Motor controls for the fourth industrial revolution

Analog tip Motor controls for the fourth industrial revolution

2024-11-15 From Dara OSullivan* | Translated by AI 3 min Reading Time

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How are motor control architectures and their functions evolving to meet the needs of Industry 4.0? This ranges from simple motors that are only connected to the mains to complex multi-axis servo drive solutions. They now span a broad spectrum, from basic mains-connected motors to sophisticated multi-axis servo drive systems, enabling diverse applications.

Engine control systems: Modern production facilities contain a mixture of simpler and more complex engine control systems.(Image: ADI) — Engine control systems: Modern production facilities contain a mixture of simpler and more complex engine control systems.
(Image: ADI)

Agile manufacturing with reconfigurable production lines is necessary for industry, as low volumes with high product diversity are required. Complex, repetitive and often dangerous tasks can be performed by industrial and collaborative robots (cobots).

This change in production patterns has led to an increased need for more complex, customizable, autonomous and intelligent automation hardware at the heart of motor control systems. Systems such as conveyors and handling machines must become smarter, have more axes of movement and be quick and easy to reconfigure.

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Figure 1: The variety of motor controls used in modern automation today.(Image: ADI)

Motor control systems: Modern production facilities contain a mixture of simpler and more complex engine control systems.(Image: ADI)

Speed controllers can provide access to machine data in the form of voltages, currents, position, temperature, power and energy consumption, combined with external sensors to monitor vibrations and other process variables. With a converged IT/OT Ethernet network, insights are made easier by accessing motor and machine data and can be analyzed with powerful cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

This optimizes production processes and monitors the current "health status" of the appliances throughout the entire production facility. This optimization of the production flow also reduces energy consumption in smart production.

In motion control systems, mixed Ethernet communication protocols are gradually being replaced by TSN (Time-Sensitive Network) systems.

Modern production plants contain a mixture of simpler and more complex motor control systems (Figure 1). In them, simple inverters connected to the grid are increasingly being replaced by networked and synchronized systems equipped with integrated sensors.

Motor connected to the mains: This basic motion control runs at a relatively fixed speed. However, true fixed speed applications are very limited in industry. However, they continue to be used in situations where motor operation is only periodic and the cost of a controllable drive is not justified (e.g. periodically used fans, pumps, valves and actuators, all of which have low power requirements).

Converter-fed motors: Adding a simple frequency converter to the motor control allows a significant reduction in energy consumption because the motor always runs at the optimum speed for the connected load and application. Pumps, fans, blowers and larger control systems such as work platforms are typical applications.

Controllable drives: For higher power motion control, a controllable drive allows accurate control of torque, speed and position. To achieve this, current and position measurements are added to the frequency inverter. Conveyor belts, winding, printing and extrusion systems are typical examples that require a variable speed drive.

Servo drives: Synchronized multi-axis servo drives are used in most complex drive applications. Machine tools and CNC machines require synchronization of multiple axes, with extremely accurate position feedback. Precision machining machines and additive manufacturing are key applications for multi-axis servo drives.

Industrial robots/cobots/mobile robots: Industrial robots require multi-axis servo drives combined with mechanical integration and advanced machine control algorithms to achieve complex 3D spatial positioning. Collaborative robots (cobots), which are based on industrial robots and additionally use power and force limiting (PFL) and safety functions, allow an employee to work safely together with the robot.

Mobile robots also have localization detection and collision avoidance. The applications performed by robotic systems are constantly growing, from traditional automotive production to handling, palletizing, pick-and-place, packaging and logistics. (kr)

Figure 1: Structure of a typical wired battery management system (BMS). (Image:Texas Instruments)

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Analog tip Motor controls for the fourth industrial revolution

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