[bruceme]

Originally Posted by bjfreeman

this is the ST library.
http://www.st.com/internet/com/SALES...eting_pres.pdf

then you add a DSP library for the STM32F4.

Does this look like good intro hardware?
http://octopart.com/stm32f4discovery...onics-20382043

[bjfreeman]

Originally Posted by bruceme

Does this look like good intro hardware?
http://octopart.com/stm32f4discovery...onics-20382043

I order mine from mouser.
it comes with the header pins so you can make a mother board for it to plug into. dual row 25 pin on each side.
http://www.st.com/internet/evalboard/product/252419.jsp click on design support
My controller is using the Motorola/freescale 56f803
so I am porting and testing, at this point with the STM32F417IG click on the Resources.
I don't want to water down Jacks thread with my controller, so please msg me from the email link on my page.

[Stiive]

Congratulations, and good to see this thread revitalised.

[mihaicoli]

Does anyone used MC3PHAC in the controller? I mean the circuit is autonomous and can control pwm by muxing in the signal return...

[chaz0507]

Originally Posted by Salty9

I am interested in your project but don't really know enough to be helpful. I will be following the thread. There is a real need for a reasonably priced AC controller. Keep it up.

There are places like Flight Systems Industrial Products in PA that offer remanufactured AC controllers, which are priced about 50% less than new.

[jhuebner]

New hardware!

I finally pieced things together and built an all new base board for the AC controller. Here it is:


Features external:

• 8 digital inputs 12V: on, start, brake, motor protection switch, forward, reverse, emergency stop, bms
• 4 digital outputs, open collector: dc switch, error, over temperature, precharge
• 1 PWM output with the highest relative temperature signal: motor or heatsink
• 3 analog inputs: throttle, throttle redundance, motor temperature
• 1 pulse generator input

Features internal

• 4 analog inputs: current L1, current L2, DC link voltage, heatsink temperature
• 3 complementary PWM outputs for the bridge
• Programmable hardware over current protection
• 2 UART pin headers: 1 for programming, 1 for console/communication
• USB - yet unused
• Hardware PWM inhibit logic. The PWM is interrupted by: over current, motor protection signal, emergency stop signal. The latter two are failsafe: they must be high for the PWM to work

Thats pretty much it, I tried to keep it as simple as possible. Heres the baby built in:



And here are some mistakes I made/lessons I learned:

• I twisted one of the pin headers for the olimex board. Had to cut all traces and rewire I thought I'd triple-checked it because I was so afraid of it. Next time I'll quad-check
• Due to a lack of space I skipped over voltage protection diodes. When I tested the digital inputs I applied 12V to the analog throttle input. BANG, controller dead
• Also due to a lack of space I skipped OpAmps for the current measuring inputs. Now I realised that the ADC inputs have a nasty low impedance when sampling a pin. This will pose accuracy problems and it makes the over current protection a bit inaccurate, too
• Some parts are a bit close together. Didn't spend much time on determining the correct foot print for every capacitor, pin header and so on

Things that work as expected:

• PWM with Al cheapo gate drivers - I'm delighted with the performance
• hardware PWM inhibit: cut any of the two digins and the motor stops immediatly.
• hardware overcurrent protection: when set low it will detect a blocked motor shaft even on my 1.5kW test motor run at 60V (instead of 380V)
• Cheap dc link voltage sensing: no galvanic isolation but high resistance (1M) to high voltage.
• Temperature measurement: lookup table in software is very accurate
• 5V Current sensors: no negative supply voltage needed

I will conduct some more tests once the controller is in the car. But most circuits are already proven by the previous model so I'm optimistic.


As soon as I've made corrections I will post the circuit diagram. The software is still the largest question mark: as mentioned here (http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums...ics-76985.html) the control algorithm is quite crude but drives a car.


Besides that it might be time to offer a kit. Anyone interested?

[toddshotrods]

Originally Posted by jhuebner

...Besides that it might be time to offer a kit. Anyone interested?

I might be. What's the overall size, and what are the specs (volts, amps, etc)?

[jhuebner]

Originally Posted by toddshotrods

I might be. What's the overall size, and what are the specs (volts, amps, etc)?

Size will be 355x210x275mm.

It uses 400A, 1200V IGBTs. I'd spec it at 800V, 300A maximum (240kW).

Theres no 600V version planned. It would only require using different bus caps and IGBT modules though.

[aeroscott]

Yes , been flowing with much interest. Thanks for the good work.

[Siwastaja]

I don't know if this has been posted before but I think this is a very good piece of information:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7342732/De...dules-Semikron

It shows pretty well what to include in the small gate driver PCB and how to physically design and decouple the DC bus. Just get these right and you should be fine...

IGBT half-bridge modules are very easy to use and need a relatively low number of external components. AC controller is easier than many people think. Of course you can make it as complex as you want, but the basic case is simple, as shown in this thread very well.

We use ACNW3130 as gate drivers (similar if not the same as referred in this thread?); they cost something around $6 per piece and you need 6. It can supply 2 amps (with gate resistor about 10 ohms). With the gate capacitance of our 1200V150A IGBT bricks, this means 0.2 µs RC time - better multiply that by 5 to be sure; so this will limit the rise time by about 1 µs in our case. If high switching frequencies are desired at high power levels, a stronger driver might be necessary, but we will go with those, too. They are optoisolated and have under-voltage lock-out. Having a voltage range of 30V, I'm thinking about having +18/-10V drive. Yes they specify you can live with single-sided supply, but having a negative drive will make switching off faster and more reliable.

You also should pay some attention to driving the LED of the optocoupler; it can fire off falsely from inductive coupling of the wiring. ACNW3130 datasheet specifies a certain way to connect the LED when driven from an open-drain output, but IMHO this is not needed with a typical CMOS push-pull output; but this should be kept in mind.