pins for control signal transmission between the drive controller, pre-drive stage, and power stage, occupying significant circuit board area and hindering miniaturization.
Innovation Solution
A single-wire control device for brushless DC motors that uses an encoding modulation unit to encode control signals, transmit them via a single wire, and a demodulation decoding unit to decode the signals back into the original control signals, reducing the need for multiple wires.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If multiple wires are used to transmit control signals between controller and pre-drive stage, then control signal transmission is reliable, but circuit board area is large
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple control signal transmission functions into a single transmission wire. The encoding modulation unit encodes multiple control signals into a single modulated signal that is transmitted through one wire, replacing the traditional multiple-wire configuration. This merging of functions directly reduces the number of pins and circuit board area while maintaining control capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the signal transmission parameter from multiple separate control signals to a single modulated signal. By modulating the control signals onto a single transmission line and using encoding schemes, the system transforms the transmission medium from multiple parallel wires to a single wire, thereby reducing pin count and board area.
2Ease of operation
If multiple control wires are used, then control signal transmission is simple and direct, but the number of pins increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple control signal lines are merged into a single transmission wire through encoding modulation. The controller's encoding modulation unit combines multiple control signals into one modulated signal that travels over a single wire, reducing the pin count from 4-6 pins to just 1 pin while maintaining the ability to control all power stage transistors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary encoding modulation unit and demodulation decoding unit that act as mediators between the controller and pre-drive stage. These units translate multiple control signals into a single wire format and back, enabling simplified single-wire communication while preserving the original control functionality.
3Quantity of substance
If single wire is used for control signal transmission, then pin count is reduced, but signal encoding and decoding complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the control system into distinct functional segments: the encoding modulation unit in the controller, the single transmission wire, and the demodulation decoding unit in the pre-drive stage. This segmentation allows the complexity to be distributed and managed separately, with each unit handling specific tasks (encoding, transmission, decoding) rather than requiring one complex integrated component.
Solution Approach 2:
The encoding modulation unit and demodulation decoding unit serve as intermediaries that manage the complexity of single-wire communication. These intermediary units handle the encoding and decoding operations, shielding the rest of the system from the complexity while enabling pin reduction. The intermediaries transform complex multi-signal control into simple single-wire transmission and back again.
Data Source
AI summary
A single-wire control device for brushless DC (BLDC) motor is disclosed, applicable to the usage between a controller and a pre-drive stage of the BLDC motor, including an encoding modulation unit, a transmission wire, and a demodulation decoding unit; wherein, the encoding modulation unit is connected to the controller to receive a plurality of control signals from the controller, and encodes and modulates the control signals to generate a modulated signal; the transmission wire is connected to the encoding modulation unit for transmitting the modulated signal to the demodulation decoding unit; the demodulation decoding unit is connected to the transmission wire for receiving, demodulate and decoding the modulated signal to generate the original control signal, which is then passed to the pre-driver stage.