From RHOM, a made for India solution for brushless motors

21st September 2016
From RHOM,  a made for India solution for brushless motors
From left: Daisuke Nakamura (MD India) and Britto Edward Victor, Design Centre Head, ROHM Semiconductor India

Bangalore, September 21 2016: ROHM Semiconductor India has unveiled its   solutions for  the brushless DC motor industryin India. 
These solutions, are easier  to control than  AC Induction motors and around 50% more efficient, thereby reducing power consumption in home appliances and industrial equipment. The solutions are designed with features to reduce the design time and hence enable a faster time to market. These drivers along with the easily customizable reference designs will propel local design, which is the key to manufacturing locally. 
In 2015, India manufactured around 40 million ceiling fans, with around 10% growth year-on-year. If every single ceiling fan manufactured from here on is made into an energy efficient BLDC ceiling fan, rough calculation indicates that, by 2025, the country can reduce peak-power capacity addition by around 10 GW, which is equivalent to saving around 5 midsized power plants.
ays Daisuke Nakamura, Managing Director, ROHM Semiconductor India: “With the government’s initiative towards BLDC ceiling fans, we see that all the ceiling fan manufacturers are trying to create a solution that is both efficient and cost effective. This technology transition has presented an opportunity for new entrants too. Most of the ceiling fan companies have R&D or design capability for the electrical motors, but not so much R&D for the electronics design, which eventually contributes to efficiency and energy conservation. This is where ROHM India has come in, by providing a wide range of reference solutions that will match most of the customers and market requirements.”
The solution is made up of 3 major blocks - (1) The Power Factor Controller (PFC), (2) The BLDC controller and (3) The control block. The Power Factor Control block, besides converting the AC source into DC, also corrects the Power Factor (PF). This block also provides an auxiliary power supply to the microcontroller. The BLDC controller block drives the BLDC motor; the supply voltage for this block is from the PFC block, and the control signals are from the microcontroller. High voltage also equates to high efficiency as the losses in the power stage is reduced due to the lower operating currents. This is achieved by precise electronic switching of the currents to the windings. Keeping in mind the Indian market conditions, the solution has also been designed to withstand the harshest of the voltage fluctuations seen every day. The solution can also be used in ceiling fans , air conditioners , air coolers  and air purifiers.
ROHM Co., Ltd. is an international semiconductor company headquartered in Kyoto- Japan, established in 1958.  ROHM Semiconductor India Pvt. Ltd. (RSI) was established in 2011 to cater to the ever-growing electronics market in India. Headquartered in Bangalore, RSI has sales offices in Delhi, Pune, and Chennai. RSI- Bangalore also houses the Design Centre. Established in 2014, it has the Application Engineering, LSI design, and Product strategy functions, to enhance local product support and design products for India.