DC Motor 11 Click is a brushed DC motor driver with the current limiting and current sensing. It is based on the DRV8830, an integrated H-Bridge driver IC, optimized for motor driving applications. It can be operated by two logic signals, allowing to drive the connected motor in two different ways: it can use fixed logic levels for the direction control, or it can be controlled by a PWM signal, offering an additional speed control option. The DRV8830 also contains a set of protection features, offering a very high level of reliability. Besides driving capabilities, DC Motor 11 Click can also sense current consumption at its output.

DC Motor 11 Click is supported by a mikroSDK compliant library, which includes functions that simplify software development.

This Click board™ is optimized for driving brushed DC motors. it integrates an efficient H-Bridge with very low ON resistance of approximately 500mΩ through each branch. An integrated sleep mode is activated when both logic inputs are at a LOW logic level for longer than 1ms, reducing the overall power consumption. A dedicated, high-precision current sensing amplifier IC is used to sense the current through motor coils, allowing the host MCU to perform current monitoring at all times. DC Motor 11 Click is perfectly suited for rapid development of various DC motor driving applications, including home appliances, printers, industrial equipment, mechatronic applications, etc.

DC Motor 11 Click is designed around the DRV8830, a Low-Voltage Motor Driver With Serial Interface, by Texas Instruments. This IC is actually an integrated H-Bridge driver with the current regulation circuit that allows limiting the current through the connected load, with just a single resistor. A very low ON resistance through the H-Bridge reduces the overall power dissipation, while an advanced control circuit injects dead-time intervals, whenever the outputs change their state, preventing current shoot-throughs. The DRV8830 integrates a set of protection features, including undervoltage, overcurrent, and overtemperature protection. Each of these events will cause the H-Bridge MOSFETs to be disabled. After a fault condition has been removed, the device will continue its operation.

The DRV8830 includes an internal reference voltage that is connected to a DAC. This DAC generates a voltage which is used to set the PWM regulated output voltage, and therefore speed and direction of the motor rotation. The DAC is controlled by the VSET bits from the I2C interface. For the detailed commands for desired output voltages, refer to DRV8830 datasheet.

DC Motor 11 Click uses I2C interface to communicate with the main MCU, as well as fault pin (FLT), which is routed to the INT pin of the mikroBUS™ socket. I2C address can be selected using an additional SMD jumpers (JP1 and JP2), labeled as ADDR SEL, determining the least significant bits of the DRV8830 peripheral I2C address.

Although the DRV8830 supports up to 1A Maximum DC/RMS or Peak Drive Current Current through the connected load, it is limited to maximum 0.6A. Higher current will cause the overcurrent protection to be activated. Peak current through the motor is limited to about 1A, ensuring reliable spin-up while preventing the overcurrent protection to be activated, even if a large load torque is applied. Although there is a very low resistance across the H-Bridge, the current should be monitored to prevent excessive heating in situations where the load is reasonably high.

The Click board™ can operate with 3.3V MCUs only, it is set to work over the I2C by default, and it is already equipped with the pull-up resistors. It is ready to be used as soon as it is inserted into a mikroBUS™ socket of the development system.

• Interface: Analog, GPIO
• Compatibility: mikroBUS™
• Dimensions: 42.9 x 25.4mm
• Input Voltage: 3.3V
• Current through the load: Min. 0A, Max. 1A

• Schematic
• DRV8830 Datasheet
• mikroSDK
• GitHub