1. Motor controller
We have been using this circuit as the basis of our high-precision motion
controls for over 20 years. We use it to control position to less than a millionth of an
inch, velocity to 1 part per million, acceleration and deceleration, as well as torque. We
support multiple limit switch and reference switch inputs, plus numerous manual control
features such as joysticks, and several general purpose I/O lines.
2. Encoder interface/position display
A subset of our motion controls is the encoder interface, with position and velocity
reporting through RS-232 and local displays such as LCD and LED.
3. Tension controller
We added an instrumentation amplifier on the input to boost the signal from a
strain guage, and a power driver on the output to control a brake. With a minor amount
of additional code, we produced a world class web tension controller for use in the
production of graphite shafts. A second analog channel was used for an operator
control input, with a three-digit LED display of set point and measured tension.
4. Man-machine interface (keyboard/display)
We used a 4 x 6 pushbutton switch array with a SuprChip to create a 24-position
keyboard, and 12 I/O lines to drive a standard 4 x 20 character LCD. Each of the 24
keys can be programmed to emit any desired string.
5. Protocol converter (RS-232/RS-485)
The two serial channels support a very simple two-way protocol converter.
Inputs received at the RS-232 port can be echoed with or without conversion to the
synchronous port, and vice versa.
6. Microprocessor development system
The SuprDupr product mounts a SuprChip on a board with up to 2 Mb of external
memory. The built-in debugger supports program development by providing the tools
for loading and executing assembly language programs.
7. Waveform generator
We used the SuprChip as the basis for a three-channel programmable power
supply with arbitrary waveform generation capabilities. Our customer wanted higher
resolution than the built-in 8-bit D/As, so we added 16-bit D/As, driven by the synchronous
serial channel. Commands included downloading waveforms, starting, stopping,
continuing, and dwell times.
8. Data acquisition brick
With eight analog inputs and over 50 uncommitted I/O lines, the SuprChip is
ready to go as a stand-alone data acquisition system, with RS-232 interface.
9. Multi-channel data logger
The SuprChip can be easily configured to analyze and store data with time
stamps, in bursts triggered by defined conditions or any other conceivable method.
Each channel can be digitized in only 40 microseconds, monitored and/or and stored in
RAM or permanent storage for later analysis.
10. Automated machine controller
The wealth of inputs and outputs makes the SuprChip an ideal vehicle for control
of any sort of automated machine. Operator control panels can be scanned, displays or
annunciators driven, motors positioned, change makers interfaced, temperatures
monitored, etc. The complete nature of the SuprChip assembly completely bypasses
the electronic design portion of the machine development cycle, speeding time to
market and reducing costs in both the development and production phases.
11. Laboratory automation
The SuprChip can measure and control any physical parameter with suitable
sensors and actuators. Temperature, pressure, humidity, velocity, position, acceleration,
torque, voltage, current, time, frequency, force, Ph, flow, mass, or any other
characteristic for which there exists a sensor with either analog or digital output may be
measured and recorded. Similarly, any analog or digitally controlled actuator may be
driven. The built in RS-232 communications capability allows the SuprChip to function
merely as an intelligent interface to a main program running on a host computer, or as a
totally stand-alone instrument that monitors, analyzes, gathers and records data and
controls experiements with any degree of complexity.
12. Valve controller
A much less complex application of the SuprChip is to use it merely to control
the position of a valve to regulate any desired phenomena.
Temperature, pressure, flow, volume, position or other characteristics may be
used as feedback in a servo loop to control the position, or it may simply be used to
overdrive multiple valve solenoids for faster operation, with reduced drive after
operation to reduce power demand. A single SuprChip can be used to reduce power
consumption of more than 50 valves to less than half the normal consumption.
13. Programmable power supply
The SuprChip can control two analog outputs in steps of 0.25%, or can be used
with external converters to control any number of outputs in steps of 16 PPM (Parts per
million), using low cost devices. The output settings may be controlled through the
RS-232 port, under control of a sequential stored program, or by manual input through
keyboards, thumbwheels, etc.
14. Automatic test system
All the electronic elements required for automatic testing of almost any device or
system are included in the SuprChip. Power amplifiers may be required for high power
loads or actuators and specialized sensors may be needed for conversion to electrical
form, but the SuprChip supplies the communications interface as well as the stored
program operation and control of 70+ input or output lines.
15. Cable tester
A cable tester is a small subset of the automatic test system. Typically, there will
be no need for additional interface or amplification components. However, it is very
easy to extend the mximum number of I/O lines available, using low cost logic elements
under control of the SuprChips.
16. Batching controller
The Suprchip circuit has been used as the basis for an industrial batching
controller, that supplied measured amounts of several components in predetermined
recipes to mix epoxies. Strain guage-type load cells were used for weighing the
separate ingredients, as well as the combined product. Valves were opened to allow
specified quantities of each ingredient to enter the mixing tub, to be mixed under closely
controlled speeds and times.
17. Automated screwdriver for production
The SuprChip makes it easy to set up a motor to drive adjustments of any type in
production environments. It can accept voltage or frequency inputs which are
compared with the set point to turn the adjustment to the desired position. When the
parameter under adjustment is within the allowable range, the motor stops. All the
operator has to do is to hold the screwdriver in the adjustment slot and press the enable
button.
18. Encoder interpolator
Position encoders having a sin/cos output, rather than square waves, may be
interpolated to many steps within each cycle. Many incremental encoders employ
threshold detectors to convert an internal sin/cos signal to square waves, which yields
four states per cycle. Others provide access to the raw signal in sinusoidal form.
These may be interpolated by factors of 100 or more through use of the digitization and
conversion capabilities of the SuprChip.
19. Hall effect/position encoder
Many brushless motors use three Hall-effect sensors to control motor field
commutation. The signals from these sensors normally go through a 12-step pattern
for each rotation of the motor. For applications where this degree of resolution is
adeqaute, the SuprChip may be used to convert the sensor signals into position or
velocity signals, for servo control, remote reporting, analysis, limits monitoring and
display.
20. Motor speed detector/monitor
Like the Hall-effect application, above, the SuprChip can also accept signals
from incremental or absolute encoders and will perform the necessary conversions to
yield position, acceleration and velocity.
21. Power line monitor
The presence of eight channels of analog conversion provides the user with the
ability to implement a very sophisticated power line monitor, capable of measuring
voltage, current, power drain, power factor and distortion. Digital conversion in 40
microseconds supports many advanced features. Low precision shunts may be used,
with lookup table correction to within the resolution of the converter--about 0.25%.
The RS-232 interface makes remote interrogation and reporting very easy,
including through modems, and alarm limits may be easily set for high speed storage or
corrective action.
22. Experimenter's dream
What would Edison have done with such a device? It has all of the functions of
a well-equipped laboratory in a module no bigger than a business card. Any idea that
pops up can be converted to reality in a few strokes of the keys. We have created
working models of major new products within two-three days by simply adding an output
amplifier here, a little gain block there, or a display.
23. Paperless recorder
An eight-channel recorder with programmable sampling intervals may be
constructed with only sufficient external circuitry to scale the recorded phenomena to
0-5 volt range. The data can be stored for later analysis or transmitted in real time
through either the RS-232 or the high speed RS-485 interfaces.
24. Remote emergency phone dialer
There is sufficient memory storage in the SuprChip to store wav files for transmission
of voice messages through the RS-232 interface to a standard modem. The
analog inputs may be used to monitor conditions that would require emergency notification,
whether it is a security breach, a runaway motor or a dangerous temperature or
pressure situation. The stored program operation supports very sophisticated multilevel
dialing schemes.
25. Multi-channel temperature logger
Any type of resistive temperature sensor or other types with suitable amplification
can be monitored with lookup table correction. Temperatures can be logged
continuously at selected intervals, or time-stamped when it changes by a cetain
amount, or only when it is above, below or within specified conditions. Stored data may
be analyzed on chip or reported to a host for further storage, monitoring or reporting.
26. Digital panel multimeter
A very useful digital panel meter may be constructed with the SuprChip as a
basis. The meter can measure and display voltage, current, resistance, capacitance,
inductance, time, pulse width, number of events, pressure, temperature, humidity, time
of day, or any other parameter for which a suitable sensor exists. The raw data may be
corrected for errors and non-linearities, and converted to appropriate units for display
on LEDs, LCDs or other types of display. The display may be made to flash when the
input is out of preset limits, and each of the eight channels may be used to report a
different type of parameter, or any combination of the above.
27. Multiple loop PID loop process control
The PID loop has become a very useful tool in process control. It combines
three different aspects of an error between a set point and the actual state of a process
variable to generate a correction designed to minimize the error. Two examples are
temperature control and motor control. It would be hard to imagine two more different
tasks in the sense of the time scales involved. It is not only useless, but counterproductive
to adjust the heat in a temperature-controlled system until the previous correction
has had time to take effect. Time scales on the order of minutes or even hours are
normal.
In contrast, it is beneficial to update the drive to a motor at least 1000 times per
second, and sometimes 10,000 times per second in order to achieve smooth control.
However, both use the PID technique to calculate the appropriate response to an
error. It is made up by calculating a correction that is simply Proportional to the amount
of error, plus a correction that uses the Integral of the error (the longer the error
persists, the more force may be required to correct it), and a correction based on the
Differential of the error (the faster the error is changing, the more the force should be
reduced to prevent overcorrecting). The Proportional, Integral and Derivative factors
are combined to produce the final correction factor.
Depending on the type of process to be controlled, the various analog and digital
capabilities of the SuprChip may be combined to control from one to eight process
loops simultaneously. We have used this circuit for years in a four-axis precision motor
controller. Other types of process control typically have much slower response times
than these high speed motors.
28. Handheld programmer
The SuprChip provides much of the power of a desk top computer in the palm of
your hand. It may be used to download data for subsequent transfer to other devices,
or for a portable test rig.
29. Multichannel process indicator
The eight analog inputs may be used to monitor multiple process loops under
control of other devices and to display and/or report the data in any desired format.
30. Instrumentation lab teaching device
Here is one instrument that implements every function needed in the teaching of
instrumentation techniques. Time, temperature, voltage, etc, etc.
31. Programmable process scanner
A single SuprChip can monitor all aspects of a large system, including those with
either fully manual control or that allow manual override of automatic control. It
becomes an invaluable tool for recording the actual settings of processes which can be
compared with results to aid in future design of set points and processes.
32. Smart transmitter/signal conditioner
The word “smart” gets overused a lot of the time, but in this case, we are able to
implement a device that has the ability to measure physical phenomena, convert it to
any desired format, compare it to preset limts and combinations of conditions, whether
they consist of the value or state of other inputs, previous values of the same input,
time, date or social condition (oops, got carried away there). When all of the above
conditions have been met, the output, in whatever form, may be transmitted to
wherever it needs to go, whether it is by modem, radio link, infrared link, current loop,
RS-232, contact closure or any other form of transmission.
33. Multi-channel ratio controller
The SuprChip’s many input and output options, coupled with a high performance
processing unit yields a powerful capability for slaving multiple channels, with or without
variable gain. Electronic gearing between multiple motors, electronic cam simulation or
resolver/synchro simulation are all easily implemented with the on-board peripherals.
34. Profile controller
Many applications that typically use on/off controls can be improved by use of a
controlled ramp. Hydraulic pressure, pick/place motion and other processes can
benefit from an intelligent controller to reduce power dissipation and heat generation.
35. Ramp/soak temperature controller
A very sophisticated closed loop temperature controller can be constructed with
the SuprChip. The set points, time durations, alarms and all other parameters may be
set through analog, digital or communications interfaces.
36. Test sequencer
The SuprChip makes an excellent semi-automatic test sequencer. It can
download operator instructions to a local display, advance through the required tests in
response to switch closures or measured values of time, frequency, voltage, current,
etc., with or without data logging, local printing or host reporting.
37. Remote messaging display
The serial data communications capabilities of the SuprChip make it ideal for
displaying messages on LEDs or LCDs. The multi-drop communications protocol
makes it easy to display invidual or broadcast messages.
38. Shop floor data entry terminal
Production data may be entered from any number of shop floor terminals, with
appropriate security features, for transmission to a host computer.
39. Production status monitor
The large number of analog and digital inputs of the SuprChip make it an excellent
device for gathering data in many different forms for reporting on local displays,
printers or remote devices.
40. Conversion of 4-20 mA to PWM, 0-10 V, etc.
The 4-20 mA method of transmitting process control data is an excellent method
that has been in use for many years. Sometimes it is desirable to either replace such a
method with newer techniques or to simply monitor the operation of existing loops
without interference. The eight analog inputs of the SuprChip support doing so for
multiple loops. The status may be easily converted to serial communications data or
various forms of analog and digital forms, such as PWM or 0-10 V, etc.
41. Multichannel time delay relays
Historically, time delay relays are expensive and hard to set. Using a SuprChip,
over 30 relays can be individually controlled in terms of pull-in delay, drop-out delay,
overdriven for faster operation, underdriven to save energy, and many other functions.
42. Voltage/current/power monitor
43. Audio spectrum analyzer
44. Logic analyzer
45. Test pattern generator
46. Signal converter/repeater
47. Keyboard macro generator
48. Pandora's box--Universal interface
49. Isolated I/O multiplexer (cable reducer)
50. Kid's word processor/typing instructor
51. Multidrop printer controller
52. Intelligent motor.
53. Universal machine controller.
54. PAL to NTSC converter.
55. Student response system
56. Video capture board
57. Education market
Student input system
References on computer
Data book lookup
58. Brown bag computer.
59. Dedicated function keyboards
60. Laser range finder.
61. Motion control for video cameras.
62. Electronic scales
63. Load cell transmitter
64. Security system
65. Alarm monitor
66. Motion sensor
67. Accelerometer position sensor
68. Traffic monitor
69. Communications gateway/concentrator
70. Menu-driven darkroom timer
71. Extra PC keyboard using standard one with new keycaps
72. Apple replacement
73. ISA-bus driver
Last Updated: 5 October, 2007
Copyright ; DIVA Automation