Building drives from blocks is childs play

A Canadian company has developed a modular approach to power control that it claims will allow users to assemble items such as variable speed drives and advanced motion controls simply and at a low cost. Agile Systems` Digital Power Blocks (DPB) combine power electronics and digital control in compact modules.

The company says that its technology will accelerate the development of products such as: controllers for AC induction, servo, stepper, and brushed and brushless DC motors; traction drives; power supplies; and AC-DC converters.

The DPB range includes power management modules containing up to three half-bridges with DSP (digital signal processor) control of PWM, voltage and current. The modules can handle currents up to 590A at voltages from 12-380V DC. They include high-speed communications interfaces.

Agile also provides compatible flux vector drives for induction motors, and drives for brushed and brushless DC motors. There are also servo amplifiers and distributed servo controls that can provide currents up to 22A and can handle up to four axes.