Author Archives: Tero

Resolver/synchro feedback support in the next FW

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I have been testing a resolver feedback couple of days now for Argon and it seems promising already! It’s working very well in the prototype code and it provides position resolution of 8192 counts per revolution.

As resolver is analog sensor, it’s sensitive to noise sources such as unshielded motor leads but this doesn’t seem to be huge problem. Motor will make some hissing sound but otherwise it “feels” just like encoder. However unlike incremental encoders, resolver is absolute position sensor (meaning that the instantly drive knows absolute motor angle, not just the amount turned from the beginning of measure). The benefit of this is elimination of the need of Hall sensors and/or phasing during drive power-on initialization.

Argon Firmware & Granity version 1.1.0 released

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A new Argon firmware has been released today. Version 1.1.0 adds few new functions and among other adjustments, it includes the performance increase discussed in the earlier post.

Granity software

Granity servo tuning software

Full change logs and download can be found from the Wiki (Firmware, Granity).

Update: Turned out there was a clitch in one of the new features. FW version 1.1.1 has been released to address that.

Get a voucher and meet us at SPS IPC DRIVES 2013 exhibition

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I and my colleague are going to exhibit at SPS IPC DRIVES on 26. – 28.11.2013 at Nuremberg, Germany. This is the very first time we go out for such event as exhibitor.

The Argon offer available from our booth!

The Argon offer available from our booth! The banner says Open Source firmware, which is planned to be release right after the exhibition.

I warmly welcome everyone to visit the greatest automation fair SPS IPC DRIVES with a free entry voucher. To register as visitor, use Granite Devices voucher code 130748463 at www.mesago.com/sps/tickets. Trust me, there’s tons of amazing stuff to see and one full day is hardly enough to walk trough it.

SimpleMotion V2 library pre-release with an example program

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Things are pushing forward regardless of being very busy preparing Granite Devices visit to SPS IPS DRIVES exhibition (welcome to Nurember, Germany on 26-28.11.2013!).

Anyway, today I have uploaded the first pre-release of awaited SimpleMotion V2 library with a small example program. Download it, and find usage instructions from here. Official library release and more example programs will follow later on.

SimpleMotion V2 example program

Easily extendable SimpleMotion V2 example program is currently capable of doing some basic functions

Coming firmware changes & Sanyo Denki P5 example

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New Argon servo drive firmware is under preparations. One of the improvements will affect to performance at high electrical commutation frequencies. High frequencies occur at high rotation speeds especially if motor magnetic pole count is high (more than 4).

Argon performance improvement illustrated. In this test motor was accelerated with constant current in torque mode before and after FW upgrade. The new FW accelerates motor faster and yields higher speeds meaning it delivers more torque at high speed region.

Performance change illustrated. In this test motor was accelerated with constant 1 Amp current in torque mode before (the light yellow graph) and after FW upgrade (dark yellow). From the graph we can see how the new FW accelerates motor faster and reaches higher speeds meaning it delivers more torque at high speed region. The motor is a 300W Sanyo Denki P5.

Before releasing it, we’re planning to implement also configurable motor braking control that will help people with vertical axes where gravity tends to pull unpowered axis down.

Two days left & Fullfilment changes

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Two more days left on introductory pricing of Argon. When it’s gone, it’s gone!

On the other news, we’re today shipping the very first batch of products to a warehouse service located in London where they pack & ship the products around the world. This yields more consistent shipping response time, faster delivery method and reduced shipping cost at the same time!

The fulfilment service has warehouses also in the US and Hong Kong where we may expand stocking later on. This would enable very low shipping cost and freeing from customs hassle from the US or Asian customer point of view. The service soon opens new warehouses also in Germany and Australia which makes things even better!

ARGON servo drive available with introductory discount one more week!

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The €100 introductory discount per Argon drive is valid until 4.10.2013. No minimum or maximum order quantity limits apply!

The introductory offer of Argon

The one time introductory offer of Argon

Argon production is finally fully operational, so no longer long waits! After placing the order (until Oct 4), there is 21 days time to complete payment to keep the order and discount active. For ordering, see Argon web shop.

Update: whooops, I had wrong month name here (Aug). Now fixed to Oct!

Important bug fix in Argon FW 1.0.3

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We have encountered a flaw in the Argon firmware that puts drive power stage transistors in danger if safe torque off (STO) was activated in certain conditions. This issue has been fixed in a firmware version 1.0.3 available here. Please upgrade FW before continuing use of the drives!

The bug endangered only the drive itself. Regardless of this issue, STO function has always worked without compromising user or machine safety. STO is based on hardware circuits thus software can’t defeat it even if it wanted so.

Safe torque off testing once STO2 activated. When STO2 is activated, the gate drive voltage will be removed from the power stage forcing all motor driving transistors non-conductive. Traces: green=gate supply voltage, red=PWM signal from DSP to power stage, yellow=under voltage fault from power stage, blue=output voltage of power stage (measured at motor terminal).

Safe torque off testing once STO2 activated. When STO2 is activated, the gate drive voltage will be removed from the power stage forcing motor driving transistors in non-conductive state. Traces: green=gate supply voltage, red=PWM signal from DSP to power stage, yellow=under voltage fault from power stage, blue=output voltage of power stage (measured at motor terminal). From the traces we see that STO2 reacted within 300 µs from activation.

The technical background in this issue was that the power stage module’s built-in under voltage lock-out protects only half of the transistors inside. The other half of transistors are able to run despite gate voltage being too low which could cause high heat dissipation and transistor melt down. This has been fixed by shutting down the controlling PWM signal once power stage’s undervoltage fault becomes active.

In the other news, we finally received more Argon in stock! All pending orders will ship on Monday.

Update 26.9.2013: The users who had drives damaged due to this bug have been successfully served by repairing or replacing the drives for free. Such faults are always covered by warranty.

Argon firmware 1.0.2 released!

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Argon firmware 1.0.2 has been released containing many significant changes. It can be downloaded from here. At the same time also Granity 1.0.2 has been released to add support for the new features.

One of the most notable change is re-calibration of dead-time distortion correction yielding significantly better servo performance. The earlier firmware was actually calibrated for one of the prototype drives while the latest release has been optimized for the final drive version featuring faster IGBT transistors in the power stage.

dasdas

Dead-time distortion correction in action. The result is near pure sinusoidal current waveforms.