6kW GaN Motor Driver

After two months of development and improvement, I am proud to showcase the OpenMD.

Stats (Untested):

• 7 - 80V Supply
• 80A Continuous 160A Peak
• 6kW Continuous Power 12kW Peak
• 75x50x10mm without any heatsinks

Cost:

At 100pcs the cost comes out to 45$/PCBA, ~7.50$/kW

About:

This project was born out of a frustration with existing off-the-shelf motor controllers. Many of the available options were under-powered, poorly designed, too expensive, or difficult to integrate with the system.

In response I decided to design something that would meet all of my requirements while also being flexible enough to easily slot in to other applications

The design splits motor control in to two components: a driver and a controller. The driver does the high power switching and delivers power to the motor, the controller tells the driver when to switch. This is done for several reasons: it makes manufacturing cheaper, allows for flexibility, and improves reliability by protecting the control circuitry.

Testing:

Testing is underway. I have tested it up to 2kW or so with no serious issues. I am going to test it up to 4kW or so in the coming weeks.