Electronic motor controller

Abstract

A control system for any type of electric motor that automatically learns the characteristics of the motor and computes a motor model for the motor. The control system uses the computed motor model to produce a closed-loop control design that achieves a particular resolution. The control system also uses the motor model to automatically construct efficient motion profiles for a variety of motion commands. The control system may also include an encoder interface device that provides highly accurate motor position information.

1 . A method for determining a plurality of gains associated with a plurality of variables of a closed-loop controller, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:
 assigning a gain associated with one of the controller variables to a desired resolution value;   calculating a frequency value for the gain set to the desired resolution value;   computing the remaining gains of the controller; and;   supplying the computed gains to the closed-loop controller.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the closed-loop controller comprises a proportional-integral-derivative controller and the assigned gain comprises a proportional gain. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 assigning a plurality of proportional gains of the closed-loop controller to the desired resolution value;   calculating a frequency value for each proportional gain set to the desired resolution value;   selecting the smallest frequency value calculated; and   using the selected frequency value, computing the remaining gains of the controller.   
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the closed-loop controller has a predetermined servo sampling rate and computing the remaining gains of the controller comprises:
 computing an integral gain;   determining a second resolution value of the controller using the computed integral gain and current servo sampling rate; and   if the second resolution value is greater than the desired resolution value, then adjusting the servo sampling rate to reduce the second resolution value to at or below the desired resolution value.   
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein computing the remaining gains for the controller comprises:
 determining the number of position error readings required as input in a boxcar derivative function in order to achieve a desired resolution.   
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the closed-loop controller is a state space controller.