Specifications

CT Corsair Final Report May 2, 2014
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serial encoder feed-out pins have been studied and their outputs documented for future closed
loop positional control. The servo motor drive runs on 208V
AC
and is enabled from a computer,
via an RS232 cable, using a custom GUI software developed. The Arduino controller can be
connected to the Servo drive’s general I/O port.
The third deliverable was the integration of an F4U-4A Corsair airplane model into the Prepar3D
simulation software. The model was successfully added and can be flown via standard computer
commands through the software GUI. Software development files, source files, documentation
and helpful functions have been collected and saved for future teams to utilize.
10.2 Project Integration Challenges
One of the biggest project challenges was the time restraints imposed upon the team by the
delayed delivery time of the servo motor system. Upon delivery, software incompatibility and a
number of manual discrepancies and omissions had the team frequently contacting Moog
applications engineers which required a lot of footwork on behalf of the senior design team
members.
The DS2110 analog drive being used was recently discontinued by Moog, which may explain the
existence of manual discrepancies and software incompatibility. The first challenge was using
the correct serial protocol communication between the computer and the drive. Unmentioned in
any hardware specifications, it was finally determined that an RS232 cable was the incorrect
communication protocol with the drive and an RS232 null modem serial connection was
required. The manuals also neglected to explain how to clear the factory faults from the drive,
which are in place to ensure no accidental torque is exerted while setting up. Much research was
done to clear these faults and begin motor configuration.
To operate the DS2110 drive, two software packages were initially tried: WinDrive and a custom
commissioning software created by Moog. WinDrive ultimately failed, and the initial software
sent by Moog was only partially compatible with the discontinued drive. This software version
didn’t “know” all the memory locations and so could only partially communicate with the drive.
This initially lead the team to believe the faults originated from human error.
Compatible, older software was later acquired from Moog. This software was compatible with
the drive, but did not support the specific actuator model. This commissioning software is
typically used for linear actuator models, so a linear actuator with same parameters was selected
to represent the rotational actuator being used.
Once compatibility was established, the hardware and software enabling conditions proved to be
another roadblock. The team connected microcontroller inputs to the drive before set-up
occurred and pulled the enable pin high. This resulted in another unexpected drive fault. If the
enable pin is on at drive startup, the drive automatically faults and prevents any future operation.
To overcome this, the drive was restored to factory conditions and the drive reconfigured.
Dynamic position and velocity faults also occurred but were cleared once time-out parameters
were adjusted and the PIV gains tuned by estimation.
The last hurdle in establishing drive communication was its out of sync commutation phase.
Because its commutation was out of phase, the drive communication was not reaching the