ESPRIT : Marine Motion Controller

UNIVERSAL : VELOCITY, POSITION OR TORQUE CONTROL (VPT)

RELIABLE : NO BRUSHES, INTEGRATED SAFETY, ‘FAIL-OPERATIONAL’ BY REDUNDANCY POSSIBLE

ESPRITs products are designed for the rapid development of demanding mechatronic projects, from prototype to mass production.

They are the result of 30 years of experience in the control of civil and military vehicles in the most hostile environments and are particularly adapted to autonomous marine and land vehicles requiring safety scenarios and fault tolerances.

Universal, multifunctional and able to be connected to the sensors and displays bus (or to the thermal engine), the architecture is simplified and this reduces the time and costs of design, installation, training and maintenance.

“A single ring to govern them all” : a single fieldbus, a single protocol, a single diagnostic/maintenance tool for all types of sensors, controllers, actuators and thrusters…

When supervised by the Quantum ECU, the solution covers the requirements of modernity, connectivity, autonomy and safety of your system: Sensor and actuator interfaces, visual programming, robust or advanced control-command, AI (Machine Learning, voice recognition, image recognition…), HMI on all types of screens, Graphs, Dashboards representing the movements of mechanisms, Datalog, Communication and remote maintenance…

SPECIFICATIONS

• Robust and flexible control :
  • Up to 3 controllers in cascade : position -> speed -> current.
  • Control loop configurable from 25 to 100Hz.
  • Can be used to control almost any type of kinematics.
• 3 possible control modes :
  • In speed (Electric thruster, Winch, Pump, Rotor…) :
    • FOC control (Field Oriented Control).
    • Optional input for a ‘quadrature incremental encoder 5V’ type sensor.
  • In position (EPS, Throttle control, Fins…) :
    • Position feedback in 0-5V, 0-10V or +/-10V very accurate (<<0.1°) and low noise.
    • Management of a very low deadband, minimum start-up, software stops close to the mechanical stops.
  • In torque (manipulator arm, Fin stabilizer…) : Same position
• A robust interface, the isolated CANbus :
  • Interoperable with NMEA2000 (Marine), J1939 (Automotive, Truck, Marine Heat Engines), MILCAN A (Military) and ISOBUS 11783 (Agriculture) protocols. It connects to the main bus of the vehicle, interfaces easily to the onboard computer and appears in the device list of the bus. The database of the proprietary PGNs used is provided in order to quickly expand those of the on-board computer and the diagnostic tool.
    Note : The ‘useful’ protocol is voluntarily simple (a few 29 bits frames on 8 bytes), the interfacing can be done without protocol stack, nor database.
• Compatible with a wide range of actuators :
  • 2 models for actuator <15A and <25A.
  • Electric motor/actuator, Proportional valve, Hydraulic pump, Zero backlash Harmonic drive.
  • 8 to 54V
  • DC Brushed (2 wires with brushes) or BLDC (3 wires without brushes).
  • Peak current: 200A (at 100°C MOSFET)
  • Average current in endurance (at 45°C ambient) :
    • 15A model :
      • DC Brushed : 15A RMS, 750W
      • BLDC : 18A RMS, 900W
    • 25A model :
      • DC Brushed : 25A RMS, 1.25KW
      • BLDC : 30A RMS, 1.5KW
  • PWM switching :
    • < 100Khz
    • Dynamic motor power limitation possible (e.g. use of a 24V motor on a 7S Li-Ion battery discharging from 30V to 24V without power loss)
• Additional control of a brake solenoid, clutch solenoid, release solenoid (winch, rudder, throttle…) :
  • Voltage lowering compatible with 12, 24 and 48 VDC solenoids.
  • Energy optimization: Switching time and switching/maintaining voltages can be set.
• EMC adapted to the extra normative needs of the machines in conducted, radiated and also in acoustics :
  • Passive power filter, Opto-isolations…
  • Limitations of the voltage drops on the battery.
  • Interoperability with radio instruments (VLF, HF…) and ultrasonic instruments (sounders, sonars, DVL, range…) via the control of ramps, switching frequencies.
• Fail Safe :
  • Avionics Continuous-built-In-Test : Self-checks at SBIT start-up and Self-diagnosis continuously during CBIT operation.
  • Optional management of a Clutch / Release / Braking :
    • Instant manual control of the vehicle.
    • Reduction of structural constraints.
    • Release of an external brake (mechanical brake activated in case of power loss or anomaly).
    • Safe Brake Control (SBC) : allows the control of a stop brake via the motor (propeller/wheel, winch, mechanism with very little friction…).
  • Configurable ‘In Security’ mode (Action to be performed in case of detection of an anomaly including loss of CANBus communication).
  • Redundant power supply via CANbus :
    • Anomaly on the power supply detectable without waiting for a communication time-out.
    • Broadcasting of monitoring information including speed/position feedbacks when the power supply is cut off, for example in manual mode.
  • I/O Chaining : Allows to define a priority for the redundancy of a control in order to avoid a possible conflict of mechanical efforts and to activate the backup control in case of failure.
  • Protections : fuse, power supply and H-bridge voltages, power and motor board currents, MOSFET temperature, short circuits.
• Idiot-proof design : connectors, wire crossing…
• Monitoring : speed/position feedback, voltages, currents, power, PCB temperature.
• Settings / Commissioning :
  • Via a Windows tool and a CANbus interface
  • Via a Quantum ECU node
• Dimensions :
  • Case : 118x120x38 mm
  • OEM : 93x86x21mm
• Environmental :
  • -20/+60°C (+85°C under low motor power)
  • IP 67
• OEM version, ruggedized, ‘Cooled’ 40/60A RMS, 60V, active filtering, acoustic TDMA, specific control, redundancy, self-test sequence, external temperature measurement/limitation : Please contact us.

TARGET MARKETS

• Drones :
  • Marine (USV, Drone-ship …)
  • Submarine (AUV, ROV)
  • Terrestrial (Hostile environment, Agricultural, Autonomous delivery…).
• Oceanography
• Military
• Ships of the future, Water Taxis, Superyacht, Sailing competition.
• Smart Farming
• Machinery J1939/ISO11783/MILCAN A (Industry, special-purpose vehicle, mining…)

TARGETED APPLICATIONS

• Vehicules from a few dozen kilograms to fifteen tons
• Level 3 ‘eyes on-hands off’ autonomy requiring to be resumed in manual mode via a clutch (Electric Power Steering EPS, throttle control…)
• Level 4 ‘eyes off-hands off-mind off’ and level 5 ‘driverless’ autonomy requiring partial redundancy of the power supply and electronics, 50% of the motor winding, or total redundancy including the mechanics (EPS, throttle…)
• Electric propulsion (small UAVs) and hybrid propulsion (canopy adaptation, Winch, Kite, Flettner rotor…)
• Appendage control (Stabilizer, TrimTab, Wing, Foil, Flap…).
• Reversible mechanism requiring a brake (Winch…) or zero backlash mechanism (Manipulator arms, Keel…)
• Auxiliary control (3-way valve, ballast…)
• Platform stabilization
• Docking station
• Launch & Recovery System (LARS)
• Compatibility requirement with underwater acoustics or VLF/HF radio