Driverino features

  • ATmega32U4 microcontroller;
  • Micro USB interface;
  • TI MCT8316Z motor driver;
  • 41x26mm (size);
  • RS232 interface;
  • Standard R/C input compatibile.

The board can drive up to 24V-36V 8A rated sensored BLDC motors and provide 5V power supply (200mA max) mimicking R/C ESC BEC feature. Driverino supports a variety of different types of Hall's sensors (analog single ended, analog differtial, digital) and also different sensors supply rates (3.3V and 5V). To correctly fit for a specific sensor kind some soldering may be required: by default the board project is fitted for digital 5V sensors.
Once the correct bootloader has been burned-in the board will behave as an Arduino board (at least for programming/debugging task) and also spin a motor.

Driverino's firmware allow users to drive BLDC motors using a standard RS232 interface trough simple interactive commands. The firmware allow also:

  • closed loop speed control (implementing a PID loop);
  • motor/driver status monitoring;
  • R/C ESC emulation.

The project library allow Arduino users to interact with BLDC motors without knowledge of MCT8316Z chip and SPI protocol.


TODO:

  •  Add features:
    •  vm measurement;
    •  current measurement (via INA250).
  •  Optimize PCB layout.
  •  Write Library.
  •  Write Firmware.
  •  Submit to Kitspace
  •  Submit to Made-With-KiCAD

P.S.

Driverino is an italian noun and sounds like /ˈdraɪvərnəʊ/ meaning little driver.

For those looking for a shield like BLDC driver  there's also Driverino-Shiled project.