Novel motor control aims for automotive uses

A novel technology from Cambridge Consultants provides a more responsive and friendly way of controlling powered vehicle appliances such as electric windows and seats.

A novel technology from Cambridge Consultants provides a more responsive and friendly way of controlling powered vehicle appliances such as electric windows and seats.

Simple to apply, it could provide a rich new source of differentiators for automotive manufacturers seeking imaginative ways to restyle vehicle interiors.

Dubbed "Power Assist", the technology offers a method of interacting with powered products that replaces crude on/off functionality with natural and responsive controls directly related to a user's hand movement.

With Power Assist, motor power is applied via a handwheel control.

The technique could be used to implement "retro" style window controls for example, which translate turning hand movement into automated winding - slowing or stopping in synchronisation with the user's hand, and reversing direction if rotation direction changes.

Another application is electric seat controls that adjust position as a control wheel is rotated.

In both cases these new functions may be provided as fine-control mechanisms, integrated alongside conventional switched controls.

"Motorised power can be a very blunt instrument", says Craig Webster, Head of Power Products at Cambridge Consultants.

"This concept creates an opportunity to produce highly interactive vehicle controls which are fun to use, and more precise in the way they operate".

Power Assist can be added to motor-powered appliances using just a handful of low cost components, which in essence are a slightly more sophisticated version of the motor control circuitry that is currently used.

A range of implementations are possible using the technology: from simple movement-linked control, to control with torque sensing and feedback, moderated by various tunings of the control loop to optimise the feel of an appliance to appeal to different categories of user.

In the automotive applications Cambridge Consultants foresees for this technology, the basic technologies are mature and patents have expired, and manufacturers have little scope to differentiate themselves from the competition.

This background serves to make Cambridge Consultants' Power Assist technology a strategic weapon that is capable of adding value and creating a unique style at very low cost.

A short video clip illustrating the Power Assist hand-wheel control applied to a consumer power drill may be viewed on the Cambridge Consultants website.

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