h-bridge problem . transistor question

[Elia]

I am trying to drive a 9vdc motor using a pic microcontroller. I build
the h-bridge but it is not working.
The problem is that :
The transistor is functioning more or less as a relay . So this
diagram should output 9v . Instead I get a 3 vdc .
Can you tell me why ?

+9vdc
|
collector
/
+5-----base|< [tip122]
\
emitter
|
|
|
ground

thanks .

 

[Soeren]

Hi Elia,

I am trying to drive a 9vdc motor using a pic microcontroller. I build
the h-bridge but it is not working.
The problem is that :
The transistor is functioning more or less as a relay . So this
diagram should output 9v . Instead I get a 3 vdc .
Can you tell me why ?

+9vdc
|
collector
/
+5-----base|< [tip122]
\
emitter
|
|
|
ground

I suspect you have connected the load between emitter and ground (since
you get 3V out.
That would be correct when (mis)using the transistor this way, as you
cannot get the emitter higher than V_b - V_be
V_b is your 5V from the PIC and V_be (the voltage drop from base to
emitter) is ~2V for a darlington.

To remedy the situation use a PNP (eg. TIP127) and invert the base
drive.

You will probably not get more than ~8V over the load, as you are using
darlingtons.


--
Regards,
Soeren

* If it puzzles you dear... Reverse engineer *
New forum: <URL:http://www.elektronikteknolog.dk/cgi-bin/SPEED/>

 

[Elia]

Soeren <Look@iNO-SPAMt.dk.invalid> wrote in message news:<Xns94F57F6435065o8oLOOKatHOMEo8o@212.242.40.196>...

Hi Elia,

I am trying to drive a 9vdc motor using a pic microcontroller. I build
the h-bridge but it is not working.
The problem is that :
The transistor is functioning more or less as a relay . So this
diagram should output 9v . Instead I get a 3 vdc .
Can you tell me why ?

+9vdc
|
collector
/
+5-----base|< [tip122]
\
emitter
|
|
|
ground

I suspect you have connected the load between emitter and ground (since
you get 3V out.
That would be correct when (mis)using the transistor this way, as you
cannot get the emitter higher than V_b - V_be
V_b is your 5V from the PIC and V_be (the voltage drop from base to
emitter) is ~2V for a darlington.

To remedy the situation use a PNP (eg. TIP127) and invert the base
drive.

You will probably not get more than ~8V over the load, as you are using
darlingtons.

I am using 4 tip122 in a H-bridge configuration.

You think I should use 2 npn and 2 pnp , That make sense . Because I
will have the load on the correct side of the transistor . (hmmm Is
that correct ? )


thanks .

 

[CFoley1064]

Subject: h-bridge problem . transistor question
From: plithonos@hotmail.com (Elia)
Date: 5/26/2004 1:38 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id: <6f3bd67b.0405252238.679b4e7e@posting.google.com

I am trying to drive a 9vdc motor using a pic microcontroller. I build
the h-bridge but it is not working.
The problem is that :
The transistor is functioning more or less as a relay . So this
diagram should output 9v . Instead I get a 3 vdc .
Can you tell me why ?

+9vdc
|
collector
/
+5-----base|< [tip122]
\
emitter
|
|
|
ground

thanks .

Hi, Elia. I'm not sure you know what you mean here. This is an "H-Bridge"
example (use fixed font or view in M$ Notepad):

H-Bridge
VCC
+
.------o-------.
| |
| |
|< >|
-| PNP PNP |-
|\ /|
| ___ |
o-----UUU------o
| Motor |
|< <|
-| NPN NPN|-
|> <|
| |
| |
'------o-------'
|
===
GND

You want to use an H-bridge when you want bidirectional control of your motor.
In the diagram above, the motor will spin one way (say, CW) when the PNP on the
left is on (sourcing current to the motor) and the NPN on the right is on
(sinking current). If you want to reverse the direction, you turn the right
PNP and the left NPN on. Note the similarity to an "H" -- that's how it gets
its name.

If you just want your DC motor to go in one direction, you can just use a
transistor as a switch to turn it on, like this:

Motor Switch

VCC VCC
+ +
| |
| C|
- C|
^ C|
| |
'---o
|
___ |/
o-|___|-o-| NPN
R | |>
.-. |
| | |
R| | |
'-' |
| |
=== ===
GND GND

When you turn on the base input with a logic "1" from the PIC, the transistor
will turn on, and the 9V will be impressed across the motor, turning it on.
When there's a logic "0" at the input, the transistor will turn off. You might
want to use an NPN TO-220 darlington transistor and 10K resistors for R, and a
1N4002 diode if it's a fairly small motor (less than 1A)

Good luck
Chris

 

[Soeren]

Hi Elia,

I am using 4 tip122 in a H-bridge configuration.

You think I should use 2 npn and 2 pnp , That make sense . Because I
will have the load on the correct side of the transistor . (hmmm Is
that correct ? )

Yes, that would work. And you could drive the PNPs with small signal
NPNs like so:

+V O-------------+----------+-----+
| | |
| | [R]
|/e e\| |
---| PNP PNP |---+
b |\c c/| b |
| | |
+--[Load]--+ [R]
| | |
b |/c c\| b |
A O----+--[R]--| NPN NPN |---------------O B (equal to A)
| |\e e/| | (but I'm lazy
| | | c\|
| | | NPN |--[R]--+
| | | e/| |
| | | | |
Gnd O------------+----------+-----+ |
| |
+------------------------------------+

(You will still get the darlingtons voltage drop of >~1V, to change
that, you would have to use non-darlington BJTs or better MOSFETs)


--
Regards,
Soeren

* If it puzzles you dear... Reverse engineer *
New forum: <URL:http://www.ElektronikTeknolog.dk/cgi-bin/SPEED/>

 

[Marlowe]

If you can get a copy of John Iovine's book "PIC Microcontroller Project
Book", look on page 145. He has a project of a PIC controlling a H-Bridge
of 4 TIP120 NPN transistors.

"Elia" <plithonos@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6f3bd67b.0405252238.679b4e7e@posting.google.com...

I am trying to drive a 9vdc motor using a pic microcontroller. I build
the h-bridge but it is not working.
The problem is that :
The transistor is functioning more or less as a relay . So this
diagram should output 9v . Instead I get a 3 vdc .
Can you tell me why ?

+9vdc
|
collector
/
+5-----base|< [tip122]
\
emitter
|
|
|
ground

thanks .

 

[Rich Grise]

"Soeren" <Look@iNO-SPAMt.dk.invalid> wrote in message

This will never do.

+V O-------------+----------+-----+
| | |
| | [R]
|/e e\| |
---| PNP PNP |---+
b |\c c/| b |
| | |
+--[Load]--+ [R]
| | |
b |/c c\| b |
A O----+--[R]--| NPN NPN |---------------O B (equal to A)
| |\e e/| | (but I'm lazy
| | | c\|
| | | NPN |--[R]--+
| | | e/| |
| | | | |
Gnd O------------+----------+-----+ |
| |
+------------------------------------+

B ahouldn't be equal to A, it should be its inverse, which is
what it looks like the lower-right transistor is for. And there's
no base drive to the upper-left transistor.

Even laziness can't account for that!

I shouldn't just whine, without providing some kind of answer:

+V O---+---------+----------+-------------+
| | | |
[R] | | [R]
| |/e e\| |
+--[R]--| PNP PNP |---[R]-----+
| b |\c c/| b |
| | | |
| +--[Load]--+ |
| | | |
| b |/c c\| b |
A O----+--[R]--| NPN NPN |---[R]-----+
| |\e e/| |
| | | c\|
| | | NPN |--[R]--+
| | | e/| |
| | | | |
Gnd O------------+----------+-------------+ |
| |
+--------------------------------------------+

Hmmm - actually, this looks more like a time bomb. Being a
coward, I'd probably turn the transistors upside down:

+V O---+---------+----------+----------+
| | | |
[R] | | [R]
| |/c c\| |
+-------| NPN NPN |--------+
| b |\e e/| b |
| | | |
[D] +--[Load]--+ [D]
|k | | |k
| b |/e e\| b |
A O----+-------| PNP PNP |--------+
| |\c c/| |
| | | c\|
| | | NPN |----+
| | | e/| |
| | | | |
Gnd O------------+----------+----------+ |
| |
+------------------------------[R]-----+
|
[R]
|
Gnd

Have Fun!
Rich

 

[Robert C Monsen]

"Elia" <plithonos@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6f3bd67b.0405252238.679b4e7e@posting.google.com...

I am trying to drive a 9vdc motor using a pic microcontroller. I
build
the h-bridge but it is not working.
The problem is that :
The transistor is functioning more or less as a relay . So this
diagram should output 9v . Instead I get a 3 vdc .
Can you tell me why ?

+9vdc
|
collector
/
+5-----base|< [tip122]
\
emitter
|
|
|
ground

thanks .

This is a supplement to other answers. NPN transistors will,
generally, try to keep the emitter at about 0.7V below the base if
they can. The TIP122 is a darlington NPN transistor, so there are
actually two NPN transistors in there, and so the drop will be
something like 2 times 0.7 or 1.4V.

One way to overcome this would be to connect your load between the
collector and 9V. Use a 1000 ohm resistor between the PIC and the base
of the transistor. Then, when you output 5V, it will turn on the
transistor, and allow current to flow through your load. When you drop
the output to 0V, it will turn off the transistor, and cut off current
through your load.

To make an H-bridge out of these, you need complimentary PNP
transistors for the 'high side'. The complimentary PNP transistor is
the TIP127.

In order to use those NPN and PNP transistors, you have to ensure that
your base voltage is properly biased. If you just hook up the bases,
current will flow through them in a 'bad' way. That means resistors,
etc. You can do it, but its much easier with MOSFETs, which have
practically no gate current. Additionally, the voltage drop across the
devices will be less for good MOSFETs, so the heat generated by the
devices will also be less. Here is a simple circuit which you might
use as the basis of a design.

VCC
+
|
+-----+------+
| |
| | P-MOSFET
+--||-+ +-||--+
| ||-> <-|| |
| ||-+ LOAD +-|| |
|\ |\ | | .----. | |
CTL -| >O-+-| >O--+ +---| |---+ +--+
|/ | |/ | | '----' | | |
| | | | | |
| | ||-+ +-|| | |
| | ||<- ->|| | |
| +--||-+ +-||--+ |
| N-MOSFET | | |
| | | |
| +-----+------+ |
| | |
| === |
| GND |
| |
+-----------------------------------+
created by Andy´s ASCII-Circuit v1.24.140803 Beta www.tech-chat.de

When CTL is high, the right gate voltages will be low, so the upper
right P-MOSFET will be on and the lower N-MOSFET will be off. Also,
the left gate voltages will be high, due to the inverter, so the lower
left N-MOSFET will be on, and the upper P-MOSFET will be off. Thus,
the current will flow through the load from right to left.

When CTL is low, the converse is true, that is, current flows through
the load from left to right.

Note that there are H-BRIDGE chips which do more than just gate
current. They also ensure that there is never current flowing through
both the top and bottom transistors on one side by using a delay.
Also, they usually feature enables, and other cool features, along
with a nice package to fasten to your heatsink.

One chip I've used for this is an S754410, called a 'Quadruple 1/2 H',
and features tristate outputs, and will do an amp per driver. It
protects against glitches on power up (which is a good thing), and
interlocks output channels so you don't have to worry about both sides
of your H conducting. It also allows split voltages, so you can
control it with logic levels of 5V from your PIC, while using higher
voltage power output levels.

For beefier apps, another chip is the venerable L298, which will
support up to 4A.

For low current applications, these may be a better buy. If you are
doing 20A, then I think you'll have to roll your own.

Regards,
Bob Monsen

 

[Soeren]

Hi Rich,

This will never do.

Yes.

+V O-------------+----------+-----+
| | |
| | [R]
|/e e\| |
---| PNP PNP |---+
b |\c c/| b |
| | |
+--[Load]--+ [R]
| | |
b |/c c\| b |
A O----+--[R]--| NPN NPN |---------------O B (equal to A)
| |\e e/| | (but I'm lazy
| | | c\|
| | | NPN |--[R]--+
| | | e/| |
| | | | |
Gnd O------------+----------+-----+ |
| |
+------------------------------------+


B ahouldn't be equal to A, it should be its inverse, which is
what it looks like the lower-right transistor is for. And there's
no base drive to the upper-left transistor.

Even laziness can't account for that!

You assume a single drive line I suppose ?

I am gunning for using 2 output lines from the PIC, that way you can
easily do PWM.
(And it works pretty OK for our ~30 pound autonomous robot

The upper left has no base drive because, as I wrote, I was too lazy to
finish the drawing and it is supposed to be the mirror image of the
other "side", so I thought any reader could finish it up mentally
(obviously a mistake .

I shouldn't just whine, without providing some kind of answer:

+V O---+---------+----------+-------------+
| | | |
[R] | | [R]
| |/e e\| |
+--[R]--| PNP PNP |---[R]-----+
| b |\c c/| b |
| | | |
| +--[Load]--+ |
| | | |
| b |/c c\| b |
A O----+--[R]--| NPN NPN |---[R]-----+
| |\e e/| |
| | | c\|
| | | NPN |--[R]--+
| | | e/| |
| | | | |
Gnd O------------+----------+-------------+ |
| |
+--------------------------------------------+

Bwaaahaaahaaaaa, now you're kidding, right ?
This will only (at best) provide bang-bang control and worst case...
Holy Smoke Batman... and it's gettin' out of 'em

Hmmm - actually, this looks more like a time bomb. Being a
coward, I'd probably turn the transistors upside down:

+V O---+---------+----------+----------+
| | | |
[R] | | [R]
| |/c c\| |
+-------| NPN NPN |--------+
| b |\e e/| b |
| | | |
[D] +--[Load]--+ [D]
|k | | |k
| b |/e e\| b |
A O----+-------| PNP PNP |--------+
| |\c c/| |
| | | c\|
| | | NPN |----+
| | | e/| |
| | | | |
Gnd O------------+----------+----------+ |
| |
+------------------------------[R]-----+
|
[R]
|
Gnd

I use something similar (in a very different app.) to ensure a dead-band
in the shifts, but motorcontrol with only full speed in either direction
is not very useable and a simple relay would be muy choice if I ever
needed it.

Have Fun!

I do... Have some too


--
Regards,
Soeren

* If it puzzles you dear... Reverse engineer *
New forum: <URL:http://www.ElektronikTeknolog.dk/cgi-bin/SPEED/>

 

[Soeren]

Hi Bob,

Here is a simple circuit which you might use as the basis of a
design.

VCC
+
|
+-----+------+
| |
| | P-MOSFET
+--||-+ +-||--+
| ||-> <-|| |
| ||-+ LOAD +-|| |
|\ |\ | | .----. | |
CTL -| >O-+-| >O--+ +---| |---+ +--+
|/ | |/ | | '----' | | |
| | | | | |
| | ||-+ +-|| | |
| | ||<- ->|| | |
| +--||-+ +-||--+ |
| N-MOSFET | | |
| | | |
| +-----+------+ |
| | |
| === |
| GND |
| |
+-----------------------------------+
created by Andy´s ASCII-Circuit v1.24.140803 Beta www.tech-chat.de

When CTL is high, the right gate voltages will be low, so the upper
right P-MOSFET will be on and the lower N-MOSFET will be off. Also,
the left gate voltages will be high, due to the inverter, so the lower
left N-MOSFET will be on, and the upper P-MOSFET will be off. Thus,
the current will flow through the load from right to left.

When CTL is low, the converse is true, that is, current flows through
the load from left to right.

And what then if you (heaven forbid it) want the motor to stop


--
Regards,
Soeren

* If it puzzles you dear... Reverse engineer *
New forum: <URL:http://www.ElektronikTeknolog.dk/cgi-bin/SPEED/>

 

[Elia]

I am sorry I wasnt really clear in my question . So , what I am trying
to do is to change the direction of a 9v dcmotor using a H-bridge
controled by the pic microcontroller and I am using pic 2 lines ( RB1
, RB2 ) .



|-------------------------------|
| 9vdc |
| | |
| C---+--C |
rb1---[1k]--+-----B PNP PNP B-----+ |
E E | |
| | | |
|-[LOAD]-| | |
| | | |
C C | |
rb1---[1k]-+-[R10k]--B NPN NPN B----[R10k]-|
| E E |
| | | |
| GND GND |
| |
|------------------------|

This is the design that I am using . The pic Power Supply is 5vdc and
the H-bridge supply is 9vdc . So my question is WHAT IS WRONG !!! . I
am unable to figure it out . I am using the tip122. For a moment I
got out of the 9v that I am feeding the circuit a .5 v from the
h-bridge . or nothing .

i also tried the diagram found in the pic microcontroller book using 4
tip120 . And that was not working well either .
(Am I doing everything wrong?
..


thanks for the help!!!
Elia .

 

[CFoley1064]

Subject: Re: h-bridge problem . transistor question
From: plithonos@hotmail.com (Elia)
Date: 5/28/2004 8:46 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id: <6f3bd67b.0405281746.5f7e9e84@posting.google.com

I am sorry I wasnt really clear in my question . So , what I am trying
to do is to change the direction of a 9v dcmotor using a H-bridge
controled by the pic microcontroller and I am using pic 2 lines ( RB1
, RB2 ) .



|-------------------------------|
| 9vdc |
| | |
| C---+--C |
rb1---[1k]--+-----B PNP PNP B-----+ |
E E | |
| | | |
|-[LOAD]-| | |
| | | |
C C | |
rb1---[1k]-+-[R10k]--B NPN NPN B----[R10k]-|
| E E |
| | | |
| GND GND |
| |
|------------------------|

This is the design that I am using . The pic Power Supply is 5vdc and
the H-bridge supply is 9vdc . So my question is WHAT IS WRONG !!! . I
am unable to figure it out . I am using the tip122. For a moment I
got out of the 9v that I am feeding the circuit a .5 v from the
h-bridge . or nothing .

i also tried the diagram found in the pic microcontroller book using 4
tip120 . And that was not working well either .
(Am I doing everything wrong?
.


thanks for the help!!!
Elia .

Hi, Elia. Thanks for a more complete description of the problem -- it usually
helps. First of all, you've got the emitters and the collectors of the PNP
transistors reversed (that's shown in one of my prior posts as well as another
one -- the emitter is the side with the "arrow", and the emitters of the PNP
transistors should be on the 9V side, not the motor side.

Second, you're not going to turn off the PNP transistors unless you apply an
input voltage to the base of the transistors that's around 9V. Logic "1" for
the PIC is around 5V, which won't cut it.

Also, you might want to consider downloading Andy's ASCII Circuits to help you
draw your circuit fragments in ASCII art. It's available at

http://www.tech-chat.de/

Look for the AACircuit1.24 link.

Why don't you try something like this (view in fixed font or M$ Notepad):

PIC H-Bridge Driver VCC
+
|
.--------. .-.
| | | |1 OHM 3W
| | | | .--------.
.-. | '-' | |
1K| | | | | .-.
| | '---o---' | |1K
'-' | | |
| .------o------. '-'
| | | |
| | | |
___ | |< >| | ___
.-|___|--o---| PNP PNP |---o--|___|-.
| |\ /| 1K |
___ |/ | | <| ___
..--|___|-o-| 2N3904 | ___ | 2N3904|- -|___|--.
| 10K | |> o-----UUU-----o /| | 10K |
| .-. | | Motor | | .-. |
| 10K| | GND | | GND | |10K |
| | | RB1 ___ |/ <| ___ RB2 | | |
| '-' o-o-|___|-o-| NPN NPN |-o-|___|-o-o '-' |
| | | 10K | |> /| | 10K | | |
| GND | .-. | | .-. | GND |
| | 10K| | | | | |10K | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | '-' '------o------' '-' | |
| | | | | | |
| | GND === GND | |
| | GND | |
| '-------------------------------------|---------------'
'-----------------------------------------------------'


created by Andy´s ASCII-Circuit v1.24.140803 Beta www.tech-chat.de

This looks a little complicated, and there are unfortunately quite a few
resistors, but this is one way of doing things that will work. The 1 ohm 3W
resistor on the top is to prevent blowing something during the microseconds
that both the PNP and NPN are on. Depending on your power source, you might
not need that.

Try this circuit, and I'll bet you get a working bidirectional motor driver.

Good luck (which is the residue of hard work, so you'll be OK if you use your
head)
Chris