DSP Based Smart Sensorless Stepping Motor Driver for LHC Collimators

In this paper, the real-time architecture of a Digital Signal Processor based sensorless stepping motor driver, capable of driving a motor through long power cables and estimating its position and load torque, is described. The testbench developed in order to test its performance when driving an axis of a Large Hadron Collider collimator is presented, along with the results achieved. It is shown that the proposed driver is capable of achieving position and load torque estimates which allow step loss to be detected and mechanical degradation to be evaluated without the need for physical sensors.