SimpleFOC support

[runger1101001]

Hi,

A user of our forums pointed out your driver board, which seems like a very nice solution!

From my quick analysis of your schematics I think it would be compatible with our (open source) motor control library: http://www.simplefoc.com - on GitHub here: https://github.com/simplefoc/Arduino-FOC

We support RP2040, so if you're interested in FOC you might want to try us out. We're always appreciative of feedback and bug-reports as well. :-)

[pgrady3]

Hi Runger, I agree that my board should be compatible with the SimpleFOC library. I thought this project was a bit different since it's made for propulsion motors, which are often designed for higher power and voltage, and it seemed like the SimpleFOC project was more designed for robotics and position control applications.

One other complication might be that most propulsion motors (bike hub motors, scooter motors, etc) have hall sensors and don't have encoders. Does the SimpleFOC library have some sort of rotor position estimator to get the precise rotor angle from only hall sensors?

[runger1101001]

Actually, one of our uses has just provided a "SmoothingSensor" which adds interpolated "measurements" between the real Hall Sensor feedback, to help smooth out the motion. Its still being tested, but seems promising...

It's true that our hardware is aimed more at smaller motors, but the software will work with any brushless motor, and many brushless motor systems do benefit from FOC. Its mainly about the speed, at some point doing all the calculations for FOC becomes impractical, but this speed is at several thousand RPM, depending on MCU type, so really there are many applications which can use it.

Where we are not yet well developed is in the features often found around higher power drives, like PFC or regenerative braking - we're working on solutions but don't have anything yet.

So while most of our users are indeed on smaller motors, there's been some work in our forums by users who want to power scooters, eBikes, EVs and boats. A "SimpleFOC powered" vehicle recently took part in the Shell EV competition, and several users have made SimpleFOC powered 3-phase drivers based on IGBTs or power FETs capable of several kW.

[runger1101001]

Much of this stuff can be found in our forums, community.simplefoc.com - and our Discord is also quite active.

Anyway, you've made a really nice driver, and I am sure you will take it where you want to take it :-) I just wanted to "get in touch" to make you aware of us, in case you're interested.