
PWM Current Control
The APX6219 dual bridge is designed to drive both
windings of a bipolar stepper motor. Output current is
sensed and controlled independently in each bridge
by an external sense resistor (R
S
), internal comparator,
and monostable multivibrator. When the bridge is
turned on, current increases in the motor winding and
it is sensed by the external sense resistor until the
sense voltage (V
COMPIN
) reaches the level set at the
comparator
’
s input:
I
TRIP
= V
REF
/10 R
S
The comparator then triggers the monostable which
turns off the source driver of the bridge. The actual
load current peak will be slightly higher than the trip
point (especially for low-inductance loads) because of
the internal logic and switching delays. This delay (T
D
)
is typically 2
μ
s. After turn-off, the motor current
decays, going through the ground-clamp diode and
sink transistor (source off). The source driver
’
s off time
is determined by the external RC timing components,
where T
OFF
= R
T
C
T
within the range of 30k
to 100k
and 470pF to 1000pF.When VRC drop to certain
voltage, the source driver will be re-enabled automati-
cally (bridge on), the winding current is again limited
at the desired level.
Loads with high V
BB
, low L , high-frequency and low
current will may result in high turn-on current peaks.
This peak (appearing across R
S
) will attempt to trip
the comparator, resulting in erroneous current control
or high-frequency oscillations. An external R
C
C
C
time
delay should be used to form low pass filter to reduce
noise to avoid the comparator
’
s fault operation. The
locations of R
C
, C
C
, R
C
components should be as close
to the APX6219 as possible.
Logic Control Of Output Current
Two logic level inputs (l0 and I1) allow digital selection
of the motor winding current at 100%, 67%, 33%, or
0% of the maximum level per the table. The 0% out-
put current condition turns off all drivers in the bridge
and can be used as an OUTPUT Disable/Enable
function.
During half-step operations, the l0 and l1 allow the
μ
P
to control the motor at a constant torque between all
positions in an eight-step sequence. This is accom-
plished by digitally selecting 67% drive current when
two phases are on. When all drivers are turn off will
make rapid current decay when phases be changed.
This helps to ensure proper motor operation at high
step rates.
The logic control inputs can also be used to select a
reduced current level (and reduced power dissipation)
for
‘
hold
’
conditions and/or increased current (and avail-
able torque) for start-up conditions.
General
The PHASE input to each bridge determines the di-
rection motor winding current flows. An internally gen-
erated deadtime (approximately 2
μ
s) prevents shoot
through that can occur when switching the PHASE
input. Thermal protection circuitry turns off all drivers
when the junction temperature reaches +150
°
C. It is
only intended to protect the device from failures due
to excessive junction temperature and should not im-
ply that output short circuits are permitted. The out-
put drivers are re-enabled when the junction tempera-
ture cools to +130
°
C.
The APX6219 output drivers are optimized for low out-
put saturation, less than 2V (source plus sink) at load-
ing 500mA.Under normal operating conditions, this
allows continuous operation of both bridges simulta-
neously at 750mA (such as Typical Application).