Gecko Vampire drive

Due to recent events, the "bullet-proof" G201 has been renamed G204V
and moved up to the front burner on the development stove. Vampires
are very hard to kill, the G204V will be very hard to kill, therefore
the name change. It will be the same size and pinout as the G201 but
will incorporate the following improvements:

1) Radically different switching topology. The motor will be stone-
cold while stopped or turning slowly. Overdrive ratios of 80:1 will
be possible. The switching topology synthesises the best of
circulating and non-recirculating techniques within a single
switching cycle.

2) Short Circuit protection. Miswire a motor, short the motor leads,
have a bad (shorted) motor, it won't care. The Gecko Vampire will
simply light the Fault output (previously the Enable terminal). You
clear the problem, reset it, and it takes off again.

3) Load dump. You are decelerating a large motor carring a heavy
inertial load rapidly from a high speed. Energy is being extracted to
stop the load and must be dissipated. No problem, the on-board energy
dump circuit will safely shunt it to ground.

4) Thermal shutdown. Forgot to use one or have undersized the
heatsink? No problem. The Gecko Vampire will light the Fault LED when
things get too hot and will go into protective shutdown. Once things
cool off it'll be ready to try again.

5) Motor connect/disconnect protection. You have a crappy motor
connector or you forget to shut the power off before
connecting/disconnecting the motor? Again, no problem. If the Vampire
drive doesn't like what you just did it will light the Fault LED and
wait until you get your act together:-)

6) G201 or G210? Both will be incorporated in the Vampire. Microstep,
half-step, full-step, your choice. The jumpers will be available
without taking the cover off.

7) No Caps, no Zeners need apply. The Gecko Vampire uses a completly
new power section circuit that balances the circulating currents with
almost no current ripple at all. This means no external "helper"
parts will be needed. Hook it up to your supply and it's ready to go.

8) You still managed to blow it up? People are creative and someone
will be a Vampire Slayer. It will not stand up to someone applying
115VAC to it for instance. For those special lucky (or unlucky) few,
all will not be completely lost. The G204V is a two-board design.
With effort, you may be able to blow up the main power section. The
second board will survive, making your loss considerably less than
100%.

9) When, how much? Basically don't ask right now. The when part will
probably be between next spring and summer. The cost is the last
thing that's figured after everything else is done and working. The
price won't be that much more than a G210 though. Otherwise there is
no point in doing it; it has to be affordable.

10) Protection. It will be necessary to protect it by copyrights,
patents, circut techniques and other means. As I have sadly
discovered, not everyone is honest. I am lucky that I have good
ideas, but I don't have them often enough that I don't mourn when
someone steals one.

Looking at the whole thing quixotically, the system is really set up
to produce the best for everyone. The stupid steal from the smart,
the smart in turn come up with something better to shake off the
stupid. In the ensuing process everyone benefits.

Until this little matter happened to me, there was no reason to come
up with a better drive even though I had designed a far better one.
See what I mean?

Mariss