EtherCAT motor controller
Custom motor controller built on Akrodyn technology with EtherCAT, Safety PLe and certification to CE, UL and CSA for global use in industrial machinery.
- Mechanical engineering
- Electronics
The problem
The existing motor controllers in the customer's machine system were to be replaced with a custom solution. The new controller must integrate directly via EtherCAT into the machine architecture, drive all existing motors and sensors, and fit seamlessly into the safety architecture.
The power supply reaches up to 100 VDC at a continuous current of 15 Arms and briefly 30 A peak. This sets demanding requirements for gate drivers and current sense amplifiers, as most standard components are not rated for this voltage class.
At the same time, the controller had to be certified for global markets: CE/IEC for Europe, UL for the USA and CSA for Canada. Add to that functional safety to IEC 61508 for STO at Performance Level e.
A service life of 20 years and worldwide availability of all key components were mandatory requirements.
Our approach
A Texas Instruments MCU was chosen as the microcontroller: two 32-bit CPUs at 200 MHz plus two co-CPUs for true parallel processing. CPU1 handles field-oriented motor control, while CPU2 communicates with the EtherCAT stack via a dedicated shared RAM area.
Gate driver candidates from Onsemi and Infineon were evaluated for their ability to tolerate 100 VDC supply voltage and deliver short-circuit shutdown in under 530 ns. Phase current measurement uses the Texas Instruments INA241, which tolerates common-mode voltages up to 120 VDC and improves control accuracy over standard measurement approaches.
STO PLe is implemented entirely in hardware: two independent shutdown paths with separate feedback, with no safety software required. This substantially shortens the certification timeline and avoids the lengthy software validation path under IEC 61508.
All wiring harnesses are fully documented graphically and handed to the manufacturing partner together with the bill of materials, minimising assembly and production errors.
Results of a development like this
The customer receives a fully custom motor controller based on proven Akrodyn motor control technology, adapted to the voltage class, interfaces and safety requirements of their own machines.
The hardware-based STO implementation enables fast CE certification without the long path through software safety under IEC 61508.
The decentralised EtherCAT architecture integrates directly into the existing machine bus cycle and delivers control feedback with sub-millisecond latency.
The certification strategy using UL-recognised components and accompanying documentation lays the groundwork for North American market access.
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