A DC Motor Driver consisting of a single MOSFET

with capability of speed and direction control

Gururaj Mulay∗ , Akshay Yembarwar† , Surabhi Raje∗
∗ Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune; † CDAC, Pune

Abstract—Generally, a DC motor driver circuit consists of four This design of motor driver provides several benefits over
MOSFETs forming an H-bridge. This type of motor driver can the conventional motor drivers such as low cost, fewer com-
control the speed as well as the direction of rotation of the motor. ponents, compact size, higher reliability, and less suscepti-
However, both the functions can be performed using another type
of motor driver consisting only one MOSFET and two relays. ble to ESD. Moreover, the circuit also contains an inbuilt
This paper demonstrates the proposed motor driver circuit isolation between high-power motor circuit and low-power
having bidirectional speed controllability for motors. The circuit digital circuit, because of the isolation property of the re-
is constructed with a pair of relay (in place of four MOSFETs) lays. The mechanical relays are quite reliable as compared
that facilitate the direction control and a single MOSFET which to the MOSFETs. Thus, the overall Mean Time between
enables the speed control of the motor. Moreover, this type of
motor driver circuit provides several advantages over the former Failure (MTBF) of the motor driver increases significantly.
one. While designing the H-bridge, we have used relays for Besides, the commonly observed ‘shoot-through effect’ [3] is
the High-side instead of the traditionally used MOSFETs and completely eliminated in this circuit without any additional
thus, the corresponding intricate MOSFET driving circuitry is components.
also eliminated. As a result, the motor driver circuit is compact
and low-priced. Since we do not include the MOSFET driving II. C OMPONENTS AND C IRCUIT D ESIGN
circuitries such as bootstrapping ICs, transistor circuit, etc.,
which contribute to the unreliability, the proposed motor driver The motor driver circuit consist of two electromagnetic
possess increased reliability. Relays, being mechanical devices, are relays, an N-channel power MOSFET, ULN2003, filtering ca-
less prone to the failure due to Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) as pacitors, and resistors. Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram
compared to the MOSFETs under the same operating conditions. of a prototype circuit in which the H-bridge is built using
We have illustrated in the paper the designing and testing of this two relays (Relay 1 and 2). Inputs to the circuit are given
motor driver along with its performance evaluation.
keywords: MOSFET, H-bridge, relay, PWM (Pulse Width through a connector (CON1). The signals D1 and D2, which
Modulation), speed and direction control. are used for the direction control, are supplied to the inputs of
IC ULN2003 and the corresponding Open Collector outputs
I. I NTRODUCTION are connected to the coils of two relays.
While designing a motor driver, the H-bridge is made using
four switches like relays, BJTs, MOSFETs, etc. [2]. In order
to vary the speed of motor, the switches must be turned on
and off periodically at a sufficiently high frequency using some
mechanism such as Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). Since the
relays cannot be switched at higher frequencies, they cannot be
used in the H-bridges with speed-controllability. Hence, the H-
bridge is generally constructed using four BJTs or MOSFETs,
with the latter being the most common method. H-bridge
constructed using MOSFETs consists of either all four N-
channel MOSFETs or two N-channel MOSFETs (low-side)
and two P-channel MOSFETs (high-side). When all the four
MOSFETs are N-channel, the high side NMOSFETs of the
H-bridge need a special driving circuitry called as ‘bootstrap
circuit’ [1]; whereas in case where two N-channel and two P- Fig. 1. Circuit Schematic Diagram
channel MOSFETs are used, the high side needs a transistor
circuitry to drive the PMOSFETs. Therefore, to reduce the PWM signal at Pin 3 is given directly to the MOSFET and
complexity, we designed a circuit that replaces the MOSFETs it switches the MOSFET so as to control the speed of the
with two relays to carry direction control, and incorporates motor. The common terminals (C) at the output of the relays
only one MOSFET to carry the speed control of the motor. are connected to M+ and M- of the motor. The NC (Normally
It can be typically used in the applications where direction of Closed) terminals of both the relays are connected to the Drain
motor is not changed frequently. (D) of the MOSFET and their NO (Normally Open) terminals

978-1-4799-6046-0/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE


Fig. 2. Circuit Board Diagram
are shorted to VCC, which is 24 V in our case. Figure 2
shows one of the circuit board design on which the testing
was performed.
III. W ORKING AND P ERFORMANCE E VALUATION
A. Control Logic
The motor driver requires 3 signals viz. D1, D2, and PWM
to achieve bi-directional speed control. We used a motherboard
based on an ATMEL microcontroller (Atmega2560) to gener-
ate the signals D1, D2, and PWM of a variable Duty Cycle
and frequency (fig 3).
To facilitate speed control, a MOSFET is connected in series
with the relays and its Source (S) terminal connected to the
Ground (GND). The Gate (G) of this N-channel MOSFET is
supplied with the PWM signal. By varying the pulse width, it
is possible to control the ON time and the OFF time of the
MOSFET, and this indirectly controls the ON time and the
OFF time of the motor connected in series with the MOSFET.
Fig. 3. Block Diagram
The signals D1 and D2 control the direction of rotation of
the motor according to the control logic tabulated in figure
4, which shows all possible combinations and their resultant
outcomes in terms of operation of the motor.
B. Testing and Results
The setup for testing the motor driver consisted a moth-
erboard, the motor driver, and a motor as shown in figure
5. We used a 24 Volt power supply for testing the motor
driver to drive various motors like MAXON RE30, Wiper,
Fig. 4. Control Logic Table
Johnson, Mech-Tex, power-window-motors, etc. We tested
various designs of the motor driver using different types of
MOSFETs and relays. The part numbers of MOSFETs used
were: IRF44N, CSD18501q5a and that of relays were: LEONE
P38FC-3C, GOODSKY RW-SH124D. The MOSFETs and
relays were selected as per the power requirements.
In order to vary the speed of the motor, we varied the Duty
Cycle of the PWM signal from 0% to 100%. The graph in
figure 6 illustrates the On-load and No load testing of the
driver with the MOSFET IRF44N while driving MAXON
RE30 and Wiper motors. As the graph suggests, the current
flowing through the motors in no-load condition is less as
compared to the on-load condition. The motor driver shows
approximately linear response over the entire range of the vari-
ation of PWM duty cycle. To study the switching performance
of the driver at different frequencies, we varied the frequency
of the PWM signal from 4 KHz to 128 KHz. The ‘current
versus Duty Cycle of PWM’ response was approximately
linear for all frequencies. Thus, we can choose a suitable PWM
frequency from the mentioned range depending on the motor
specification.
This testing was performed under varied conditions such as:
continuous on-state testing for 10 to 12 hours, on-load testing
on a robot (to drive wheels, gantry), abrupt switching testing,
etc. This testing showed the equivalence between this driver
and the traditional motor drivers.
C. Advantages
The proposed motor driver provides several advantages over
the conventional motor drivers. Theoretically, the maximum
supplied current is decided by the current ratings of the relay
and MOSFET. For higher power outputs, we can exercise
SMD power MOSFETs with lower value of RDS(ON) capable of
bearing 100A continuously. For instance, the SMD MOSFET
CSD18501q5a from Texas Instruments carries a continuous
drain current up to 100A. Power relays (EMR) can also bear
currents of several amperes. Hence, the proposed design can
be modified for the higher load applications. Although, the
current, and hence the power in such cases is higher, the heat
sinking requirement is moderate; because, only one MOSFET
requires heat sinking rather than four. Thus, the elimination of
 Fig. 5. Testing Setup
bulky heat sinks makes this motor driver compact.
One of the significant advantages of the circuit is that, the
voltage drop and the power loss due to the on-state resistance,
i.e. RDS(ON) of a MOSFET, is reduced by a factor of two in this
motor driver. In case of a standard H-bridge, two MOSFETs in
series with a motor cause a voltage drop of 2×[Im ×(RDS(ON)P
+ RDS(ON)N ], whereas the voltage drop in the proposed design
is only [Im ×RDS(ON)N ].
where,
Im = Current through the motor
RDS(ON)P = On state resistance of the P-channel MOSFET
RDS(ON)N = On state resistance of the N-channel MOSFET
Also, there is no (or very few) power loss in mechanical
switches (relays), which gives this circuit an edge over the
traditional technique. In the standard motor driver, each of the
four MOSFETs has to be considered for reliability calculation
and thus, the resultant reliability is always lesser than the
reliability of individual MOSFET considered separately. But
in case of single MOSFET motor driver, the reliability is
calculated by considering only one MOSFET and thus, it is
greater than the reliability of traditional circuits.
This circuit does not cause shoot-through effect, i.e. the
condition when two switches (SW1 and SW2 in figure 1) of
the same branch of the H-bridge are simultaneously closed for
a short period of time if the PWM exceeds 95% duty cycle [3],
[5]. However, in this motor driver, since these switches (on the
same branch) are the NC and NO terminals of the relay (relay
1), it is automatically ensured that the two switches are never
closed simultaneously. Hence, unlike bootstrap motor drivers
[1], [5], it is possible to supply the gate (G) of the MOSFETs
with 100% PWM duty cycle.
IV. F UTURE W ORK AND D ISCUSSION
The proposed prototype motor driver was designed and
tuned for the applications in robotics and automation. The
concept can be extended to other applications by choosing
appropriate MOSFETs and relays as per the voltage and cur-
rent requirements. In order to optimize the size, performance,
Fig. 6. Current through motor Vs PWM percentage
and cost of this circuit, different MOSFETs and relays should
be studied, practised, and tested. Also, the solid state relays
(SSR) can be used in place of mechanical relays (EMR) as they
ensure faster and smoother switching, smaller size, increased
lifetime, and no sparking while switching [6].
V. C ONCLUSION
The paper demonstrates a new method to construct a motor
driver using only one MOSFET along with two SPDT relays
to achieve the complete motor control (including speed and
direction control). Since the number of MOSFETs is reduced
in this proposed motor driver, the reliability of the system
is higher as compared to the traditional motor drivers. The
driver is compact and less complex since the MOSFET driving
circuitry is eliminated. Furthermore, this circuit is more robust
to failures caused by damage to MOSFETs (especially due to
ESD). Also, the testing suggests that the performance of this
motor driver is similar to the traditional motor drivers in terms
of speed and direction control. Thus, the motor driver can be
used effectively for motor control in different applications.
R EFERENCES
[1] Fairchild, Application Note AN-6076 : Design and Application Guide of
Bootstrap Circuit for High Voltage Gate Drive IC.
[2] R. Valentine, ”MOSFET ”H” Switch circuit for a DC motor” US Patent
4,454,454, 1984
[3] Fairchild, AN-6003 Shoot-through in Synchronous Buck Converters
[4] R.Ali, I. Daut, et al., ”Design of high-side MOSFET driver using discrete
components for 24V operation” Power Engineering and Optimization
Conference (PEOCO), June 2010, 132-136
[5] International Rectifier, Application Note AN978 : HV Floating MOS-Gate
Driver ICs.
[6] IXYS, Application Note : AN-145, ”Advantages of Solid-State Relays
Over Electro-Mechanical Relays”
[7] R. Valentine, ”Motor Control Electronics Handbook” McGraw-Hill Hand-
books, 1998