36 Channel motor controller (HELP PLZ)

[wahaha686]

Hello,

Looking to hook up 36 DC motors to one Microcontroller. If anyone has a board design, please share.

DC motor specifications -
Voltage OPERATING RANGE 1.5 - 3.0V
Voltage NOMINAL 3.0V
No Load SPEED 1300rpm
No Load CURRENT 0.035A
At Load SPEED 1050rpm
At Load CURRENT 0.07A
At Load TORQUE 0.0005N.m
At Load TORQUE 0.005Kg.cm
At Load OUTPUT
Stall TORQUE 0.0017N.m
Stall TORQUE 0.0175Kg.cm
Stall CURRENT 0.2A

 

[wahaha686]

16 views, no suggestions...lol

Not quite what I'm looking for, but a similar 36 Channel PWM board, www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/27-channel-pwm-with-a-16f88.90768/

 

[phalanx]

Make the board on your own. Start with a high pin count microcontroller like a dsPIC33E which has 22 independent PWM generators: https://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en554307

Add 36 of these motor controller ICs: **broken link removed**

Profit!

 

[wahaha686]

I'm a newbie. Just need to control the H bridge at each motor. First it will determine forward or reverse, and then after a number of seconds it will cut off power to the motor.

The inputs are 2 arrays, first is +/- 1's to determine forward or reverse, second is number of seconds active before the H bridge cuts off power. All the controller needs to do is to assign array entries to the proper channel, and then control the H bridges at each channel. I would like to control roughly 36 channels per controller.

Can you recommend a controller that does this?

The part that confuses me is the control logic. Do these chips come with predetermined logic or do we program in the logic ourselves?

 

[phalanx]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the odds of finding an off the shelf 36-channel motor controller board is slim to super expensive so you are going to be stuck making your own.

In terms of the control logic, the dsPIC that I linked to (https://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en554307) is a microcontroller than can be programmed to do whatever you would like it to do. Off the shelf it is nothing but a piece of plastic and silicon so it is necessary for you the developer to write firmware for it which makes it control your real world devices.

The second IC I linked to is a motor control chip from Allegro Microsystems (**broken link removed**) that has a built in H-bridge and control logic. I chose it do to its size since you need to cram 36 of them on a single board. Each one requires 2 signals from your microcontroller which can be used to turn your motor in either direction as well as brake it and let it coast. It also has built in over current protection if you need it.

Other than the arduous task of building a board with that many motor controllers on it, what you are looking to do is not very difficult and well within the capabilities of any microcontroller with a suitable number of I/O pins.