User manual

PICDEM™ MC LV

DEVELOPMENT BOARD

Chapter 5. Creating Motor Control Firmware Projects

5.1 HIGHLIGHTS

The items discussed in this chapter are:

• Included Applications

• Beyond the Included Applications: Creating New Projects

5.2 INCLUDED APPLICATIONS

The PICDEM MC LV Development Board comes with two complete firmware solutions.

One of these is the BLDC control application (installed on the board). It assumes a

3-phase BLDC motor using Hall effect sensors at 120-degree spacing application.

It is possible that this preprogrammed application will not meet the project require-

ments. If so, there are additional motor control applications provided with the PICDEM

MC LV Development Board CD. The additional motor control applications include the

sensorless BLDC control (open-loop) and Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID)

control algorithms. The applications are provided as ready-to-program HEX files, and

as assembler files, with all the necessary support files to create custom projects.

5.3 BEYOND THE INCLUDED APPLICATIONS: CREATING NEW PROJECTS

Even with the provided applications, project requirements may differ. It may be

necessary to integrate motor control into your existing code, or you may have a new

approach for motor control. In either event, the PICDEM MC LV Development Board

can be used to prototype the application.

The first step is to create code in a development environment, such as Microchip’s

MPLAB

IDE. Add any necessary .inc or .asm files to the project and set the system

and control parameters specific to the application. The best place to get this information

is to review the existing firmware applications included on the software CD.

Motor-specific information can be found in the Readme files for the Microchip Motor

Control GUI included on the CD.

Once the necessary information is gathered, build the project and create the HEX file.

Using a device programmer, such as PRO MATE

II, load your firmware into the

supplied PIC18F2431 microcontroller. Alternately, load your firmware directly into the

microcontroller installed on the board through the ICD interface.

Note: The operation of the Stand-Alone and PC modes, as described in previous

chapters, is an integral part of the motor control firmware. If the program

logic differs significantly from the firmware included with the board, it is

possible that the modes cannot be used as described. The “self-test”

blinking of the monitor LEDs on power-up may also be disabled.