EUROelectronics is a machine
builder that was asked to design a closed-loop hydraulic cylinder
control system for a die-casting press machine. The high-speed press
moves anywhere from 0 to 10 m/s and therefore requires a high-speed
control system. To meet this challenge, we relied on the National
Instruments LabVIEW FPGA Module and CompactRIO hardware. With the
integrated FPGA on the CompactRIO controller, we could develop a system
capable of low-level customization using commercially available tools.
To meet the unique requirements of the application, we implemented a
highly optimized encoder interface in the FPGA to measure the cylinder
position while programming the system entirely in NI LabVIEW.Essentially,
the system controls the cylinder position to track the velocity and
acceleration trajectory values the operator enters. The operator can
control the cylinder movement through a proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) algorithm.
The pressure sensor feedback is in the order of a few milliseconds,
which was fully matched by the processing speed of CompactRIO.Read the full case study