Industrial case stories

Digital Pump

The aim of this project was to create a pump which had to be able to produce flow with a high level of dosage precision within a large dynamic range. The result was a digitally regulated pump.

The project included control and regulation of a stepmotor for the dosage of liquids, ranging from a few millilitres per hour to several litres. The process was accomplished in close cooperation with the company which was responsible for the project. Develco has been in charge of the development of the hardware as well as the software. The hardware embraces switch-mode power supply, control device and driverboard for the motor. The software regulates the motor according to the flow and the inputs from the user. Through this pump, the customer has set new standards when it comes to flow control and dosing.

Infra-red remote control.  (Time-to-market)

The challenge in this project was to develop and produce a solid remote control at a favourable price before the competitors of our client entered the market with a similar product. The functionality of the product was tested by a PC simulator in order to ensure an application, which was simple and logical.

The remote control was to be produced in large numbers and therefore a custom-display was included and the software was mask programmed inside the micro processor.

As always, the problem was solved in close cooperation with our client in order to meet all the requirements of functionality and performance.

Power supply for inductive energy distribution

The purpose of this assignment was to develop a system that could supply energy to the moving modules of a baggage sorting machine. On all modules there is a motor, a controller for the motor, and a battery to supply these. However, our system made it possible to exclude from the machine the battery and the mechanical sliding parts used to recharge the battery. The system connects all carts electrically and on some of the moveable parts there is a unit which collects the energy. The energy is then distributed to the other carts. Every time, 200 W are collected.

The system has already demonstrated its qualities and is installed in several airports across the world.

Motor control of sorting machines

The purpose of this unit was to control a motor which provides the discharge of parcels on a sorting machine. The unit had to be installed on every sorting cart. Infra-red communication was used to connect the unit to the plant's network whenever a subject was to get on or off the cart. In this case, the challenge was the fast acceleration of the motor, which had to be able to throw off the package instantaneously. Furthermore, it was important to make sure that the parcel did not slip during the acceleration.

Worldwide, day by day more than 100, 000 of these cards make sure passengers receive their suitcases at the baggage claim.

PCI cards for industrial networks

The intelligent PCI-card had to interface with a serial industry network through two RS-485 channels. The card interfaces with a standard PC through the PCI bus. The card is provided with two micro processors with built-in RAM and flash. The software is divided into several levels of which the low-level communication unit is located on the PCI card and is being handled by the two micro processors, while the general control of the network takes place at PC application level. 

Power PC

The costumer wanted an initial advantage in developing his technology. An evaluation board was therefore designed and developed for the costumer. The board contained several options for different experiments and tests of hardware and software. Also, low-level drivers to control flash, RAM and communication units were developed so that the client could focus on developing the high-level part of the software. When the client took over the project, his company was soon able to continue developing its core competences. 

100MHz counter

The counter was part of a bigger counter module for a leading European research centre and was used for counting particles in connection with experiments. The requirement was a 32-bits 100MHz counter and an interface with the internal bus on the main unit.

To this day, the counter still counts particles.