Smart Motor Bus Control With Distributed Local Intelligence
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing motor systems in vehicles require multiple controllers to manage multiple motors, leading to limitations in the number of controllable motors and large data packets that necessitate multiple frames for transmission, which is inefficient.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of smart motors with electronic processors that communicate over a control bus, allowing each motor to determine whether to act on received commands and respond with status requests, eliminating the need for a centralized controller and reducing data packet size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a centralized controller is used to control multiple motors, then the control architecture is simple and easy to implement, but the number of controllable motors is limited by the controller size and multiple controllers are needed for more motors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the control system into distributed smart motor units, each with its own processor. Instead of one centralized controller managing all motors, each motor becomes an independent intelligent unit that can process commands autonomously. This segmentation allows the system to scale to any number of motors without requiring additional centralized controllers.
Solution Approach 2:
The smart motor units use a universal communication protocol (CAN bus) that allows any motor to communicate with any controller. The standardized interface and addressable architecture enable the same motor unit to perform different functions depending on its configuration and assignment, making the system adaptable to various applications without requiring specialized hardware.
2Measurement precision
If large data packets are transmitted to motors for precise control, then the control precision is improved, but multiple frames are required for transmission which reduces communication efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements incremental position encoding where motors transmit position data in manageable increments rather than requiring complete large data packets. The smart motor units process and act on partial command sets independently, allowing precise control to be achieved through multiple smaller transmissions rather than requiring all data to be sent at once.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs bidirectional communication where motors send status and position feedback to controllers, and controllers send command updates to motors. This feedback mechanism allows the system to achieve precise control through iterative exchanges of smaller data packets, with each packet building on previous state information, thereby maintaining precision while improving communication efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for controlling smart motors. One smart motor system includes a control bus, an input device, and a smart motor communicatively coupled to the input device via the control bus. The smart motor includes an electronic processor configured to receive, from the input device, a command frame indicating an action, perform the action, receive, from the input device, a data request frame requesting a status of the smart motor, and transmit, to the input device and in response to receiving the data request frame, a data frame indicating the status of the smart motor.