‘Controller’ Archives
Azure Dynamics (Solectria) 445TF UMOC Controller Testing

My older son acquired an Azure Dynamics (Solectria) 445TF UMOC Controller and loaned it to me to test in the Mini. Constructed an interface circuit to convert the Ford Siemens Motor's single ended encoder output to bipolar differential drive required by the controller. Fabricated connections out of some removable DB-25 [...]
Current Waveform Investigation

I measure all three phase currents today to see if there might be visible phasing issues. I only have a two channel scope so Phase 3 was not measured at the same time as Phase 2. The Phase 3 current is also being measured with a different current sensor. With the scope settings it has a slightly different gain. The waveforms are noisy and [...]
Shutter/Jerking Current Waveform

Attached is a picture of the filtered Phase 1 PWM signal (green) and its resulting Phase 1 motor current (yellow) in open loop control mode. Expanded view shows the current variation (yellow) which results in the shutter/jerking. It smooth before and after this section. The higher current peaks are about 400 amps. Not sure what [...]
Prius Inverter Evaluation

Have been evaluating the possible use of a Prius Inverter driven with a Microchip controller over the past several months. Removed the link capacitor to see the driver circuit and replaced it with a smaller cap (blue) and hooked 36 volts across it. Using the setup below, hooked 12 volts between connector labels IGCT and GINV to [...]
Lessons Learned Using Industrial VFD for Motor Controller

This post contains a breif overview of what we learned trying to use an Industrial VFD as the Motor Controller. We purchased two used Industrial Variable Frequency Drives on eBay. The first one was a 30 HP 460 AC Benshaw Sensorless Vector Drive RSi030SX4B which turned out not have enough current output to get the car rolling consistently from a [...]