Case Robotics Group Summer Internship Report

CASE Robotics Group Project H-Bridge
CRG Summer Internship Program13 1

Abstract
Motors have been integral part of machines or any mechanical mechanism which is assisting
some kind of task. They have been run using some kind of electrical circuitry for their
movement and rotation is normally based on electromagnetic induction and coil mechanism
which could be controlled by an electrical circuit that is called Motor Driving Circuit. This
internship report is covering all the important aspects of design and fabrication of an intelligent
DC motor driving circuit that is known as H-Bridge. Report will discuss the basic working of H-
Bridge and the conceptual understanding of the working of components used in it. Then it talks
about design of a Smart H-Bridge circuit which has number of protections along-with a
microcontroller embed in it which assists all smart functions of this circuit. From design
procedures we move towards the fabrication of this circuit and in the end we have a product
which can assist DC motor speed and direction control with many nice features like
temperature, high current and voltage sensing.
Mirza Qutab Baig

Table of Contents
1. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3
2. H-Bridge Basics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
3. H-Bridge Types -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
4. Project Requirements ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 18
5. Design Procedure ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19
6. On Board Microcontroller & Protections ------------------------------------------------- 20
7. Final Circuit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
8. Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23

Introduction
This report discusses the design and implementation of a Smart Microcontroller Based H-Bridge
that is will be incorporated in control of DC Motor with high torque and RPM which would
consequently draw high current. The product will be comprise of many safety and monitoring
features which are High current protection, temperature sensors and Auto Shutdown Feature.
First we will go through very basic and integral component of H-Bridge that are transistors,
which will be taken through detailed literature review and then they will be selected on the
basis of low threshold, high current handling capacity and low heating effects. Then we will go
through several types of H-Bridges working techniques that are available and from those
techniques we will come up with most suitable technique for our product. Then we will be
coming to design stages. After designing and complete testing on simulation, we will come to
fabrication part and at the end we will obtain a product which will assist DC motor speed and
direction control along-with safety and monitoring features which are assisted by on board
microcontroller.

H-Bridge Basics:
Introduction to Transistors:
The transistor is a three layer semiconductor device consisting of either two n- and one p-type
layers of material or two p- and one n-type layers of material. The former is called npn
transistor while the latter is called pnp transistor.

Types of transistors with DC biasing:
(a) pnp; (b) npn.
We will find that the DC biasing is necessary to establish the proper region of operation for ac
amplification. The emitter layer is heavily doped, the base lightly doped and the collector only
lightly doped. The abbreviation bipolar transistor is often applied to this three terminal device.
The term bipolar reflects that holes and electrons participate in the injection process into
oppositely polarized material. If only one carrier is applied, it is called unipolar device.
Transistors Operation:
The basic operation of transistor is described using pnp transistor. The operation of npn
transistor is exactly the same if the roles played by the electron and holes are interchanged. In
the fig pnp transistor has been redrawn without base to collector bias. The depletion region has
reduced in width due to applied bias, resulting in a heavy flow of majority charge carriers from
p to n type material.

Lets us now remove the base to emitter bias in the next step. Consider that this is situation of
reverse biased diode. We know that flow of majority charge carriers is zero, resulting in a
minority charge carrier flow.
So one p-n junction of transistor is forward bias and one the other is reverse biased.

In the fig below both biasing potentials have applied to a pnp transistor, with resulting majority
and minority carrier flow indicated. As shown in fig a large number of majority charge carriers
diffuse across forward bias pn junction into n type material. Now we have to see that whether
all the majority charge carriers contribute to base current or pass directly into p type material.
We know from construction that n type is very thin and very low conductivity, a very small
number of these carriers will take this path of high resistance to the base terminal. The
magnitude of base current is order of microamperes as compared to milliamperes for the
emitter and collector currents. A large number of majority charge carriers diffuse into p
junction connected to the collector terminal. The reason for the relative ease for which majority
charge carriers can cross reverse bias junction is easily understood if we consider that for the
reverse biased diode the injected majority charge carriers will appear as minority charge
carriers in the n-type material. In other words, there has been injection of minority charge
carriers into n-type base region material. Combining this with the fact that all the minority
charge carriers in the depletion region will cross reverse bias junction of a diode accounts for
the flow indicated.

Applying Kirchoffs current law to the transistor in above fig as if it were a single node, we
obtain.
IE=IC+IB
The collector current, however is comprised of two components the majority and minority
carriers. The minority current component is called the leakage current and is given the symbol
Ico (Ic current with emitter terminal open). The collector current, therefore, is determined in
total by:
Ic=Ic majority + Ico minority

BJT as a Switch:
The basic element of logic circuits is the transistor switch. A schematic of such a switch is
shown. When the switch is open, Ic=0 and Vo=Vcc. When the switch is closed, Vo=0 and
Ic=Vcc/Rc.
In an electronic circuit, mechanical switches are not used. The switching action is performed by
a transistor with an input voltage switching the circuit. When Vi=0, BJT will be in cut-off, Ic=0,
and Vo=Vcc (open switch). When Vi is in high state, BJT can be in saturation with Vo=VCE=VSAT
=0.2V and Ic=(Vcc-VSAT)/Rc (closed switch). When Rc is replaced with a load, this circuit can
switch a load ON/OFF.

Junction Field Effect Transistors:
A transistor is a linear semiconductor device that controls current with the application of a
lower-power electrical signal. Transistors may be roughly grouped into two major
divisions: bipolar and field-effect. In the last section we studied bipolar transistors, which utilize
a small current to control a large current. In this section, we'll introduce the general concept of
the field-effect transistor -- a device utilizing a small voltage to control current -- and then focus
on one particular type: the junction field-effect transistor.
All field-effect transistors are unipolar rather than bipolar devices. That is, the main current
through them is comprised either of electrons through an N-type semiconductor or holes
through a P-type semiconductor. This becomes more evident when a physical diagram of the
device is seen:

In a junction field-effect transistor, or JFET, the controlled current passes from source to drain,
or from drain to source as the case may be. The controlling voltage is applied between the gate
and source. Note how the current does not have to cross through a PN junction on its way
between source and drain: the path (called a channel) is an uninterrupted block of
semiconductor material. In the image just shown, this channel is an N-type semiconductor. P-
type channel JFETs are also manufactured:

With no voltage applied between gate and source, the channel is a wide-open path for
electrons to flow. However, if a voltage is applied between gate and source of such polarity that
it reverse-biases the PN junction, the flow between source and drain connections becomes
limited, or regulated, just as it was for bipolar transistors with a set amount of base current.
Maximum gate-source voltage "pinches off" all current through source and drain, thus forcing
the JFET into cutoff mode. This behavior is due to the depletion region of the PN junction
expanding under the influence of a reverse-bias voltage, eventually occupying the entire width
of the channel if the voltage is great enough. This action may be likened to reducing the flow of
a liquid through a flexible hose by squeezing it: with enough force, the hose will be constricted
enough to completely block the flow.

Note how this operational behavior is exactly opposite of the bipolar junction transistor. Bipolar
transistors are normally-off devices: no current through the base, no current through the
collector or the emitter. JFETs, on the other hand, are normally-on devices: no voltage applied
to the gate allows maximum current through the source and drain. Also take note that the
amount of current allowed through a JFET is determined by a voltage signal rather than a
current signal as with bipolar transistors. In fact, with the gate-source PN junction reverse-
biased, there should be nearly zero current through the gate connection. For this reason, we
classify the JFET as a voltage-controlled device, and the bipolar transistor as a current-
controlled device.
Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor:
A Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor is a transistor used for amplifying or
switching electronic signals. The body of a MOSFET is usually connected to the source terminal
which makes it a three-terminal device similar to other Field Effect Transistors (FET). Field effect
transistors form a large family of switchable devices. Current flowing within field effect
transistors between the main electrodes (source and drain) is controlled by a voltage at the
gate electrode. The gate voltage opens or closes a conducting channel between source and
drain.
In the transferring current from one point to the other, only one type of charge carrier is
involved. For example, for N-channel MOSFETs, electrons are the only charge carriers involved
in current flow. So MOSFETs are unipolar components. Since essentially only a gate voltage is
a MOSFET can therefore be controlled without use of very little power. Both current and
voltage are required in order to regulate a bipolar transistor, hence power is required for
control.
MOSFETs used for low reverse voltages have excellent transmission properties. For high reverse
voltages, the transmission properties characterized by the drain source on resistance
RDSon worsen since the thickness and specific resistance of the silicon must be increased. Just
like for all other unipolar components, MOSFETs are also characterized by low switching losses.
MOSFETs as a Switch:
A MOSFET may be thought of as a variable resistor whose Drain-Source resistance (typically
Rds) is a function of the voltage difference on the Gate-Source pins. If there is no potential
difference between the Gate-Source, then the Drain-Source resistance is very high and may be
thought of as an open switch so no current may flow through the Drain-Source pins. When
there is a large Gate-Source potential difference, the Drain-Source resistance is very low and
may be thought of as a closed switch current may flow through the Drain-Source pins.
Drain-Source resistance:
Ideally we want Drain-Source resistance to be very high when no current is flowing, and very
low when current is flowing. The main issue using MOSFETs with micro controllers is that the
MOSFET may need 10-15 Gate-Source potential difference to get near its lowest Drain-Source
resistance, but the microcontroller may run on 5v or 3.3v. Some sort of MOSFET driver is
required.
Gate-Source capacitance:
There is also a capacitance on the Gate-Source pins which prevents the MOSFET from switching
states quickly. In order to quickly change voltage on internal capacitance, the MOSFET driver
needs to be high current. It needs to actively charge (source) and discharge (sink) the capacitor
too (for N channel).

H-Bridge Types:
1. Unipolar Single Quadrant Drive:
Which PWM technique is best for our motor control application?
It is not possible to have a meaningful discussion about different PWM techniques without first
understanding how energy transfer occurs in a motor. When studying energy transfer, we
typically refer to a two dimensional speed-torque diagram as shown below, where speed is the
x-axis, and torque is the y-axis.

If we multiply speed times torque, we get power. So area in the above diagram corresponds to
power. The blue areas are regions where the motor power is positive (i.e., the motor is
converting electrical power into mechanical power). But the red areas on the graph indicate
regions where the motor power is negative (i.e., the motor is converting mechanical power into
electrical power). This is where we can run into problems if we are not careful. If the motor is
generating electrical power, you need to have some place for that power to go. If your
application is an electric vehicle coasting down a hill, the generated electrical energy can be put
to good use by charging the batteries. But if you have an electric drive which needs to stop its
load abruptly, the resulting generator action can destroy the drive if there is no place to put the
energy.
Some PWM topologies will inherently prevent regeneration of energy back into your electrical
supply. In fact, some will only allow the motor to spin in one direction and generate torque in
that same direction. These drives as you might expect are called single-quadrant drives and
operate either in quadrant 1 or quadrant 3. A typical example of such a drive is shown below,
where a PWM signal is applied to a single transistor. The motor can only spin in one direction
and generate torque in that same direction. If you try to decelerate the motor (i.e., generate
negative braking torque) by lowering the duty cycle, the motor will simply coast down slowly.
This is because there is no way with this configuration to create negative current in the motor.
All of the kinetic energy in the spinning load is eventually dissipated as heat in the loads
friction, and none of it is converted back into electricity.

However, if we want the motor to go forward AND backward, we need to provide a way to
drive the motor current in the negative direction. We could achieve this with a separate
negative power supply, but this is usually cost prohibitive. A more common approach is to put
the motor in an H-Bridge.
In H-Bridge we have four transistors, each capable of being switched ON and OFF
independently. This allows for some rather interesting possibilities since we now have a
configuration capable of operating in all four quadrants. How we switch the transistors with
respect to each other will determine which power quadrants the motor will operate in.
2. Unipolar 2-Quadrant Drive:
We examined the single-quadrant PWM technique, which is a good fit for extremely cost
sensitive motor control applications where you want to control the motors speed by varying
the duty-cycle of a PWM signal. But the motor can only spin in one direction, and generate
torque in that same direction. We also introduced the H-Bridge as a springboard to
investigate other PWM topologies. Lets take a look at how to build a bi-directional speed
control power stage by using an H-Bridge. In particular, we will construct a 2-Quadrant
Drive since it can produce forward motion with positive torque (quadrant 1), or reverse motion
with negative torque (quadrant 3).

For Unipolar PWM operation in quadrant 1, Q1 is turned ON continuously while we apply a
PWM signal to Q4. When Q4 is switched ON, a current path is created from Vbus, through Q1,
through the motor, through Q4, and returning through ground. At the end of this PWM state,
Q4 is switched OFF. Since the motor winding has inductance, it will fight to keep the motor
current flowing in the same direction. An inductor protects its current, it effectively generate
whatever voltage is necessary to keep my current flowing. As a result, the inductor forces the
back-body diode of Q3 to conduct. But since Q1 is always ON, the motor current will return
through Q1, not the DC supply. When you think about it, you realize that since Q1 is ON
continuously, this circuit behaves exactly like the single quadrant drive discussed earlier with
one exceptionif we want the motor to spin in the other direction, simply turn Q3 ON all the
time and PWM Q2 instead. This results in quadrant 3 operation where the motor is running in
reverse, and generating negative torque.
Its interesting to note that in both quadrant one and quadrant three operation, the bus current
is either positive or zero, regardless of which direction the current is flowing in the motor! In
other words, this PWM technique cannot regenerate energy. The reason for this is because the
inductive flyback current is trapped in the top half of the H-Bridge, and never flows back into
the DC bus. This can either be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on your application.
If we never have to worry about regenerated energy, then we dont have to add expense to our
design to deal with it. On the other hand, if you want to recover load energy, then this PWM
technique is not a good choice for you.
Another advantage of this technique is that it only requires one PWM signal at any given time.
This means you can potentially control more motors from one processor compared to some of
the other PWM topologies. Also, there is only one transistor that is switching at any given time,
so your switching losses are minimized. Finally, there is only one diode snap event per PWM
cycle (when Q4 turns ON again after the Q3 back-body diode has been conducting). So this
technique generates no more switching noise than the single-quadrant technique we discussed
earlier.
The main disadvantage with this technique is that even though you have four transistors, you
still cant operate in all four quadrants. Its like having a car with no brakes! If you want to slow
down, you have two options; lift your foot off of the accelerator and coast (lower the PWM
duty cycle), or suddenly throw the car in reverse (immediately transition from quadrant one to
quadrant three!). It results in super fast deceleration of the motor; it is usually not a good idea
since the resulting high currents will probably leave pieces of your drive lying all over the lab
bench!

3. Unipolar 4-Quadrant Drive:
So far we have studied two motor drive topologies that result in unipolar PWM voltage
waveforms on the motor, but are incapable of providing any braking for the motor in the event
you want to decelerate quickly. In this blog, lets look at a third unipolar PWM technique
that will provide motor braking by allowing energy regeneration back into your power supply.
We call this Unipolar 4-Quadrant PWMs.
The H-Bridge circuit that we will analyze is shown below:

The most significant change from the previous Unipolar topology is that we are now driving the
top and bottom transistors in a complementary pattern. In other words, whenever a bottom
transistor is turned OFF, the top transistor in the same leg is turned ON, and vice versa. Not
shown in the diagram is an implied dead-time from when one transistor turns OFF until its
complementary transistor turns ON. With most power FETs, this dead-time can be in the area
of about 100 nanoseconds to almost 1 uS. The quickest dead-time I have ever seen is on our
DRV-8312 device, which is 5 nS! Since dead-time causes distortion which is associated with the
current zero-crossings, a small dead-time of 5 nS results in almost NO distortion at all.
Returning to our circuit example above, lets analyze the condition where Fwd/Rev is set to 1
(forward motion). This means that Q1 will be ON continuously while Q3 and Q4 are PWMing in
a complementary fashion. Lets also assume that the PWM duty-cycle is high and the motor
loading is light, which means that the motor speed will also be high and the back-EMF polarity
is such that it is positive on the left side of the motor symbol.
Now lets abruptly lower the PWM duty cycle in an effort to decelerate the motor. With 2-
quadrant PWMs, whenever Q4 turns off, the inductive flyback current is captured in the top
half of the H-Bridge until it is extinguished. Once the flyback current is extinguished, the back-
EMF signal appears across the motor terminals. In this state, the H-Bridge looks like a high
impedance to the motor, and no current flows. But with this 4-quadrant topology, when Q4 is
OFF, Q3 turns ON, and we effectively short the motor terminals together. Since the motor is
spinning forward (back-EMF polarity is positive on the left side of the motor), this eventually
causes current to flow in the clockwise direction in the top half of the H-Bridge.
Now, this next point is important. When Q3 is now switched OFF, and Q4 is switched ON, the
inductor now looks for an alternate path to keep its current flowing in the same direction. And
what is that path? It turns out that the new path of least resistance is to flow in the reverse
direction through Q1, back through the DC power supply AS NEGATIVE CURRENT, and then
return in the reverse direction through Q4. If your DC bus has positive voltage and negative
current, then that means that it has negative power during that instance. This negative bus
current will charge up the bus capacitor to a higher voltage until the inductive flyback is
quenched, or the next switching state is applied.
You should be aware that the presence of negative bus current in and of itself does not imply
that we are regenerating. Momentary values of negative bus current are common, as energy
can slosh back and forth between the motor inductor and the bus capacitor within each PWM
cycle. To determine if regeneration is occurring, we must look at the average value of bus
current. If the average value is negative, then we have a long-term transference of energy from
the load back to your DC supply. If you follow the energy, you have kinetic energy (1/2 mass x
speed2) being converted to magnetic energy (1/2 L i2), and finally being stored in the bus
capacitor as 1/2 C v2.

4. Bipolar 4-Quadrant Drive:
Up to now we have investigated three different PWM techniques. Some could regenerate
energy back into the DC power supply, and some couldnt. But they all had one characteristic in
common: unipolar voltage waveforms. In other words, for any given PWM period, the motor
voltage waveform transitions between Vbus and ground or Vbus and ground. Now we will
investigate the claims of the bipolar PWM technique. For every PWM period, the motor
voltage waveform transitions between Vbus and Vbus, creating motor voltage waveform
amplitude that is twice that of unipolar PWMs. To do this, we will wire the H-Bridge up as
shown below:

How about the fact that there is no longer a forward/reverse signal? With bipolar PWMs,
forward and reverse information is encoded in the PWM signal itself. Assuming no load, PWM
values over 50 percent duty cycle because forward motion and values below 50 percent duty
cycle result in reverse motion.
The bipolar PWM technique is inherently a 4-quadrant technique. As long as the average
applied motor voltage is of the same polarity as the motors back-EMF voltage, and it is greater
in amplitude than the back-EMF, then the motor will operate in motoring mode. However, if
the average applied motor voltage is of the same polarity as the back-EMF, but its amplitude is
less than the back-EMF, then the motor will operate in generating mode.
Another advantage of the bipolar PWM technique is that it only requires one PWM signal from
your processor (two if the dead-time is generated within the PWM module itself). But perhaps
the biggest advantage of bipolar PWMs is the fact that motor current is always flowing through
the single shunt resistor, regardless of which state the PWM signal is in.

Project Requirements H Bridge Specifications:
We are supposed to design an H-Bridge with the following specifications observing all the IEEE
and IET standards.
1. 60V, 60A Dual H-Bridge
2. Operates on higher frequencies upto 32KHz
3. Unipolar H-Bridge
4. On board Microcontroller Master and Slave Configuration
5. Temperature Sensing
6. Current Sensing
7. Auto shutdown Feature
8. Back EMF Protection
9. Serial port data transmission
10. Self-Diagnostic Feature

Design Procedure:
MOSFET Selection:
MOSFET selection is very first thing that we are supposed to select in our design. We have many
options regarding selection of MOSFETs.
Logic Level FETs:
1. They have less threshold voltage than normal FETs.
2. Fast Switching.
3. Less On-State Resistance.
4. Suitable for high frequency and high power loads.
5. ESD Protection upto 5000V.
6. Elimination of Gate Driver IC
Power MOSFETs:
For high power load, On-state resistance should be low.
Motor control is one of typical applications of Power MOSFETs. They have same features like
Logic Level FETs. But there is one advantage of using power MOSFETs for high power bridges
that is its RS(on) is low than logic level FETs which allows maximum voltage drop across the
load. Switching behavior is most easily modeled and predicted by recognizing that the power
MOSFET is charge controlled. Hence, power MOSFETs are suitable for our design.
Hybrid/N-Channel/P-Channel:
Hybrid / N-Channel / P-Channel - Which one should we use?
Hybrid: N-Channel FETs + P-Channel FETs
Hybrid is used when we are getting +5V from MCU (Micro-controller).
In Hybrid Efficiency is directly proportional to load.
N-Channel FETs: For high loads which require high power.
On state resistance of N-Channel FETs is low so most of power is dissipated at load.
P-Channel FETs: Its on state resistance is high. So it is suitable for loads which require
low power.

On board Microcontroller & Protections:
The designed H-Bridge has been incorporated with many protections in order to avoid any kind
of damage to the bridge in case of harsh scenarios. All the protections are powered and
controlled by an on board Microcontroller.
Current Sensing
H-bridge has a current sensing circuit in which uses an op-amp to sense current. As the current
varies the potential on the bridge varies and when it crosses the threshold of op-amp, it
switches and sends a signal through which we determine that how much amount of current is
flowing in the circuit.

Excess Voltage Protection
If voltage exceeds 60V or lowers below a particular limit (45V in the code), the microcontroller should
shut down the H-bridge to avoid any harmful consequences. For this, we have used a voltage divider
circuits which divides 60V such that across one resistor 0-5V is dropped which means that if the input is
60 volts, output voltage of the resistor is 5V.This is done because ADC of the microcontroller works in
the range of 0-5V.If the voltage becomes greater than 60 V, the ADC outputs the maximum value and
thus, microcontrollers shuts down the circuitry.
Temp Sensing
PIC 16F1946 has built-in Temperature Sensing Circuitry which measures the temperature of
controller and sends the signal to ADC which automatically converts this analog signal and
stores it in its register internally. We can check the value of register to know the temperature
and if temperature exceeds the safe limit then we shut the H-bridge. As this tells the
temperature of the microcontroller which is not desired in our case, we have used an external
temperature sensor LM35 which is connected to the MOSFETs so that in case of excessive
heating the controller is notified in time.
Auto Shut Down Feature
The auto shut down feature has been incorporated in case of any undesirable situation. For example, if
our motors stall current or if our temperature sensor measures an increase in temperature that is
beyond limit or any low voltage is monitored, our H-Bridge automatically shuts off completely in order
to avoid any serious damage to our driver circuit or embedded system.
Back EMF Protection
For this purpose we have used four free-wheeling diodes to minimize the effect of back EMF in
our circuit. Whenever we switch the direction of current, a high voltage is induced which causes
the air to conduct and an arc is produced which is very dangerous for the circuit. We use a free-
wheeling diode which allows this back EMF to cycle through it and thus minimizing the effect.
Following diagram explains the protection.

Final Circuit

This is the final circuit of H-bridge. From the microcontroller we have a current sensor module through
which the current goes to the two transistors which define the direction of rotation. On top we have an
external current sensor LM35 to sense the external temperature of the circuit. On bottom right corner
we have current sensing circuitry. In between the transistors we have a Motor. We also have four 4
freewheeling diodes for protection. We will apply 60V and use a Buck IC to regulate the voltage up to
the desired value. The Pin Configuration of the Buck IC is as follows.

Conclusion
The project is a very good example of power electronics applications. This H-Bridge has been
used in many other applications. One of the most common applications other than DC motor
drive is Inverter circuit where it is being used with very same concept to generate Sine wave.
We have learnt about latest component available and being used in industry. We have tried to
comply with all the global standards of design and implementation in this project. We have
successfully gone through the proper schedule made for this internship that started from H-
Bridge basics days and going through component selection we made it to the hardware
fabrication stage in a fine manner. The project outcomes clearly depict hard work, dedication,
team effort, implementation of fine theoretical & practical understanding and a very huge
mentorship of CASE ROBOTICS GROUP.

Case Robotics Group Summer Internship Report

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CASE Robotics Group Project H-Bridge

CRG Summer Internship Program13 1

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