Our application drives a solenoid that, when activated (power applied), allows a hinge to rotate. When the solenoid is not activated, the hinge locks. See attached photo. The design has two issues:
- Heat. 12V @ .6A generates too much heat.
- A lengthy cable harness from the controller board to the hinge. We need to keep the wire count as low as possible.
The MPQ6610-AEC1 has what we need in a device that can reduce current draw by pwm’ing the output in a single chip after applied a constant voltage for X ms depending on Iset configuration. Plus the over-current, open-load, thermal shutdowns are also perfect for our application.
We have discovered an issue during testing. If there is any downward pressure on the hinge, which there can be, when the MPQ6610-AEC1 is enabled, even a constant voltage on the solenoid can not overcome the force. We have no control of when that downward force may be removed. So if the downward force is removed AFTER the MPQ6610-AEC1 has started to pwm, there is no way to activate the solenoid.
We do have another device mounted in the hinge that detects hinge angle. Is there some way to force the MPQ6610-AEC1 to stay at a constant voltage until our controller detects hinge movement and then switch it to PWM? Maybe use a digital potentiometer to dynamically adjust Iset resistor value?
Thanks in advance.