SLVSH03 December 2023 DRV8234
PRODUCTION DATA
The DRV8234 integrates a soft-start and stop feature to safeguard the device from high inrush currents during start up. This feature can be activated by setting the EN_SS bit to 1b when the REG_CTRL register is set to 10b (Speed Regulation) or 11b (Voltage Regulation). If speed or voltage regulation modes are inactive, the EN_SS bit has no influence on the device performance.
Soft-start comes into effect during motor start up. The motor current is slowly ramped up to the current value corresponding to the target speed over the duration of tINRUSH time. The inrush time tINRUSH can be set by the user via the 16-bit TINRUSH register. During this time tINRUSH, the FETs are internally PWMed with a duty cycle generated using the PI control loop.
Soft-stop results in a slow ramp down of motor current in time tINRUSH. This can be triggered by the following methods:
A reference block diagram containing the PI loop can be found in Section 7.3.7. Figure 7-16 shows the motor current slow ramp up at start up and ramp down at motor stop within time tINRUSH.