Ryoko Machinery of Taipei is a leading OEM that has been building automated car parks for over 20 years. The company now uses Unidrive SP AC motor drives from Control Techniques for controlling the hoist motors because of their performance, reliability and stability when running above the rated motor speed and the drive’s flexibility in mode switching.
Cars parked are moved to their computer assigned parking space on a pallet. The customer simply drives into the garage and parks in one of several bays on a steel pallet. The car is then whisked away and stored in a one of the secure bays.
The latest tower car park project, in Taipei, has one Unidrive SP AC drive, controlling the hoist motor lifting the car platform between the entry level and the various storage floors of the tower. The 37 kW AC drive operates in closed loop mode and was chosen for its superior torque performance at brake release and on stopping, giving a very smooth ride of the hoist throughout its cycle.
A further key factor in the selection of Unidrive SP is its flexibility of operation. It can be changed from closed loop to open mode in moments should the need arise, without the need for additional hardware or wiring. In the event of a failure of the encoder or a break in the feedback wiring, the operator is able to keep the car park in full service until the fault is fixed.
No special modules or additional PLCs are needed for the drive operation. All of the required functions are programmed directly into the drive itself, saving both space and cost. For example, the torque setting at brake release is set into the standard parameters. Start and destination is specified by the master PLC in terminal commands – no complex communications are needed.
For users, it is a very safe and convenient system. The car is stored in an empty parking space and is returned automatically at the push of a button. There are no problems of theft or vandalism, no personal risk from robbery in long dark stairwells and no risk of injury from slipping on wet or icy ramps.
From the owner’s perspective, parking density is double that of a conventional car park with no space required for ramps, carriageways or stairs.
Reliability and speed of the hoist is critical. Movements must be rapid and precise with no creeping to position – there simply is not time. Particularly at morning drop off and evening retrieval times when many people arrive within a short time frame. Control Techniques Unidrive SP has proven its reliability time and again in many such installations in Taiwan.
The Unidrive SP AC variable speed drive range spans 0,37 kW right up to 1,9 MW to provide an advanced AC drive solutions platform, configurable in five operating modes – open and closed loop, vector, servo and regenerating modes – with connectivity to most industry standard networks and accepting 14 position feedback protocols. A range of plug-in module options allows its on-board PLC to be supplemented with programmable modules.
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