PWM

How it is used

Pronounced 'P-W-M'. Used for LED dimming, motor speed control and power converters. Engineers set the PWM frequency and duty cycle, generate PWM with a hardware timer and talk about a PWM output or a PWM signal.

Example sentences

1. At a 50% duty cycle, the PWM signal gives the motor about half of its full voltage on average.

2. Raise the PWM frequency above 20 kHz so that the motor doesn't whine.

Common collocations

• PWM signal
• PWM frequency
• duty cycle
• PWM output
• PWM dimming

Related terms

• microcontrollerA small computer on a single chip, with a processor, memory and input/output peripherals. It runs firmware to control devices such as appliances, sensors and motors.
• MOSFETA type of field-effect transistor controlled by the voltage on its gate. It is the most common switch in power electronics and digital chips, and its terminals are called gate, drain and source.
• LEDShort for light-emitting diode: a diode that gives off light when current flows through it in the forward direction. It needs a resistor or a driver to limit its current.
• motorA machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical rotation. Most industrial machines use three-phase induction motors, while small devices often use DC or brushless motors.
• GPIOShort for general-purpose input/output: a microcontroller pin that firmware can set as an input to read a logic level or as an output to drive something.

More terms: Digital Electronics and Microcontrollers

• ADC
• firmware
• clock signal
• pull-up resistor
• UART
• I2C
• SPI