January 2008

Rev 2

1/34

AN1794

Application note

PractiSPIN evaluation system

configuration and set up guide

Introduction

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, as shown

in Figure 1. The target PCB connects to the motor or motors and to a user supplied DC

power supply generally in the range of 12 to 48 Vdc.

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.

Figure 1.

System block diagram

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