Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer is an integrated motor experiment. It is designed to help teach fundamental control concepts and theories on an easy-to-use and intuitive platform. For more information, visit Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer provides the following capabilities:

• PWM commands to control four brushed DC motors
• PWM commands to control four brushless DC motors
• PWM commands to control four servo motors
• PWM commands to control four stepper motors
• Built-in device protection with current monitoring and limiting
• Four external encoders (with 2X and 4X quadrature)
• Integrated with MATLAB/Simulink/Simulink Coder via Quanser QUARC
• Integrated with Python and C/C++ via the Quanser SDK

The QUARC driver name for this card is mech_actuators_trainer_usb.

To select the Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer HIL board, select the QUARC mech_actuators_trainer_usb board type from the drop-down list on the Main tab of the HIL Initialize block.

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer I/O channels are described below.

Configuration

Each Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer comprises of 4 identical blocks (block numbered 0 to 3) that allows the control of 4 different sets of motors at the same time.

Each block are independently addressed via separate HIL Initialize blocks. To specify which Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer board/device and block to be used, set the Board identifier parameter on the Main tab using the x.y convention,

where x indicates the Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer board/device that is being addressed (typically it is 0 indicating the first Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer connected to the system. Subsequent Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainers are numbered sequentially, thus the second Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer is 1), and y indicates the block number on that particular Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer that is being used.

For example, if trying to use block 2 of the first Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer connected to the system.

The Board identifier parameter should be set as

0.2

Note that if only one number is specified (i.e. x. is omitted, then the number is interpreted as indicating the block number. This is useful if there is only one Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer connected to the system.

Clocks

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer card does not support hardware clocks.

Analog Inputs

Each Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer block supports 12 analog inputs. Hence, analog input channel numbers range from 0 to 11. The analog inputs are enumerated in the table below:

Analog Outputs

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer card does not support analog outputs.

Digital Inputs

Each Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer block supports 18 digital inputs. Hence, digital input channel numbers range from 0 to 17. The digital inputs are enumerated in the table below:

Digital Outputs

Each Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer block supports 7 digital outputs, which corresponds to channel 0 to 6. The digital outputs act as enable for the motor drive circuitries. When output is low, the motor amplifier is disabled. When it is high, the motor amplifier is enabled.

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer has internal safety detection and once an error is asserted (via Digital Inputs, the amplifier is automatically disables itself. The block can be re-enabled by setting the output low then high again.

The full suite of digital outputs are enumerated in the following table:

Encoder Inputs

Each Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer block supports one encoder input. The channel provide 24-bit count values. The encoder channel supports 2X, 4X quadrature mode. The encoder channels are enumerated in the table below:

In order to set the encoder counters to a particular count when the model is loaded, the encoder inputs must be configured on the HIL Initialize block's Encoder Inputs tab. Set the Encoder input channels field to all the encoder channels that will be used on the board for the current diagram. For example, enter 0:1 to indicate channels 0 through 1 are used as encoder inputs.

The first two encoder inputs are sampled simultaneously when measured using a single HIL Read block.

PWM Outputs

Each Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer block driver supports up to 10 PWM output channels. Hence, PWM output channels range from 0 to 9. Each PWM channel is completely independent and can have its own duty cycle and frequency.

The PWM mode, frequency or configurations are fixed and cannot be modified.

The PWM channels are enumerated in the table below:

Other Inputs

Each Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer block supports three other input channels, as enumberated in the table below:

Channel numbers for Other Input or Output channels use predefined ranges for each type of measurement to ensure consistency between data acquisition devices. Refer to QUARC Other Channels for a list of the Other Input or Output channel number ranges defined for any HIL Data Acquisition Card and their SI units.

Other Outputs

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer card does not support other outputs.

Interrupts

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer card, or its driver, does not support any interrupt sources.

Watchdog

Each Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer block supports a watchdog timer for resetting the outputs on watchdog expiry. Namely, the analog, digital and other output channels will be reset to the user-defined values on watchdog expiry. Resetting of the outputs occurs without software intervention, and therefore may be used as a safety mechanism in the event of software failure.

To enable the watchdog, place a HIL Watchdog block in the diagram.

To configure the values to which the output channels are reset on watchdog expiry, set the corresponding fields in the Analog Outputs, Digital Outputs and Other Outputs tabs of the HIL Initialize block.

Once the watchdog has expired, further I/O on the outputs is disabled until the watchdog state is cleared.

Use a HIL Watchdog Clear block to clear the watchdog state when the model is running. Restarting the model will also clear the watchdog state.

Board-Specific Options

Each Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer block has a number of board-specific options to control specialized functionality of the card and compensate for nonlinear factors to create a near-ideal motor response.

supply_voltage_low_limit

This option sets low limit where the supply voltage drops below would trigger the fault. The default value is supply_voltage_low_limit=10.0.

supply_voltage_high_limit

This option sets high limit where the supply voltage goes beyond would trigger the fault. The default value is supply_voltage_high_limit=16.0.

supply_current_high_limit

This option sets high limit where the supply current goes beyond would trigger the fault. The default value is supply_current_high_limit=8.0.

dc_motor_current_high_limit

This option sets high limit where the DC motor current goes beyond would trigger the fault. The default value is dc_motor_current_high_limit=1.1.

servo_motor_current_high_limit

This option sets high limit where the Servo motor current goes beyond would trigger the fault. The default value is servo_motor_current_high_limit=1.3.

bldc_motor_current_high_limit

This option sets high limit where the BLDC motor current goes beyond would trigger the fault. The default value is bldc_motor_current_high_limit=2.0.

stepper_motor_current_high_limit

This option sets high limit where the Stepper motor current goes beyond would trigger the fault. The default value is stepper_motor_current_high_limit=1.7.

servo_pwm_range

This option sets the PWM output pulse width on servo connector. Set this option to servo_pwm_range=0 (default) for 0.5ms to 2.5ms range, and servo_pwm_range=1 for 1ms to 2ms range.

enc_dir

Set this option to "yes", "y" or "1" to reverse the direction of encoder. This feature makes it easier to use Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer with different encoders where the direction of the encoder counts might be in reverse.

The default value is enc_dir=0.

bldc_motor_mode

Defines how the BLDC motor is derived. Set this option to bldc_motor_mode=0 (default) for direct PWM drive used in sensored mode of operation. In this mode, all 3 BLDC motor outputs (A, B and C) are directly derived by PWM channels 3, 4 and 5, and enabled by 3 BLDC motor enables (digital outputs 2, 3 and 4). Set bldc_motor_mode=1 for sensorless mode of operation. In this mode, only a single PWM output is used (PWM channel 3) as a bidirectional input to drive the BLDC motor. Also in this mode, only a single BLDC enable (digital input channel 2) is used to enable the motor.

bldc_start_tc

A parameter used only in sensorless BLDC mode of operation (bldc_motor_mode=1). This parameter defines (in seconds) how fast BLDC reaches the desired speed during the start phase of sensorless operation. The default value is bldc_start_tc=0.03.

bldc_start_target

A parameter used only in sensorless BLDC mode of operation (bldc_motor_mode=1). This parameter defines (in RPM) the desired rotation speed reached in start phase of sensorless operation. The default value is bldc_start_target=1200.

Properties

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer driver currently supports the following read-only properties:

Connectors

The Quanser Mechatronic Actuators Trainer has a number of connectors for motors and encoders. These connectors and their pinouts are listed below. Note that there are 4 blocks on each device, each block has identical connectors. Therefore only one block's connectors are listed.

Brushed DC Connector

Servo Connector

Brushless DC Connector

Encoder Connector

Stepper Connector

Legend

Targets

See Also

• Supported Quanser Cards

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