onsemi Releases New Brushless DC Motor Controllers
The new ecoSpin™ range combines a gate driver and microcontroller, for a more compact and reliable solution
onsemi has introduced its new ecoSpin™ family of brushless DC motor controllers (BLDC). By combining the control and driver functions in a complete module, this new range will simplify the development of high-voltage motor control systems in applications such as HVAC, refrigeration and robotics.

The first product in the ecoSpin range is the ECS640A, which is a three-phase brushless DC motor controller for high-voltage operation up to 600V. The ECS640A features a trusted gate driver, Arm® Cortex-M0+ microcontroller, three sense amplifiers, three bootstrap diodes and will support either sensored or sensorless motor control architectures.
“The highly integrated solution reduces time to market by eliminating the design cycles on applications, simplifying solution reuse when scaling BLDC motor power level requirements,” said Michael De Mey, Vice President of the Industrial Solutions Division for onsemi. “Reliability is improved by replacing many of the larger, more complex devices, while at the same time shrinking the PCB routing area by approximately 20% compared to a discrete implementation, to deliver an overrall compact solution.”
The integration in a single IC package redefines BLDC motor control performance by optimizing power stage placement and reducing noise. This allows repid reuse in alternative platforms by simply changing the discrete power devices and updating the software. The reduction in parts required, simplifies sourcing challenges stemming from having numerous discrete devices.
To optimize performance, the onsemi ECS640A supports traditional motor control techniques including trapexoidal and vector control. Advanced commutation algorithms are available on the ARM Cortex M0 platform. These techniques offer as much as 3 to 5 percent improvement in power efficiency, by controlling the motors flux and torque over a wide speed range.
Features of the ECS640A 3-phase BLDC Motor Controller include:
- Arm Cortex-M0+ Microcontroller with 64kB Flash Program Memory
- 600 V Gate Driver for External MOSFETs
- 4 Sense Amps for Current Sensing
- Integrated Bootstrap Diodes
- Communication: I2C, UART and SPI
- Firmware Available, Sensorless Direct Torque and Flux Control
- Max Power Dissipation: 1.8 W
More information on the ECS640A 3-phase BLDC motor controller is available on the onsemi website at onsemi ECS640A product page.
The onsemi website address is www.onsemi.com
[Reprinted with kind permission from onsemi - Release Date, 27th October, 2022]