Melexis expands smart single-coil fan driver family with high configurability
Melexis has introduced the MLX90411-D, a 800mA cooling fan driver that extends the MLX90411 family with enhanced customer configurability, smoother motor control, and simplified system integration. Designed for single-coil fans operating from 5 V, 12 V, 24 V, or 32 V, this innovation targets consumer systems (gaming, PC), home appliances (refrigerators) and power infrastructure (UPS, ESS)
Cooling fans are essential in applications ranging from gaming consoles and PCs to refrigerators, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and energy storage solutions (ESS). Manufacturers in these markets face the dual challenge of maintaining robustness and lifetime stability while meeting rising expectations for system cost and noise reduction. The MLX90411-D addresses this need with a carefully balanced approach, delivering advanced motor control features in a cost-optimised package.
At the heart of the MLX90411-D is an improved motor-control algorithm that delivers smoother start/stop behaviour, reduced acoustic noise, and extended lifetime performance. The revised proportional–integral (PI) regulation enables stable operation even at very low speeds — down to below 1000 RPM — while offering multiple start/stop profiles to match different application needs. Building on this foundation, the MLX90411-D adds greater configurability with a flexible speed-curve definition, now allowing both maximum and minimum operating points to be set. This enables more precise airflow control, as well as lower power consumption through reduced minimum fan speeds.
To simplify system design, the MLX90411-D integrates FG (frequency generator) and RD (rotation detection) outputs, allowing system-level monitoring without the need for variant-specific devices. It also offers selectable pull-up or pull-down PWM input, eliminating the need for external inverters and providing greater flexibility across different system architectures while reducing bill-of-material (BoM) component count. The MLX90411-D maintains the proven EMC robustness, and lifetime reliability of the MLX90411 family. A range of protection and diagnostic features, including programmable locked rotor protection (LRP), temperature shutdown (TSD), programmable over-voltage protection (OVP), and short circuit protection (OCP), further ensure safe operation.
The identical SOT23-6 package ensures pin-to-pin compatibility with the MLX90411B, facilitating easy migration and enabling customers to use the new integrated circuit (IC) without needing to redesign. With this combination of configurability, acoustic performance, cost optimisation, and high reliability, the MLX90411-D is ideally suited for < 10 W fan markets, including gaming consoles, PC cooling, refrigerators, VGA/GPU cooling, and 24 V/32 V industrial fans used in UPS, inverters, and energy storage systems.
