Motor drive analyzers improve dynamic power analysis

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

Leveraging the company’s new WaveRunner 8000HD high definition oscilloscope (HDO) and OscilloSYNC technology, Teledyne LeCroy unveiled its new MDA 8000HD  motor drive analyzers that offer increased channel counts, memory, sample rates, and bandwidth. They are offered in bandwidths of 350 MHz, 500 MHz, 1 GHz, and 2 GHz with sample rates up to 10 GS/s and up to 1.25 Gigapoints of acquisition memory on each channel (5 Gigapoints interleaved).

Using the new OscilloSYNC technology, two MDA 8000HD instruments deliver a 16-channel analyzer — twice the number of channels previously available — with a large 15.6” display. This instrument performs static and dynamic three-phase electrical and mechanical power analysis, and complete test coverage of the entire motor-drive system, similar to the earlier MDA800A.

Teledyne LeCroy said the new MDA 8000HD instruments close the gap between traditional power analyzers and oscilloscopes that operate in different domains, which make it difficult to correlate their respective data sets for optimized dynamic power analysis.

The MDA 8000HD captures waveforms from the drive’s three-phase power conversion section, individual power transistors, as well as motor speed, angle and torque sensors, and the embedded control system, while performing coincident three-phase electrical and mechanical power analysis.

The MDA 8000HD performs static (steady-state) power measurements — like a power analyzer — and also performs power measurements under dynamic operating conditions. It provides per-cycle waveforms showing power values changing over time, which can be time-correlated using Zoom+Gate functionality and deep acquisition memory. This allows the analyzer to isolate and correlate dynamic events to other power or control-system behaviors.

Power can be analyzed during periods as short as a single semiconductor device switching cycle, a capability not provided by power analyzers, said the company, but essential for debug of modern motor drive controls.

The MDA 8000HD enables the following:

• Complete three-phase AC input, DC bus, three-phase drive output, plus mechanical power output and efficiency calculations, which requires 16 analog channels
• Automotive torque vectoring applications requiring simultaneous analysis of two three-phase drive systems plus other signals, which requires 12-16 analog channels
• Cascaded H-bridge (three-phase) inverter subsection analysis, requiring measurement of six power-semiconductor outputs and six gate-drive signals
• Some scenarios may add three-phase output signals and one DC bus-voltage signal, which requires 12-16 analog channels

Pricing of the MDA 8000HD motor drive analyzers starts at $33,265. Availability is six to eight weeks ARO.