The processor unit – data processing in real time
The control centre of a motor management unit is a processor, ranging from simple microcontrollers to powerful FPGAs. It processes signals from superordinate controls and sensors. It also uses complex motor drive algorithms to generate the control signals for the performance level.
Complete package for greater performance
As the data for controlling the drive has to be processed very quickly and in real time, it is essential to use a particularly powerful microcontroller that should be optimised for the motor management unit. Special high-speed microcontrollers already have motor management peripherals and digital signal processing capabilities, which replace proprietary digital signal processors. Integrated Floating Point Units or other signal processing extensions also enable performance to be considerably increased for floating point intensive calculations and also offer advantages with respect to user friendliness, for example simple programming and better code density.
Figure 1: Tasks of a processor for motor management
Multi-core processors – work without latency
Motor management processors perform a wide range of tasks. For example, modern controllers have integrated functions for controlling a motor power stage. However, single-core processors can only ever perform one task at once, which means that some tasks have to be interrupted in order to carry out another, more important task. So the latency in each of the individual tasks affects all of the other units. The higher the priority of a task, the greater the delay effect on the entire management process. In this respect, multi-core processors are significantly more powerful: they can perform several tasks simultaneously or independently of one another. This means the tasks can be carried out in real time at a fixed sampling rate and without latency. This is important for ever more complex control tasks.
Although single-core processors are around 30% cheaper than, e.g. dual-core processors, they are up to eight times less powerful when performing critical tasks, such as fast current control.
Trend towards AI integration
The performance capability of processors is continually increasing, and it has now even reached the stage where artificial intelligence functions can be integrated into the motor management.
Machine-learning applications enable faults to be detected more easily and make it possible to develop intelligent, sensor-free motor systems for predictive maintenance. The AI functions allow the motor management to detect potentially damaging anomalies in the motor system earlier and with greater precision – meaning that users can plan any required maintenance in good time and lower maintenance costs. Other types of functions are also feasible, for example for energy management.
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