AB-011

Electrical Techniques For Using Different Power Sources

Overview

As vibration motors have a wide variety of applications, they are often integrated into systems that have different power sources. A common concern, in terms of power supply, is adjusting the source power supply voltage to a suitable level for the vibration motor or drive circuitry. This protects the motor and can ensure a constant level of performance for uses like haptic feedback.

Our vibration motors are all DC powered and have rated voltages ranging from 1.5V to 24V, with most operating in the lower end of the spectrum. This is often less than the system’s power supply voltage and further steps are required to reduce the supply voltage to the vibration motor to avoid damaging it.

For applications which are powered by batteries, such as handheld equipment, the voltage supply may not be constant. Although batteries are often specified by a nominal voltage, almost all battery chemistries fluctuate depending on their level of charge. This can impact on the performance of the vibration motor.

Therefore this Application Bulletin is aimed at discussing popular techniques for powering vibration motors from different, and in some cases fluctuating power sources. We’ve already covered how motors are driven in mobile phones, and in this bulletin, we have assumed that the output of the power circuit would be connected directly to the motor via a discrete driver or h-bridge.

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Series Diode

This is possibly the simplest method for reducing the supply voltage by a fixed amount. It works by placing a silicon diode in series with the power supply and motor, which causes the diode to work in its normal forward biased region.

In this operation, the diode has a voltage drop of 0.6V – 0.7V, regardless of supply voltage. This is a great solution if the supply voltage is just above the Maximum Operating Voltage of the vibration motor, or within 0.6V.

This may seem like a rare occurrence, however many of our motors are rated at 3V with a Maximum Operating Voltage of ~3.6V. These vibrating motors are often used in handheld and mobility applications, where lithium-ion batteries are a popular choice of power source. These are mainly in the 3.6V – 4.2V range (depending on charge), making the series diode method a perfect low cost, low footprint solution.

Power dissipation in the diode is also an issue, but for example, a typical motor might take 100mA, with 0.6v across the diode, leading to a 60mW power dissipation, which should be within the scope of many small footprint diodes.

Zener Diode

The ideal diode does not allow any current to pass when a voltage is applied in the reverse direction, acting as an open circuit. In reality, diodes have a “breakdown region”. This is when the reverse voltage is large enough that the diode breaks down and allows current to flow. Zener diodes are designed to operate in this region where they have a near constant voltage drop, which is known as the breakdown voltage or Zener voltage.

Some simpler circuits use a Zener diode in series with the load. The required breakdown voltage of the diode would be equal to the supply voltage minus the desired voltage across the load. For vibration motors, this design may not be desirable as the diode could become hot as there is a large current passing through it.

A preferred method is to use a load connected in parallel with the diode, whereupon the Zener will ‘clamp’ the voltage across the load. This means that even under a variable power source, as long as the source voltage is greater than the Zener diode’s breakdown voltage, the load will have a steady voltage supply. Note that the Zener voltage is dependant upon the current flowing through the device, and therefore the voltage supplied to the load can also fluctuate a little.

Power dissipation in the Zener is something to be considered and generally, there’s a graph on the Zener datasheet that can be used to determine the power dissipation based on current.

A schematic of a typical Zener diode regulation circuit is shown to the right. As Zener diodes are designed to operate in the breakdown region, they point in the opposite direction to normal diodes in schematics, with the anode connected to the ground or negative terminal.

To limit the current and dissipate excess voltage, a resistor is placed in series with the power supply. The value of the resistor 𝑅1 is calculated as follows:𝑅1=𝑉𝑆–𝑉𝑍𝐼𝑍+𝐼𝐿

Where:

𝑉𝑆 is the supply voltage

𝑅1 is the Zener diode’s breakdown voltage

𝐼𝑍 is the current through the Zener diode (taken from diode’s datasheet)

𝐼𝐿 is the current drawn by the motor, the value Typical Operating Current

We saw this technique used in Application Bulletin 008: Vibration Motor Best Practices from the Mobile/Cell Phone Industry.

LDO Voltage Regulators

Low drop-out (LDO) voltage regulators are widely packaged as integrated circuits. Many of them can accept a range of input voltages and output a reduced constant voltage. The value of the output voltage depends on the specific regulator, but there are many that are designed to be adjusted with a couple of external components.

LDO regulators can be used to ensure a constant vibration alerting amplitude in battery-powered applications, where the varying charge levels of the battery would otherwise cause a varying vibration motor performance.

This example is based around an LT3060. A potential divider is used to adjust the output voltage, values used will be dependant on the specific regulator. Linear regulators tend to be based on a Zener diode/transistor design with a feedback loop to adjust the output voltage.

Most regulators also included a shutdown (SHDN) pin, which can be used to shutdown the regulator (saving power) and by inference, turn the motor on and off.

An alternative to linear regulators is switching mode power stepping designs which are more power efficient than linear regulators. However given that the vibration motor is not often driven continuously, they are rarely worth the additional expense or PCB real-estate.

Dedicated Motor Driver ICs

Motor drive integrated circuits are often the easiest way to drive a motor, though not the cheapest. They can accept a range of input voltages, output different voltage levels, accept a variety of control signals, and are often very well documented.  Information on the IC’s conformity limits will be detailed in their datasheets, and they also often include application notes for customisations.

In Application Bulletin 003 we looked at certain chips aimed at driving Linear Resonant Actuators. Many of these devices also supported ERM vibration motors and included application notes for extra customisation.

Conclusion

Powering a vibration motor’s drive circuitry directly from a power source is not always possible, as often the motor’s maximum rated voltage is below that of many power supplies. Even if a DC voltage bus is readily available, there may be other circuitry in the application that uses a significantly higher voltage than the vibration motor. Problems can also arise from battery voltage sources, as the supply voltage may fluctuate and lead to reduced performance.

Fortunately, it is much easier to regulate the voltage down than to boost it up, and we have demonstrated some of the popular circuit techniques for connecting higher voltage fluctuating power sources to vibration motors.

Reducing and stabilising the supply voltage can be performed using discrete components or integrated circuits. Above we have provided example circuits and formulae for calculating important component values. We have also discussed popular ICs and linked to separate Application Bulletins which further expand on the topic.