Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) has introduced four new evaluation boards—EPC91128, EPC91129, EPC91130, and EPC91131—designed to accelerate the development of next-generation three-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motor drive systems using gallium nitride (GaN) technology.
The compact, high-performance inverter platforms are built around EPC’s integrated EPC23108, EPC23109, EPC23110, and EPC23111 ePower™ Stage ICs. The boards support input voltages ranging from 10 V to 80 V and output currents up to 29 ARMS, providing developers with a flexible platform for rapid evaluation in applications such as robotics, industrial automation, e-mobility auxiliary systems, and battery-powered equipment.
The evaluation boards integrate key inverter functions including gate drivers, current sensing, voltage sensing, housekeeping power supplies, temperature monitoring, and protection features. This high level of integration enables engineers to quickly prototype high-efficiency motor drive systems while minimizing the need for additional external circuitry. The platforms are optimized to reduce torque ripple and acoustic noise while providing flexible dv/dt control for application-specific tuning.
All four evaluation boards support complementary PWM and single-PWM control schemes, depending on the selected variant. They are also compatible with controller platforms from Microchip, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, and Renesas, allowing developers to integrate them easily into existing motor-control development environments.
A key feature of the EPC91128–EPC91131 platforms is their demonstrated performance in practical motor-drive testing. During validation using a 48 V DC bus and switching frequencies of up to 100 kHz, the EPC91128 and EPC91129 boards successfully drove a 3 kW BLDC motor while delivering 15 ARMS continuous phase current without a heatsink. With a heatsink and natural-convection cooling, continuous current capability increased to 20 ARMS. Under pulsed operating conditions, the boards supported peak currents of up to 29 ARMS, demonstrating the ability of the integrated ePower™ Stage IC architecture to manage demanding dynamic motor loads.
The EPC91130 and EPC91131 variants achieved 10 ARMS continuous operation without a heatsink and 15 ARMS with heatsink assistance. Under pulsed conditions, these boards supported peak currents of up to 18 ARMS. According to EPC, the test results demonstrate that the compact GaN-based inverter platforms can sustain meaningful power levels suitable for industrial-grade motor control evaluation while maintaining thermal performance and switching efficiency at elevated switching frequencies.
Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC, stated that the new inverter platforms are intended to make GaN technology more accessible for high-performance motor-drive applications. He noted that as designers increasingly pursue higher efficiency, faster switching frequencies, and more compact power electronics systems, the new evaluation boards can help accelerate the transition from silicon-based solutions to GaN across robotics, industrial automation, and battery-powered motion systems.
Marco Palma, Vice President of Motor Drive Marketing and System Engineering at EPC, highlighted that the new platforms provide engineers with ready-to-use environments for evaluating the latest ePower™ Stage ICs under real motor-drive operating conditions. He added that the integrated sensing, protection, and control features allow developers to focus on system optimization rather than spending time designing the underlying power stage.
To support product development, EPC provides complete design resources for the new evaluation boards, including schematics, bill of materials (BOM), and Gerber files.
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