Motion control pushes automobile development into a new direction (Part 2)

Publisher:数字狂想Latest update time:2011-09-12 Source: 电子系统设计 Reading articles on mobile phones Scan QR code
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Amrit Vivekanand, director of business development at Renesas, has observed a significant shift from first-generation electric vehicle designs to second-generation designs. “In first-generation designs, cost was not a big issue for automakers, although it has always been an issue,” said Vivekanand. “Volumes were smaller, and time to market and creating an environmentally friendly image were more important. These systems were not optimized for motor control, let alone hybrid vehicle applications.”

2016-2018 will be a new era, with the industry's focus shifting toward more mass-market products. This forces automakers to ask some system-related questions. Vivekanand asked: "How to reduce costs? How to improve efficiency? How to reduce the size of the battery? How to convert energy as efficiently as possible?"

Vivekanand noted a significant change in design strategies from the first to second generation standards. “The first generation was all about safely controlling the motor, which was the primary concern, but now it has become about efficiency,” he said. “Motor control is now mature enough to ensure energy conversion efficiency and address system design tradeoffs.”

Freescale Semiconductor provides microcontroller technology for motor control to Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs. Steven Rober, microcontroller business manager at Freescale Semiconductor, said, "Until now, Freescale and other manufacturers have been reusing microcontroller designs used in suspension control and powertrain." In the future, Freescale plans to adopt a more comprehensive system approach.

Freescale's next-generation 55nm microcontroller will support relevant custom peripherals to ensure that the device can be controlled by current measurement and control driving three motor suspensions, and combine these capabilities with high-output microinstructions and high memory content for the powertrain. Rober hopes that these changes will improve control signals, compatibility with more complex control algorithms, improve system controllability and reduce costs.

Rober expects that many low-end and mid-range cars will use electronic control system designs to control IC engines and traction motors. He said, "Our 55nm microcontrollers are combining storage, throughput and control peripherals to achieve these designs." TI also recently released a dual-subsystem C2000 Concerto microcontroller for hybrid vehicles and non-automotive applications. This series combines the C28x core and ARM Cortex-M3 core to achieve real-time control and connectivity.

Michael Wei, marketing manager of TI C2000 MCU, said that C2000 plays an important role in automotive control and digital motor control. "Our value comes from AC induction motors, and we have such capabilities."

TI believes that a future change in motor control for electric and hybrid vehicles is that the ISO 26262 safety standard for automotive systems will impose more and broader safety requirements on vehicles.

Anthony Vaughan, marketing manager for TI's safety MCU division, said, "TMS 470M and C2000 work well together to achieve motor control drives." In this architecture, TMS 470M provides safety functions, and customers' previous generation systems use C2000 to achieve electric motor control. In the next generation of systems, users will add TSM470M. For example, all storage is guaranteed by ECC (error correction code) to ensure that single-byte errors can be detected and corrected in time."

Manufacturers whose products can be used in powertrain applications may be able to extend their reach into motor control for hybrid and electric vehicles. For example, Minal Sawent, product marketing manager at Microsemi, said that through its acquisition of Actel, Microsemi has acquired AEC Q100-certified products that can be used in powertrain application designs.

The latest SmartFusion products include hard-core FPGAs with ARM Cortex-M3 and programmable analog technology. The motor control development kit helps users understand their capabilities in motor control applications. Although these products are not yet automotive certified, Microsemi will strive to obtain certification in the future.

Real energy

The power semiconductor devices in the inverter are in direct contact with permanent magnet motors, induction motors and other motors of electric or hybrid vehicles. The inverter converts the DC energy in the battery into the AC power required to drive the motor.

“Making the inverter more efficient has a direct impact on the battery size,” said Carl Bonfiglio, technical market area manager for hybrid and electric vehicles at Infineon Technologies North America.

Bonfiglio found that the power level requirements of automakers have reached a very high level. "We don't think they will continue to increase the power of the inverter, but should reduce the power of the inverter."

At the SAE 2011 Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Power Motor Technology Forum held in Anaheim, California, USA, Jochen Hanebeck, President of Infineon's Automotive Electronics Division, discussed the changes that power semiconductor technology will bring to future electric and hybrid vehicles.

Hanebeck said that compared with today's standard technology operating at 200°C junction temperature, it is possible to increase output power by more than 60% per unit silicon area and increase lifetime by more than 500% at the same output power without changing lifetime. Another option is to reduce the silicon area by 40%, with higher temperature resistance at the same lifetime and output power, and eliminate the low-temperature heat sink (Figure 5).

Improvements in gate driver ICs have significant benefits for the system. They can quickly diagnose different error conditions, take action and communicate with the host MCU to ensure a reliable response in the moment. “The industry is using gate driver ICs originally developed for industrial motor control in applications where diagnostics are not a high priority,” Bonfiglio said.

On-board diagnostics (OBD) alone are not enough to drive these advances. With improvements, approaches can now optimize and achieve the cost of ploughing while reducing system complexity. TT Electronics developed a custom micro-inverter/module for Protean Electric's IWM. Stevbe Jones, global technical director at TT Electronics, sees huge advantages in integrated wheel electronic drive systems, including providing enough power and torque for larger SUV vehicles and saving packaging space in the vehicle. He has also been involved in alternative motor and semiconductor technologies.

"We find inductive control of hybrid vehicles very interesting, where the vehicle is powered by both mains electricity and the already ubiquitous internal combustion engine, and this change could help bring it to market quickly," Jones said.

TT electronics has implemented and developed several technologies in the EV/HEV market. Jones said, “The use of SiC devices and compatible packaging can provide many application advantages, including higher power density, lower switching losses, and higher operating frequency and temperature.”

Alternative motor technologies and advanced semiconductors are certainly not the only potential changes for future electric and hybrid vehicles. According to Dave Torrey, vice president of engineering at Loxus, the motor drive is one part of the overall automotive system that could benefit from ultracapacitors, which can replenish the battery voltage under acceleration.

“If you have a supercapacitor, you have a hybrid energy system consisting of a battery and a supercapacitor, where the supercapacitor can be the power source,” Torrey said.

The right direction

Automakers are moving towards lower energy consumption, higher electric driving range and longer charging cycles. To lead the way, they need suppliers who can provide the corresponding technologies. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

“I still think the whole hybrid market is still in its infancy,” said Ansys’ Stanton. “To me it’s like the old west auto market 100 years ago. Small suppliers and OEMs are all in their garages trying to come up with new motors and designs and trying to sell them into the auto industry.”

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