H-BRIDGE

What is an H-Bridge?
An H-bridge is a simple circuit that lets you control a DC motor to go
backward or forward.

You normally use it with a microcontroller, such as an Arduino, to control

motors.

When you can control two motors to go either forward or backward – you
can build yourself a robot!
 H-Bridge concept
A DC motor spins either backward or forward, depending on
how you connect the plus and the minus.

If you close switch 1 and 4, you have plus connected to the left
side of the motor and minus to the other side. And the motor
will start spinning in one direction.
 Cont. H-Bridge concept

If you instead close switch 2 and 3, you have

plus connected to the right side and minus to the
left side. And the motor spins in the opposite
direction.
 The H-Bridge circuit

You can build an H-bridge with four transistors.

Usually, you control the transistors from a microcontroller, such
as Arduino.
What Transistors To Use?
The transistors you choose must:

 Handle enough current

 Use PNP (or pmos) at the top
 Have a low voltage drop between collector and emitter
 Current

• The most important thing is that all the transistors can handle enough current
for the motor. Otherwise it will burn out.
• For example, if the motor draws 1 Ampere of current, you need transistors that
can handle a minimum of 1 Ampere.
 PNP (or pmos) transistors at the top

• Next, you see I have chosen PNP transistors on the top, and NPN transistors on the bottom.
• What turns the transistor on or off is the voltage difference between the base and the emitter.
• With PNP transistors at the top, you can use a higher voltage for VCC than you use for the
base of the transistors.
• For example, you can use 3.3V outputs from a microcontroller and 9V for Vcc.
• That won’t work if you have NPNs at the top since the emitter will be 0.7V lower than the
base. Because that turns into 3.3V – 0.7V = 2.6V at the positive side of the motor, no matter
what VCC voltage you choose.
 Low voltage drop between collector and
emitter
• While building a robot in Colombia, I tried to make this circuit using TIP120 and TIP127 transistors.
• That did not work.
• TIP12x transistors give a 2V drop from the emitter to collector.
• In such a configuration, you’d end up with a loss of 4V over the transistors. I was trying to connect this
to an Arduino, using its 5V supply, but failed because it was only 1V left for the motor!
• Here’s a nice article/rant about the topic: Stop using antique parts!
• Basically, it says that the TIP transistors are antiques that you shouldn’t use anymore exactly because of
this huge voltage drop.
• Choose transistors with low voltage drop. For example BD135/BD136 or MOSFET transistors.
 Protection diodes and PWM mode
A side-effect of how a motor works is that the motor will also
generate electrical energy. When you disable the transistors to
stop running the motor, this energy needs to be released on
some way.

If you add diodes in the reverse direction for the transistors, you
give a path for the current to take to release this energy. Without
them, you risk that the voltage rises and damages your
transistors.
 PWM DC Motor Control
• is a technique which allows us to adjust the average value
of the voltage that’s going to the electronic device by
turning on and off the power at a fast rate. 
• The average voltage depends on the duty cycle, or the amount of
time the signal is ON versus the amount of time the signal is OFF
in a single period of time.
• So depending on the size of the motor.
H-Bridge DC Motor Control

• So if we combine these two methods, the PWM and the H-Bridge, we can have a complete control over the
DC motor.
• There are many DC motor drivers that have these features and the L298N is one of them.
 L298N Driver
• The L298N is a dual H-Bridge motor driver which
allows speed and direction control of two DC motors
at the same time.
• The module can drive DC motors that have voltages between
5 and 35V, with a peak current up to 2A.
Cont.  L298N module and explain how it
works.
• The module has two screw terminal blocks for the motor A and B.
• And another screw terminal block for the Ground pin, the VCC for motor and a 5V pin which can either
be an input or output.
 L298N module and explain how it
works.
Arduino Robot Car Control using L298N Driver.