Programmable Linked-List Current Controller for Flexible Profile Generation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing current-control technologies, such as fixed state-machine and micro-sequencer approaches, face limitations in flexibility and complexity, making it difficult to generate versatile current profiles while ensuring safe and reliable operation, particularly in safety-critical applications like automotive fuel injection systems.
Innovation Solution
A programmable linked-list current controller that configures current control phases dynamically, allowing for flexible generation of current profiles with varying characteristics and sequences, by storing phase information in a memory device and linking entries based on trigger events, ensuring termination after a specified time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a fixed state-machine approach is used to control current phases, then the control circuit is easier to verify and validate, but the flexibility to build new current profiles is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the state machine programmable rather than fixed. The control circuit includes a programmable state machine that can be configured at runtime to implement different current profiles, allowing the system to adapt to various requirements while maintaining the structured verification benefits of state-machine control. This resolves the contradiction by enabling both verification ease and profile flexibility through programmability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of state machine configuration from fixed to programmable. By allowing the state transitions, phases, and parameters to be modified through programming rather than being hardwired, the system achieves versatility in creating different current profiles while preserving the systematic approach that facilitates verification and validation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a micro-sequencer approach is used to control current phases, then the flexibility in current profile generation is improved, but the system complexity and difficulty of verification increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by implementing a programmable state machine that can be configured at runtime, providing the flexibility of software control without the full complexity of a general-purpose micro-sequencer. The state machine structure maintains organized, verifiable logic while allowing programmable adaptation to different current profiles.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes a simplified programmable state machine for the more complex micro-sequencer architecture. This replacement reduces system complexity while retaining the essential flexibility needed for generating various current profiles, as the state machine provides a more structured and verifiable control framework.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a micro-sequencer approach is used to control current phases, then the versatility of control functions is improved, but the reliability and safety verification become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by using a programmable state machine that combines the versatility of runtime configuration with the verification advantages of structured control logic. The programmable nature allows versatile control functions while the state-machine framework enables systematic safety verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes a programmable state machine for the micro-sequencer approach to improve reliability and safety verification. The state machine's structured logic provides better predictability and verifiability while maintaining versatility through programmability, making safety-critical verification more feasible.
4Ease of manufacture
If a fixed state-machine approach is used, then the verification and validation process is simplified, but the ability to respond to different operational requirements is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by implementing a programmable state machine that can be configured for different operational requirements while maintaining the verification advantages of structured control. The programmable configuration allows the system to adapt to various operational scenarios without sacrificing verification ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the state machine from fixed to programmable, allowing parameters and transition logic to be modified based on operational requirements. This enables the system to respond to different operational scenarios while preserving the systematic verification approach that makes validation easier.
Data Source
AI summary
A current-control profile may be built from a sequence of phases in which the current is controlled in a defined manner. The electrical behavior of these phases may be configured within a list, which contains one entry, or slot, for each phase and which may be stored in a memory device. The order for stepping through the list is not hard-wired into the control circuit. Instead, such an order is part of the configuration for each entry, or slot, itself. Each entry/slot contains the information about the next phase, or the next possible phases depending upon the occurrence of any trigger events. In this way, the list of entries/slots is linked dynamically by the configuration thereby allowing for generation, in a flexible way, of current profiles with different characteristics and different numbers of phases and sequences.