Triumph Group Systems and Support is currently developing a family of Brushless DC (BLDC) Motor Controllers that are adaptable, reconfigurable, allow for rapid upgrades, and will meet the needs of current and future customers in the aerospace industry. The goal of the project is to design, procure, and test a 1.5 kW brushless DC motor controller. This controller should be capable of handling up to 40A of current and capable of operating at a maximum of 48V. The design will also be able to operate with or without motor sensor feedback. Our designed controller is split into two sections, a driver stage, and a power stage. The power stage consists of a three-phase MOSFET bridge, shunt resistor current sensing, and its accompanying protection circuits. This stage resides on a single-layer IMS PCB. The driver stage consists of a Texas Instruments smart driver integrated circuit, local power conditioning, and connectors for a microcontroller. This stage is on a four-layer FR4 PCB. The smart driver can be controlled using any microcontroller with sufficient PWM and analog-to-digital capabilities. Inclusively, this design supports the MSP-EXP430F5529LP processor board from Texas Instruments and implements modified TI software to interface with the controller. This is a joint project with the mechanical engineering department; their responsibility is to design and manufacture a motor stand for the selected motor, as well as the motor controller housing. Project deliverables include the finished motor controller, motor controller housing, accompanying motor, and all the design files with their respective artifacts.

Our team collaborated with Mechanical Engineering 54 on this project.