B&R Industrial Automation servo drives are used in a wide range of industrial automation processes, including packaging, printing, bottle filling, and blow molding. To improve servo drive performance, B&R recently added virtual sensor technology to the company’s ACOPOS series servo drives. This technology uses sophisticated algorithms to determine the position of loads that bend as the motor accelerates and decelerates.
B&R engineers used Model-Based Design with MATLAB® and Simulink® to implement the virtual sensors and to create a blockset that enables B&R customers to model and simulate automation processes incorporating the new servo drive technology.
“Early modeling and simulation with MATLAB and Simulink enabled us to quickly evaluate the feasibility of virtual sensors,” says Dr. Engelbert Gruenbacher, team leader of the firmware group at B&R. “By refining and optimizing the controller design in Simulink, we maximized the drive’s accuracy and speed while minimizing energy use.”