Sunday, April 3, 2011

H-bridge works!

All problems in the previous post has been solved! A single power supply can run the entire circuit without interruption by the motor. The FETs don't heat up anymore and driving them with a PWM signal actually varies the speed!

Below is the schematic for the working h-bridge. D1~D4 are 1N4007, which has a peak repetitive reverse voltage of 1000V. I am anticipating only a couple hundred volts being produced from switching the inductive load, but it's best to be safe since they cost about the same anyways.The resistors keep the h-bridge FETs all off when there is no input. The FETs are IRF530 and IRF9530, which can handle a much bigger load, but since these were the ones I initially ordered these are the ones that we're using. The inverters are actually NOR gates from a 4001 IC; this is to amplify the 3.3V/0V (High/Low) microcontroller output to 5V/0V (High/Low), which correspond to the power supply voltage for bridge.


Test program decremented pulse width, switched direction, then incremented pulse width again. The FETs did not get hot (motor unloaded). Other than that, I am not sure why the motor voltage is not symmetrical. The measure function is reading Vpp,max =10V, but it seems to work fine. Loading the motor (pressing axel with finger) did not affect the waveform significantly. I guess I just have to solder it now.