A JY01 based BLDC Controller cost < 10.- USD and can deliver 500W. They support 12-36V and 15A driving the motor using either Hall Sensors or BEMF. I bought one of these for testing and are quite impressed over what they have done. The Driver area for 3 phases is twice as large as my own with 4 phases, but they use TO220 MOSFET’s and include the Capacitors. They do not attempt Phase current sensors etc, but this design is a good, low cost alternative.
This first is a BEMF controlled one and do not support Hall Sensors.
This second have a few more connections allowing direct Hall Sensor input.
The “MCU” is JY01, a SO16 chip with datasheet only in Chinese and that cost ca 1.5 USD on AliExpress. This is a BLDC Controller on a Chip. It requires external Gate Drivers and MOSFET’s, but will take a simple interface and convert it to a Trapsoidal algorithm controlled by Hall Sensors or BEMF. These controllers are also 5V logic making them perfect for an AVR like Arduino.
The only thing you need to do with these JY01 Controllers are to mount them on a heat-sink. This is simple as the MOSFET’s lay on the back with the backside down – you just put it directly on the heat-sink with thermal isolation and use the corner screw holes to press it down. Obviously you also need to add connectors etc, but a bit of wiring and a simple Arduino Program will start spinning your motor.
I don’t have any plans using these myself, but I fancied testing and investigating their design. The size 42 x 63mm is decently small and the overall design is impressive taken into account how easy it is to use one of these boards.