Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) has introduced the EPC91202 evaluation board, a complete three-phase BLDC motor drive inverter powered by eGaN. The board aims to accelerate development of high-efficiency motor drive applications in robotics, e-mobility, drones, industrial automation and battery-powered systems.
“The EPC91202 demonstrates how GaN technology transforms motor drive performance. By combining high switching speed, low losses and integrated sensing, designers can dramatically increase power density while simplifying development and reducing system cost,” said Alex Lidow, CEO and co-founder of EPC.
The EPC91202 is based on the EPC2361 100V eGaN FET and can output up to peak of 70A (50Arms). It can also switch PWM frequencies up to 150kHz, resulting in less motor noise, higher delivered torque-per-ampere than silicon-based motor drive solutions and reduced DC link size and cost.
Besides the GaN-based power stage, the EPC91202 board has all the necessary circuitry that are needed for a complete inverter. These include gate drivers, housekeeping power supplies, voltage and temperature monitoring, precision current sensing, and protection circuitry, making it quick and straightforward for engineers to quickly test and use high-density GaN motor drive designs.
Operating from input voltages between 14 V and 76 V, the EPC91202 is optimized for battery-powered systems and supports both sensorless and encoder-based control architectures. Its optimized dv/dt on the switching node (< 10V/ns) minimises EMI and motor acoustic emissions while reducing torque ripple, a key advantage for precision motion applications.
The inverter is compatible with multiple controller platforms from leading microcontroller suppliers, allowing developers to leverage existing firmware and development ecosystems. Accurate phase current and voltage sensing enables advanced control techniques such as field-oriented control (FOC) and space-vector PWM for high-performance motion systems.
