Integration of Hardware and Software for an Optimized Appliance Drive

The benefits of variable speed operations are well known for appliance applications. However, cost sensitive applications like appliances avoided continuously variable speed drives to reduce overall system cost. Several factors are rapidly changing this scenario. The prices of DSP controllers have dropped significantly. Moreover, DSP controllers now integrate a variety of sophisticated power electronics peripherals (general-purpose timers, PWM generators, analog-to-digital converters etc.). This integration of DSP core with a set of useful power electronics peripherals significantly simplifies the design process. At the same time, the cost sensitive drives like appliances are starting to utilize variable speed drives to maximize the system efficiency. This paper discusses an implementation where a continuously variable speed operation is provided for a cost sensitive application by using a single low cost DSP controller. This paper shows how to integrate "C" programming techniques for most optimized usage of on-chip memory (RAM & Flash) as well as peripherals to implement a field oriented controlled drive. In addition, the paper discusses how to integrate additional test routines to support standards like IEC-60730.