ESC Hardware Design - Phil's Lab #66

[@PhilsLab]

A couple additional points not mentioned in the video: - This is by no means a design that should be used as an actual ESC for a project! It is simply a far-from-ideal lab test project. The design takes inspiration from STMicroelectronixs STEVAL-ESC (schematic/ESC structure is very similar). - The EN pin voltage divider should account for lower cell voltages (e.g. 3V) and battery sag, if used with an actual LiPo battery. I'll be using a fairly beefy lab PSU. - Back-EMF by motors can be quite high, but my thinking is that the body diode of the high NFET will conduct at approx. VCC+1V, so the voltage divider should be safe. I've seen similar values used in open-source designs. - Gate driver ICs are fairly weak in retrospect, which is why the gate resistors are fairly large. I'm using JLC's parts catalogue, so am unfortunately rather limited in my part choices. I'll need to check again if there are more suitable parts available. - I by no mean claim to be an expert on ESCs, the information from this video is what I picked up from various app notes, commercial designs, and so forth. Take the info with a grain of salt.

[@poptartmcjelly7054]

The IR2103 is not that bad, since low-ish power MOSFETS have low gate charge. I'm pretty sure chinese copies of the IR2103 and the more powerful versions exist but they tend to be hard to find just because they're meant for the chinese market. When experimenting with three phase bridges i noticed that it's very important to size the bootstrap capacitor correctly, otherwise the gate drive is too weak to turn the high side FETs on. Good video anyways, i can tell it will be very useful to beginners.

[@lbgstzockt8493]

What, apart from the size and layout of the PCB, would you change to make this more "production ready"? To me, a novice, this seems like a perfectly fine implementation of an ESC.

[@tariqsingh3747]

Hey Phil, I can't find the layout or firmware videos, couldn't find anything on your github either unfortunately. Any news on this, or maybe I've just missed the video?

[@PavolFilek]

Hi, beautiful video, but I never see some final test with thermocam 4-channel scope, gate signal, H, L FETs signals at full load, o lot of peoeple, just do some work, and then run simulation or do not even test project from -55 to 85 *C at least one year, to see, if I know something, or it is only just another simulation project.

[@austinmoore9705]

Love these videos. I hope to be at this level of proficiency in a few years.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you very much, Austin!

[@mohamedshafeelmohamedbilal6364]

Is it possible to make 20S high amp esc?

[@AbelsonIngara]

hi phillip, thank you vevy much for your educational vedios. am from Kenya and your channel is the best that i have ever seen on youtube that provides deep understanding on pcb and hardware design .

[@oharel206]

Looking forward to seeing Part 2 for this video!

[@SoMadCoffee]

I have learned so much from you. Your videos are much more helpful than some of the paid courses available. Keep doing what you do.

[@deangreenhough1178]

Another outstanding video Phil. As always I learn something new with every video and cant wait for the next release.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot, Dean!

[@hallkbrdz]

Learned something already with this, and added a TVS to my design (12S part).

[@manishroshan6717]

The most awaited video finally released. Thanks Phil's Lab.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Manish :)

[@tinashetanyaradzwamabika2422]

I appreciate the effort you putting in educating everyone watching your videos🙌🏼.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you!

[@Tiyagi99]

Just what I needed. I had watched ElectroNoob series and now you upload a video about ESC. Thanks for sharing

[@PhilsLab]

Glad to hear that, Umer! :)

[@oliverer3]

Thank you so much for this! I've tried and failed to make an esc twice now so this will hopefully finally help me get the last things right!

[@ArponRoy]

This is Really inspiring and informative video. I learnt a lot about electronics and circuit design from your videos. Thanks for explaining in details. Thanks 🙏

[@hunterjames5819]

This is great as usual! I am looking forward to seeing the following videos about routing and algorithms. :)

[@_a_x_s_]

Useful to know the gate driver. Never thought about that when I was designing such a circuit. Choosing a transistor is also a time costing job, especially when you focus on efficiency for high speed switching circuit.

[@kheireddinebendjedia3930]

Very clean work 👏🏻 can't wait for part 2 ✨

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks!

[@tylergeneharrison3594]

Love your videos bro! Good choice with the 100ppm/degC resistor. I recently got stitched up with the positive thermal coefficient where I had a 15% error over a 100 degC operating temperature 😂; I was measuring current. Keep up the videos 🎉.

[@kheireddinebendjedia3930]

I'm waiting for the software part 🥳 I hope that next version of this ESC will have more advanced 3-phase gate drivers. Also, if you want to, discuss the paralleling of MOSFETs for higher power. There's plenty of opensource ESC projects like Vedder esc, blueESC, however, i really like your videos and explanations, i wish that your ESC reaches production stages.

[@TheGhost13X]

I hope we will see part 2 soon!

[@SeanODonovan42]

As an electronic engineering student this is so inspiring! I can see that I will love working in this industry. You are simply brilliant and I aspire to have your level of proficiency one day. I have one question though: what did it take for you to get to this point of excellence, regarding your education and experience? I watched your video because I am looking to integrate ESCs into the PCB design for a drone I'm working on, but I can clearly see that I have years of learning left before I can do that. Guess I'll stick to off-the-shelf parts for now.

[@hidde3064]

Can't wait for the routing and algorithm video. As a beginning hardware engineer I thank you for this amazing content!

[@jakobhalskov]

Awesome video and well explained; your videos make me want to build so many projects :) Looking forward to see a motor spinning in a couple of videos!

[@ohaio250]

Thank you for sharing all of this interesting stuff.

[@bliiben]

Thanks I've found the part around the Current Sense Op amp design quite interesting !

[@wolpumba4099]

*Summary* - 0:00 Introduction to ESC design for brushless DC motors - Schematic design not yet complete; PCB routing to be shown in a follow-up video - ESC is a test board for experimenting with control algorithms, such as field-oriented control - Discusses design considerations for MOSFETs, feedback circuitry, microcontroller pinouts - Includes a USB high-speed peripheral in the design - 0:44 Altium Designer Sponsorship - ESC designed using Altium Designer - Free trial of Altium Designer available through sponsorship link - 1:00 ESC Overview and Specification - Project contains several schematic files and pages: power, microcontroller, three phases - ESC drives three-phase brushless DC motors, typically powered by LiPo batteries (3S or 4S) - Voltage ranges from 10.8V to 16.8V based on cell configuration - Maximum current delivery is 15A - Voltage and current measurements per phase for advanced control techniques - USB high-speed peripheral capable of 480 megabits per second for data streaming - 3:12 Power/Buck Converter - Converts battery voltage to 3.3V for the microcontroller - Includes TVS protection, potential divider for voltage sensing, filtering before buck converter - Enable signal to turn off ESC at low voltage to prevent battery damage - Buck converter generates 3.3V with adjustable feedback - 5:53 Microcontroller and USB HS Phy - STM32F405 microcontroller used for its high performance and numerous peripherals - USB full speed and high speed interfaces included - Decoupling capacitors and power arrangements shown - Tag connect header for debugging, with ESD protection - ULPI interface used for USB high-speed peripheral - 9:12 Pinout configuration using STM32CubeIDE - 11:19 Half-Bridge, Gate Driver, Voltage/Current Feedback - Uses high current MOSFETs in a half-bridge configuration - Gate driver IR2103 to control MOSFET gates with dead-time control - Shunt resistor and current sense amplifier INA180 used for current measurement - Voltage sensing via potential divider, limiting bandwidth to filter noise - 17:53 Outro - Simple ESC design that can be replicated for personal projects - Future videos to cover layout and routing of the ESC, as well as control algorithms for the motor

[@michajoko7534]

I have wished it for so long. Thank you for covering this topic and your great videos.

[@michaelardai9703]

I would add a note to the schematic reminding you to make a Kelvin connection to the current sense resistors. It is too easy to not pay attention and tie the - side of the opamp to a local ground by mistake. Also, a pet peeve, I hide the GND label from the ground symbols unless they are needed to clearly identify separate grounds as they clutter up the schematic.

[@bellini98-1]

Well, every board designer knows that when they find a shunt resistor and some type of amplifier that's a current sensing stage and it requires 4 wire Kelvin traces. I'm Shure Phil will make it quite clear in the next video though, while talking about the board itself

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you!

[@snorring_worms]

great video! love it. when is part 2 coming?

[@nomadic_rider42]

Nice video, well explained. Just one comment. I'd consider adding 3.3V zener protection diodes on the output of the voltage dividers before feeding them to the ADC.

[@al-moutaz-billah]

Zener diodes have a leakage current, which may affect the ADC reading value if you use a high resistance voltage divider.

[@Jose-tw9bl]

Super like this topic!!! Looking forward to the following videos

[@ayushkesharwani2724]

What a video bro! Can't thank you enough! Thank you so much you made life so much easier!

[@EfraAv]

Great video as always, looking forward to the routing video!

[@uwezimmermann5427]

I didn't know those instrumentation amplifiers with built-in gain setting resistor existed! I will have to look them up for some of my own projects - thank you!

[@martinmckee5333]

They are quite handy and quite affordable. I am partial to the INA180 myself (the one he used) but there are cheaper versions from second their manufacturers, and versions with even higher performance (bandwidth, precision, voltage range, bidirectional sensing, etc.) at greater cost. The search term you want, however, is "current sense amplifier". You'll find some using instrumentation amplifier, but what you'll mostly find are the ultra-precision amps with external gain-setting resistors.

[@weeeeehhhhh]

@@martinmckee5333 INA240 is a solid choice for in-line current sensing, large common mode input.

[@666aron]

Outstanding video! An idea for future video could be a similar FOC driver for for squirrel caged induction motors. For some reason KZbin lacks in this department, I only saw simulations.

[@thegame4027]

I just love your content. Even though i'm doing this since over 10 years now i still learn something new in every single video.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you very much!

[@Willy_Tepes]

The TAG connector is awesome, but they also have a edge connector that is a great space saver.

[@vahidmoradzadeh5663]

Looking forward to the part two.

[@marek_ryn]

Excellent video! I would only add I2C/3V3/GND output to connect external magnetic encoder. It would be useful for FOC where some algorithms requires real time position of motor shaft :) The only disadvantage is that, the I2C is very liable for noise. For longer cable maybe differential buffer is required (ie PCA9615 or similar).

[@nidhinbenny7975]

Hey Phil, would you consider showing designs for a motor driver board operating at mains voltage (for example like 415 vac induction motor driver)? I’d love to see the considerations that go into high power, mains voltage designs. Love your work as always!

[@nasermasri3816]

Thank you to share this with us!

[@bartek153]

another great video Phil. Thanks very much!

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Bart!

[@hundredwaves8459]

Hello! Nice video I wanted to ask how do you limit or regulate current going to the motor. I missed that part, if you did something pls reply me, If you do not limit the current or regulate it, mosfets will burn and motor windings will burn.

[@andymouse]

Fascinating stuff, very enjoyable...cheers.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Andy!

[@Dan-The-Orange]

I know you're a big fan of the USB mirco b, but I would love to see some USB C stuff, simple PD stuff and some data bits. I'd also like to see you make some misc devices that seem expensive on the outside but maybe recreating them could show why they are or if they aren't. Like HDMI splitters, simple USB hubs, that kind of thing. Love your videos. I am learning a lot from them and I am by no means even an amateur at this stuff yet.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Daniel. As you say, as much as I love micro B, I'm gradually adding more and more USB C connections to my newer designs. USB C + PD is definitely a topic for a video in the near future!

[@Madeinoz1967]

Veery timely, I’m looking forward to the PCB layout as doing a heater controller with similar MOSFETS and want to see how thermal is handled

[@KyranFindlater]

What would you add for reverse braking voltage protection? What would you add for preventing inductive wind-up on system start, if connected to a battery with long leads? How would you consider alternative designs/components for a 48/56v system?

[@niklaslofgren2889]

Nice...I'm missing the reverse polarity protection tho...priceless when I'm in the lab 😄

[@DavidMsg]

Great video! I hadn't seen the voltage divider/engage technique used before, will be using!

[@yasirshahzad3732]

Hi @PhilsLab, could you please explain the use of a current shunt within the context of ESC firmware? Specifically, how is it used to control the continuous current flowing through the motor? Can you provide an example code snippet of an ESC that utilizes this shunt resistor?

[@AdrianBlakey]

Part 2? Can't wait ... :-)

[@naemamir678]

Phil, please can you release the video 2/2 of this great ESC hardware design series ASAP

[@albertoprogida8977]

Great video as always! More theoretical mosfet question - did you look at he SOA (Safe operating area) plots for the fets you chose? If so, did you do some hand calcs to figure out time pulse duration? Currently speccing some fets for a project and keep running into parts that have great continuous Id until I check the SOA…

[@chadkrause6574]

I’d love to see an FOC control video! Have you taken a look at some esc-specific microcontrollers?

[@nikolaiphilipenko]

Hey Phil! How did you determine the max current (15A) for the ESC design? Thanks

[@ianmathews]

Brilliant design overview, I recently purchased a Odrive ESC and will compare to this design when it arrives. Did this video get a part 2/2?

[@al-moutaz-billah]

Great job, Phil. Why the bandwidth of the voltage feedback network is 19 KHz when the current feedback one is up to 160 KHz?

[@mronesh]

Hi phil ,great job , make sure to have some different Current resistors ,you might have to some adjustment/calibration for the current and make sure the INA180 has the right/package , i used the INA180 I remember that there was some problem with the amplifying , unless i got a bad/fake component

[@steingabor4781]

Can anyone know how the bandwidth comes out to 19 kHz? ( at 15:00 in video)

[@benjaminbawkon8040]

The resistor divider and the capacitor act as a simple RC low-pass filter. The parallel resistance of the two Rs is about 824 ohms, and with a 10nF capacitor, that forms a first order RC filter with a -3dB cutoff at 19.3KHz

[@bhanuchauhan-r7l]

what is the use of a VS pin in the gate driver, can you please tell me ?

[@hamidsk2573]

thanks, Phill, can you send the other links to the ESC series

[@bennymegidish]

Looks great! What is the advantage of measuring the back EMF using shunt resistor + amplifier rather then using a voltage divider (like most of commercial ESC's do).

[@asidesigner8542]

Thanks for sharing, is there any update on ESC design?

[@bugracanbagrack3470]

absolutely perfect video well how to increase ESC ampere? Thanks in advance

[@snivesz32]

I don’t understand why use a PI filter on a DC battery source. Is that actually to filter switching noise on the rails due to the mosfets?

[@matthewcohen1553]

so the ESC is only reading the back emf from phase A?

[@sacredbaloney]

Can't wait for part 2/2! Thanks Phil. Let me guess. In an off the shelf BLDC ESC, I notice that the voltage is a PWM in the shape of a maligned trapezoid. The torque influences the PWM duty, and the RPM influences the frequency. The current however appears more complicated. Probably because of the flyback effect of the BLDC. The RPM effects the frequency, but the current does not follow the PWM duty cycle. The current seems to get more distorted when torque is increased. Question: Is there a way to arrive at the current RMS by using an analog filter? I tried that unsuccessfully. The 160 kHz for VISENSE, isn't that too high for the STM's ADC? Why not bring this down to let's say 1 kHz and then sample it? As for the firmware, I imagine there is a trapezoid lookup table. But how is the voltage amplitude controlled? The switches are either on or off. Is it the BLDC's reactance that actually creates the trapezoid? Then no lookup table is needed. I assume you use the unused phase's Vsense and VIsense to synchronize the firmware cycle with the BLDC? Why does a 12/14 BLDC have two extra magnetic poles? Will this not mess up the BLDC by producing some counter-torque at some poles, effectively reducing the power of the motor? Does the firmware need to know about this? I understand a FOC is sinusoidal? So does that mean the PWM duty cycle varies within the phase? Any help would be greatly appreciated Phil and thank you.

[@denizbaksl3053]

Hi Phil, I love your contents it is really great to watch. But would you please be able to show some of the process how to use Altium designer since they are also supporting your videos. I would like to learn to to use it..

[@jorgbernau2515]

Thank you that much! What about a Design for high voltage ESCs? (240 Veff / 340Vdc) More and more modern tool machines are equipped with BLDC and a retrofit of old machines could be interesting. What Do you think about?

[@tom1897]

Hi, does anybody know what's going on with part 2? Thanks Phil, for sharing your knowledge. Part 1 is amazing!

[@優さん-n7m]

Won't those voltage dividers to ground cause leakage from the battery and slowly deplete it?

[@優さん-n7m]

Won't the C102 and C103 in parallel, interfere with the behaviour of the SMPS?

[@Tristoo]

why limit the bandwidth on the voltage/current sensing circuit?

[@edwilliams9914]

Well done! Subscribed!

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Ed!

[@優さん-n7m]

What is the purpose of bootstrap capacitor and why is it called as such?

[@Electheo]

You said “I don’t connect the shielding because this is a device”, what do you mean by that? I thought connecting all shielding was good practice. Timestamp: 8:59

[@mustaphaaguerrab803]

i have project to build an ESC for a battery of 24s can you please give me some information .?

[@LatutaEV]

Hi Phil I can't find part 2, is it out yet?

[@優さん-n7m]

I assume that EN is a digital input, why then are you connecting an input from a voltage divider into it? I do not understand. Is there a schmitt trigger on that input? 12/(12+110) * (3.6*3) = 1.06V and not 1.2V What did I misunderstand?

[@fedimakni1200]

What's the advantages of high bandwidth in current sensing?

[@harithwahab6358]

Hii Phil! Love your videos! Any chance you will post the 2nd half of the video?

[@adogjr7287]

This guys a wizard

[@rutwijmulye6381]

Is it good to have 1 Ohm series resistance in a bootstrap circuit to avoid ringing?

[@優さん-n7m]

How did you decide on the values of the R104 and R105?

[@Nicoya]

What are your thoughts about using a shunt resistor with a current sense amp vs an integrated device like a GMR or hall effect current sense IC?

[@LookHead-b1d]

se tem schematic do esc?para kicad ou pdf?

[@munyratanakbr]

Hey Phill, I'm waiting for your Part2 ESC video. Please Phill

[@優さん-n7m]

Won't the C102 and C103 being in parallel lead to issues?

[@martinchristiansson658]

Hi Phil, I am also in the process of designing and programming an ESC. My goal is to more mimic the Blheli_32 with the Fd6288 driver and f05 MCU. As far as I know, it uses comparators for zero cross checking (analog comp) which runs in the background without consuming processor power. Are you doing this with consecutive ADC measurement? Also, I guess the reason of using comp PWM (ch1 ch1N) is due to active breaking?. Lastly, why not software based deatime? It is a parameter in comp pwm in cubeide? Thanks in advance! /Martin

[@samvangysegem8132]

Very nice video! I'm just wondering: don't you need an encoder interface as well if you want to implement FOC? Would you do this via the HS USB interface with your computer or provide an additional encoder interface on your board?

[@romanisaikin6623]

Sensorless FOC is very much possible with great results, look at TI InstaSpin for example. Vesc firmware have a decent implementation as well, although TI was so much better at least in my experience even at low RPMs

[@moatazibrahium8257]

i need project files please the project not in the github

[@birendrakumar-gl5gq]

scaling up it to a 4 in 1 esc would be awesome

[@hgplaying5629]

Wow, I've done an ESC just a few weeks/months ago and now with this video, I see so many errors... (For example I see now why my MOSFETS got so hot, even though that I don't have really big loads)

[@theonlyari]

How do you feel about using giving your power nets their own net class and rules in the schematic? I havent done really ever done it and i dont know if its worth the time and DRC hassles.

[@PhilsLab]

I've never really bothered either to be honest. Probably not a bad thing to get into the habit of doing - but maybe I'm too impatient. Never had a problem not doing that though..

[@Nicolas_dG]

Ive Always wanted to make my own ESC, but i discovered arduinoFOC which is quite a lazy solution , but works pretty well and saddly hides all the software pain. Cant wait for the algorithm part video, i bet it will be super interesting !

[@tharukanayanajith3510]

Thank you🙏🙏🙏

[@helgeb5403]

Thank you again for this nice video. Can you explain why you choose low side current sensing? As far as i know low side sensing requires some additional maths and algorithms to determine the actual current through that phase, since it is only flowing when the bottom FET is conducting. High side sensing is much easier and straight forward, but i might be wrong.

[@jango9973]

I am making an ESC with FOC as well. Curious how yours turns out!

[@mustafabirgun681]

project link please?

[@David_11111]

is the schematic available to download as a pdf ?

[@esunisen3862]

4:58 Fixed divider isn't good, this would imply using only 3S as 4S would get discharged way too much. What you really want to do is monitor every cell using a BMS but it's more complicated.

[@AliAhmed-tm1jf]

Thanks. Well done

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Ali!