Open-BLDC

Open-BLDC Project Site

Open-BLDC stands for Open Source Brush Less DC Motor Controller.

The goal of the project is to create a completely Open-Source BrushLess Direct Current moto controller also known as Electronic Speed Controller (ESC). This means in our case that the software is released under GPL, version 3 or later and the hardware is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Current status Still in planning and testing phase. First tests with Mikrokopter BL-CTRLs done. First approaches to circuits and board designs based on Atmega microcontrollers were done. Version 0.3 of Open-BLDC is successfully and reliably controlling a brushless motor (associated blog post) Clogic board that replaces the logic in Castle motor controllers is up and running Betatesting of Strip low cost motor controller for small multicopters For more information visit Twisted World of Esden blog. Or join us on IRC #open-bldc on freenode Some interesting links How to contact the developers and other users Frequently Asked Questions Some information about Open-BLDC V0.1 hardware Some information about Open-BLDC V0.2 hardware Some information about Open-BLDC V0.3 hardware Some information about the Open-BLDC CLogic hardware Some information about the Open-BLDC Strip hardware Developers Section: Repository of Wiki Pages Relevant to Developing Open-BLDC Users Section Current featureset Mounts on off the shelf Castle Creations power stages which allows: From 2C up to 12C LiPo cell support Up to 200A constant power output depending on the power stage used Detachable/Interchangeable power-stage Hardware support for Fieldvector control (software pending) Hardware and software support for hardware based (comparator) BEMF control Regenerative braking (battery push back active braking) High speed (500kB/s) UART (TTL level Serial) based PC control and data aquisition interface Planned features Active freewheeling Adjustable timings Different interfaces: PPM I2C CAN Fieldvector control Speed control Torque control Hall sensor based control Acknowledgments Markus Bechtold for reviewing the PCB designs and many useful tips! Benjamin Glass for finding problems in the circuitry! All the developers from the UAVP-NG project for good ideas and encouragement! Richard Querin for the wonderful logo!

Open-BLDC Strip V0.1 News Sep 4th, 2012: New Open-BLDC hardawe the Strip Apr 18th, 2011: Released CLogic hardware files. Jan 7th, 2011: Projectmovie Open-BLDC interview released. Dec 27th-30th, 2010: We were at the 27C3. Nov 27th, 2010: Implemented active freewheeling. Nov 15th, 2010: Implemented regenerative braking. Sep 16th, 2010: Hardware based closed loop control Aug 05th, 2010: New Open-BLDC v0.3 hardware Jun 29th, 2010: Created GitHub Open-BLDC organization. Aug 09th, 2009: first v0.1 board fully assembled Aug 08th, 2009: first v0.1 board is alive Aug 05th, 2009: v0.1 boards arrived! Jun 13th, 2009: Created a prototype using all SMD parts and phase current sensing. Mai 06th, 2009: Maiden run of commutation detection on the bread board prototype. Apr 27th, 2009: Maiden run of a motor using a bread board prototype. Mar 24th, 2009: IR2110 based power stage circuit Mar 20th, 2009: Breadboard adapters Mar 15th, 2009 Selecting parts for Open-BLDC power stage prototype Feb 26th, 2009 How to build arm gnu gcc toolchain for Mac OS X Feb 16th, 2009 Open-BLDC MK Dec 12th, 2008 First circuit tests for Open-BLDC on GitHub