Compact motor drive controller

Motion Control & Drives

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April 2002 Motion Control & Drives

The Red Lion motor drive controller (MDC) regulates motor speed by varying an isolated DC control signal to the motor drive system. This controller has two modes of operation, master and follower. Master mode provides control of a motor's speed directly via programmed speed setpoints in the MDC. Regulation is maintained by a feedback frequency to the MDC taken from the motor shaft or a downstream shaft pulse encoder. Follower mode controls a motor's speed as a ratio to a second motor's speed or outside frequency source. Ratio setpoints are programmed into the MDC causing the motor to 'follow' the lead motor or frequency at a fixed speed ratio. Master mode has two speed setpoints and two ramp setpoints. Follower mode has two ratio setpoints and two ratio ramp setpoints.

Both modes share a jog speed setpoint, a jog ramp setpoint, two alarm values and a gain value. All setpoints are retained in nonvolatile memory when the unit is powered down. The motor drive controller has the added feature of allowing realtime adjustment of the speed (master mode) or ratio (follower mode) setpoint while the unit is operating a motor drive system. The setpoint may be adjusted via the front panel keypad using the 'up' or 'down' arrow keys, or via two user inputs programmed for increment setpoint and decrement setpoint.

User flexibility is provided through the two-line by eight-character alphanumeric display. The display features easily viewed menus for simplified programming. The four scroll-through indication displays can be programmed to show various parameters and to automatically scroll, if desired. A program disable DIP-switch used with an external user input can be used to protect the settings and guarantee that no unwanted changes occur during operation.

There are five dedicated control inputs on the MDC: run, ramp stop, fast stop jog, open loop. There are six programmable control inputs: two front panel function keys and four remote user inputs. The F1 and F2 keys are factory programmed for run and R-stop respectively. This eliminates the need for external switches in some applications.

There are three solid state outputs, two are programmable alarms and one is a dedicated drive enable output. Programmable alarm functions include high alarm, low alarm, deviation alarm, zero speed and disabled. These may be programmed for boundary or latching operation, high or low acting. Changing speed setpoints and programming information is easily accomplished by scrolling through menus and selecting the required parameter.

The device will fit into a 68 x 68 mm cutout, requiring 150 mm behind the panel. The facia stands 3,8 mm proud of the panel and measures 75 x 75 mm.

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Motion Control & Drives

Compact motor drive controller

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