TI Motor Control Kit (TMDSHVMTRPFCKIT) not working with the HVACIMTR [URGENT]

Hi Ramesh,

I am going to transfer this to the C2000 forums. They directly support this kit.

Thank you Nick. Looking forward to get in touch with someone to get this problem sorted out.

Ramesh

Hi Ramesh,

Sorry that you are running into this issue. Which project and what BUILDLEVEL did you try?

You could also connect the ACIM to BUILDLEVEL 1 of PMSM project and see if the motor is atleast able to spin just to rule out the motor is not the issue.

rgds,
Ramesh/TI

Hello,

I tried running BUILDLEVEL 1 from HVACI_Sensorless project and see no issue.

rgds,
Ramesh / TI

Hello,

I used the BUILDLEVEL1 of the HVACI_Sensorless project to try running both the PMSM and the ACI Motors. The ACI does not run. However, I did find something interesting. Please find a recorded video below :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pWMtNQLi8g

The ACI does not run on BUILDLEVELS 3,4,5, etc...

It appears that for some reason the ACI fails to source power form the TI Motor Control Kit. However the PMSM seems to be able to do so. Could this be because of an incorrect jumper setting or wrong switch settings on the F28035 ControlCARD? The Motor itself is fine, we tested it by running it directly from an adjustable three phase voltage source.

I also get another error from time to time stating the "Device is in low power mode, Do you want to bring it out of it ?" Please find the attached screenshot below

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-ThczkUyNlZNUhOWnIxQ2hkSXRkSzlfMjN4WXFOUUkzMnZr/view

I would really appreciate some help with these issues. Is there a way where I can get in touch with you over the phone so that I can discuss this issue further ?

Thanks,

Ramesh

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Hi,

I believe there is not enough voltage applied to ACI. The V and F setting is probably sufficient for PMSM to run, but the ACI may need a little more V. The ACI motor seem to be bigger than PMSM and might have more static friction to overcome. When you connect the PMSM in parallel, the chaotic alignment of rotor shaft of PMSM is probably bumping up some voltage / circulating current through ACI to just start spinning.

Let me know what happens when you increase V (VdTesting or VqTesting).

Reg your other query, did you check for the answers in the e2e forum. Try this

e2e.ti.com/.../981646

Best regards,
Ramesh / TI

Hello,

Thank you for the quick reply. Yes, i did try applying a higher voltage with VdTesting and/or VqTesting (as high as 0.6 p.u!), it still does not start the ACI.

However once I connect the PMSM in parallel for a second, it starts spinning. Now if I turn the voltages VdTesting and VqTesting down to zero, the motor stops as one would expect. Following this, now the motor is able to restart with the application of even a small open loop voltage (VqTesting=0.1 pu, VdTesting=0.05 pu given SpeedRef=0.05).

It is just the first time after debugging the project that the motor is not able to start. Is there a software check which prevents the PWM macros from executing ? I went through the HVACI_Sensorles.c file and did not find a UnderVoltage threshold for the DC bus or a condition which disables the PWM. The motor does not spin but I still see the 3 phase Space Vector PWM references in the CCS graph windows and these update with change in the voltage values as expected.

Thanks and Regards,
Ramesh

Update:
I also tried to run BUILDLEVEL3 using the same process. Initially, the ACI does not spin. When I use the PMSM to get it running, I can then control speed (Open Loop Speed Control works) with small values of IdRef and IqRef.

We have 17 such kits here (TI DMC + PMSM + ACI) which we use to run a lab course. This method works in about 80% of the cases, there are still some cases(2-3 boards) where even this does not work. I believe it is a common problem affecting all of these boards. Any thoughts/suggestion
on what I should try next ?

Thank you for your help,
Ramesh

Seems weird, hmm...

LEVEL 1 is just about plain and simple open loop V/F. For an ACI motor, it should just spin if V and F are right.

I usually set the dc voltage at 0V, and within debug window set up some V and low F, verify the PWMs feeding the inverter and gradually increase the dc bus voltage. I recommend you do the same until the motor runs. This cannot fail. If it still does not run, see if you can manually spin it to run. If it resists, I would suspect the motor itself.

rgds,
Ramesh /TI

Hello,

Thank you for your time and patience.  I am quite sure that the motor is fine, I did try two additional different ACI motors and the same thing happens. Also tried running these motors with a different TI HV DMC kit and still the same result.

With the board powered and the code running, I do not get any terminal voltage. However, I did check the PWM signals using a DSO and Isolated probes and I did see the PWM switching waveform (at 10 kHz if I am right). I believe these signals (PWM-1L, PWM-2L, etc..) are the inputs to the respective high side/low side gate drivers, please refer image below (red arrows):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-ThczkUyNlZejc2NXcwYzFBN2M/view?usp=sharing

Is there a test point for the IGBT/MOSFET gate signals after the isolated gate drivers ? I did not find a BOM/Schematic for this board in the controlSUITE folders and hence did not know where to look for these signals. Everything else works and I believe this is the only thing left to check. I still get the strange behavior where the motor starts spinning and I suddenly have a non-zero terminal voltage when I momentarily connect the PMSM in parallel. This problem is also not project/code specific and also occurs with the HVACI_Scalar project used for V/Hz control of the ACI.

is there anything I am overlooking or not paying attention to ?

Best Regards,

Ramesh K Govindarajan

What is the power supply voltage you feed into inverter gate drivers?

rgds,
Ramesh /TI

I am using the external DC power adapter provided with the kit to power the controlCard and I believe this also supplies the gate drivers ?
Can you point out where exactly in the board I need to check the power supply voltages for the gate drivers ?

Thanks and Regards,
Ramesh

Hello,

I did some testing this morning with multiple boards and yes the problem is exactly what you are referring to !! It works now :)

When the gate driver power supply voltage is not above 14V, the inverter does not function well. I still don't understand why connecting the PMSM in parallel is still able to get it running but yes, the problem has been resolved.

I was referring to the following schematic file :

C:\ti\controlSUITE\development_kits\HVMotorCtrl+PfcKit_v2.1\~HVMotorCtrl+PFC-HWdevPkg\HVMotorCtrl+PFCKit-R1.1\HVMotorCtrl+PFC-PCB[R1.1].pdf

However, it does not provide any information about the gate drive block or the power switches used for the 3-phase inverter. The schematic only shows a top-level inverter block, please find image attached below :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-ThczkUyNlZX2lZQ2tFQXRXYlRLWjYwam0tQkRzbkVtN3ZF/view?usp=sharing

Is there another document elsewhere which talks about this information ?

Once again, thank you for all the help and support.

Best Regards,

Ramesh

Glad to know it works now.

There is a PDF file ending with SCH that represents the schematic file. The board is laid out with various functional hardware macros represented as a component in the top level. You will see these macros in a subfolder. You need to spend some time digging in to understand how it is organized.

rgds,
Ramesh /TI

Thank you, I will look into it.

Ramesh