New Stuff in the Chute

[Mariss Freimanis]

Hi,

I've been busy. Here's what busy brings:

1) G320X_REV7: The latest G320X revision got finished Friday. This revision has:

a) An anti-dither DIP-switch setting. No more grunting and groaning while the motor is stopped. Total silence. Purists can switch it out.

b) HEDS or USDigital DIP-switch setting. Got HEDS encoders the G320X won't accept? Now it will. You lose the encoder failure detect option when in HEDS mode but that's the price you pay. In proto now, as soon as it checks out next week, it goes into production.

2) G213_REV0: New drive.

a) It has everything the G203V has but it includes an integral step pulse multiplier. You get 10 microsteps, 5 microsteps, half-step and full-step resolutions.

You're thinking "Uh-uh, the G901 multiplier screws up in contouring and I don't want any of that again." It's not a G901 smushed into the G203V. It is completely different, it cannot be fooled because it uses a servodrive type PID 4-quadrant multiplier. It simply cannot be fooled by any STP/DIR sequence you send to it. Utterly bulletproof.

b) It has DIP-switch settable motor phase current.

c) It has DIP-switch settable standby current (100%, 75%, 50% and 25% of set current).

d) It has an opto-isolated FAULT output. Lets you know if the drive quit because of a short-circuit, undervoltage or some other malfunction.

This one goes to proto board Monday, boards Friday. Everything else is just like what the G203V has. The board is done, the Verilog code isn't. Worst case: The Verilog code is too big for the CPLD. It'll be close but I think it may make it. Got my fingers crossed.

G801: Totally new drive: This is a BLDC PID servodrive using field oriented control (FOC) and Space Vector Modulation. Sounds really cool and it is; an absolutely state of the art brushless DC motor servodrive.

It went into proto board fabrication Friday and what will return is a proof of concept board. It is the furthest out from production but not that far. Things are nearly worked out on it; maybe June of this year before it's available.

4) Step motor servo. Very similar to the BLDC servo. It is being developed in tandem with the BLDC servo. Some issues remain with field weakening but they aren't insurmountable. The action will be with the BLDC servodrive so the emphasis is being placed on it. The step servo is a done deal and it will follow the BLDC servo in the new product line.

Mariss

[307startup]

Can't wait to see what you have wrought once they hit the market. As usual Mariss, you seem to be ahead of the curve.

So what's the deal with the programmable controller?

[blades]

Originally Posted by 307startup ....... So what's the deal with the programmable controller?

+1 on this highly-anticipated (by me, anyway) item!

[multiplex]

sounds like some awesome stuff! i'll be keeping my eye out

[MattTheNoob]

My G320's haven't missed a beat, but now I almost hope one of them cooks so I can buy the upgraded G320X model.

Keep up the good work Mariss. Your enthusiasm for this stuff really shows.

[veteq]

Point 4 stays a hard target.

keep getting excited when i see the words (step/servo)......

Keep it up.

[Kipper]

Originally Posted by Mariss G801: Totally new drive: This is a BLDC PID servodrive using field oriented control (FOC) and Space Vector Modulation. Sounds really cool and it is; an absolutely state of the art brushless DC motor servodrive.

Sounds interesting! I'm wondering if it'll drive the BLDC motors I can find at the model shop?

[MrWild]

What a tyrant. It's bad enough your poor overworked slaves get no rest, but now you've made even more work for them. Did my NASA buddy contact you yet about step-servo progress? You guys should get along fine, he thinks I'm an ******* too. LOL Very cool beans, your competitors are losing sleep.

[Mariss Freimanis]

MrWild,

It's worse than that. I haven't told anyone about the 6' long chain from my ankle to the leg of my work station. It's a cruel situation, the bathroom is 7' away...

Update:

1) The G320X REV8 prototype worked perfectly. It has been sent out for volume pcb fabrication; look for it late April. For the geek types, it uses 0.008" via holes and SC70 size small-signal diodes, transistors, and analog multiplexers. It will be a test to see how well our machines handle such small geometry parts.

2) The G213X prototype is running. The pulse multiplier uses a hetrodyne technique VCO (frequency differencing). In principle it works nicely but my choice of a 156kHz center frequency needs to be upped 4-fold to 625kHz for technical reasons (increase time resolution from 6.4us to 1.6us). This design should be ready in about 10 days.

3) G801X BLDC servodrive. I have the proto boards, I haven't had the time to stuff one. I will have the time in 10 days. This should be an exciting one.

4) Step servo. I have a working step servo using FOC (field oriented control). It works very nicely up to 1,500 RPM. To go faster, field-weakening must be employed. I am still working on an effective and simple (good fit) field-weakening algorithm. This algorithm has turned out to be a little more mathematically difficult than I had imagined.

That's it to date.

Mariss

[blades]

Mariss, are you still in development on the SD card/dongle unit for the G540?

[PEU]

Hi Mariss, how are the g213x and the step servo doing in the pre-production chain?

I would like to purchase the step-servos but build timming will probably mandate the 213x as it will be ready sooner.

Thanks in advance for the update


Pablo

[jimbo7]

4) Step motor servo. Very similar to the BLDC servo. It is being developed in tandem with the BLDC servo. Some issues remain with field weakening but they aren't insurmountable. The action will be with the BLDC servodrive so the emphasis is being placed on it. The step servo is a done deal and it will follow the BLDC servo in the new product line.

Mariss,

This sounds promising. Any progress?

Thanks,
Jimbo 7