First TI brushed DC gate driver with adjustable current drive capability for scalable designs

Texas Instruments introduced an integrated gate driver that offers adjustable gate drive settings with the flexibility to drive a wide range of external field-effect transistors (FETs), supporting multiple motors, speeds or varying loads. The DRV8701 enables designers to scale their platforms using a single gate driver across various brushed DC motor models in equipment such as white goods, household appliances, robotics, home automation, power tools, and industrial pumps and valves.

With its adjustable gate drive, advanced protection features and other integrated components, the DRV8701 brushed DC gate driver allows designers to replace up to 45 discrete components with a single device to build smaller and more robust designs.

Key features and benefits of the DRV8701 gate driver
• System flexibility and scalability: The DRV8701 gives designers the flexibility to choose their external FETs and easily scale the gate-drive current to adjust the FET slew rate, optimize system electromagnetic interference (EMI) performance, eliminate the need for external resistors/capacitors and provide additional system protection.
• Reduces board space and system complexity: The integration of two low-dropout regulators (LDOs), a current-sense amplifier and full protection features reduces system board footprint by 40 percent compared to competitive and discrete solutions.
• Higher system reliability: Robust on-chip protection includes under-voltage lockout, overcurrent, shoot-through and thermal shutdown protection, as well as more advanced features such as charge pump under-voltage, gate-drive faults and individual FET VDS monitoring to protect external FETs.
• Wide operating voltage: The DRV8701 offers a wide 5.9-V to 45-V motor-supply voltage to support industry-standard 12-V and 24-V supplies.

Tools and support
Engineers can test the new gate driver in their system with the DRV8701EVM evaluation module, which also incorporates the MSP430G2553 ultra-low power microcontroller and CSD18532Q5B NexFET power MOSFET. The EVM supports up to 15-A current in a compact form factor that is about the size of a business card. It is available for purchase for US$49 via the TI store and authorized distributors.
Pricing and availability
The DRV8701 is available now in a 4-mm by 4-mm quad flat no-lead (QFN) PowerPAD™ package, a thermally enhanced standard-size package designed to eliminate the need for bulky heat sinks and slugs. Pricing starts at US$0.92 in 1,000-unit quantities.

The DRV8701 is the latest addition to TI’s portfolio of motor drivers. From drop-in and spin to highly complex industrial motors, TI has the most scalable motor solutions across a broad range of voltage, current, interface, integration and control options.