Tom Hopkins, Dennis Nolan, and Vincenzo Marano
STMicroelectronics

PractiSPIN is an evaluation and demonstration system that can be used with several STMicroelectronics motor driver integrated circuit devices. The system consists of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) program which runs on an IBM-PC under windows, a common ST7 based interface board that communicates with the PC and the PractiSPIN software via a serial COMM port, and a device specific evaluation or target board that connects to the ST7 interface board via a standard 34 pin ribbon cable interface. The target PCB connects to the motor or motors and to a user supplied DC power supply generally in the range of 12 to 48VDC. The PractiSPIN system is designed to operate the device being evaluated (the target device) under control of the PractiSPIN software. Depending on which target device is being used, the PractiSPIN software can operate the device to drive a stepper motor, 1 or 2 DC motors or a brushless DC (BLDC) motor.