Re: Voltage to steppers

> I like the way you think. Being inventive is to simply look a

problem

> from an unconventional perspective.

I agree with Mariss. I have made a living by going into an industry
segment, learning how things are done, then by imagining what would
make it better and then turning the new 'crazy' idea into a design.

I am an EE who has also owned and run machine shops over the years.
Now I do mostly embedded microcontroller designs and have been
producing things like wireless automation controllers and large AC
power controller designs in recent years.
Here's where I think the unconventional idea could work today:
In an AC phase angle controller application, a rep suggested that a
super new feature would be to do a predictive failure analysis of
heater loads in real time..I have come up with a method of reading
the minute changes in current a given load will flow during it's
operation and interpolating a curve from the data collected in RAM.
When the curve is projected forward it will intersect a value that is
X % away from the original I value. With the press of a button, the
number of days to the end of the load's life can be displayed.

On a similar but faster app, I take the same idea and use it to
report a warning on a display that the current at a running command
level differs from a "normal" value in real time.

Now I am thinking that the current could be monitored by an Isense
resistor, and as it climbs near the maximum value, a control function
such as changing step freq could be implemented (instead of a text
display message) in microseconds...

Of course If I try this, I will need lots of help from the group...

When I was taking my 1st yr EE classes 25+ years ago, it was almost
all in the hardware - as boolean + telco logic had been recently
added to the curriculum. Now, I can earnestly say that it's more than
50% software.

Most recently I have been 'playing' with motors - something which was
started by a customer's request. I am getting up to speed and
enjoying applying it to a few personal projects. While the principles
are not new to me, the motor applications are.

Dave & I have conversed on the Basic Stamp list a few times in the
past few years, and he is a master at many subjects (no flattery
intended.) I don't participate there much any longer but I still use
Basic Stamps at times, for example they make very quick & simple
(albeit expensive) serial interfaces between a PC and a machine and
are very easy to talk to with Visual Basic. My little machine does
just that, but the BS will be replaced by either a PIC or a TI micro
shortly.

Dave, if you are interested in a co-op effort on a small automation
project, drop me a line...

> What you are proposing is a closed-loop feedback to prevent the

motor

> from stalling by adjusting the power supply. That is a good idea.

Sorry to disagree a bit here on the below point, but I think it is
certainly do-able with s/w and it would be simple to the user....

> Unfortunately it requires overly complex circuitry to accomplish;...
>Can't beat a simple solution, imperfect as it may be.

Chris Loiacono