Alizem releases new COTS motor control IP product for pump and fan applications

QUEBEC CITY, CANADA: Alizem Inc. has released its commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Motor Control IP product targeted for pump and fan based applications. Designed for use with Altera Cyclone FPGAs, this innovative and compelling solution delivers significant benefits over conventional COTS Motor Control IC’s for the variable-speed motor control market place as outlined below:

* Evolvable software/IP optimized for specific energy-efficient pump and fan applications.
* Unique development features such as system debug mode for early bug detection, virtual motor mode for early application software development, and energy consumption estimator for smart-grid applications.
* Lower component count, improved product reliability, smaller footprint, and lower total cost of ownership.
* Reduced product development cycle time by ease of integration and absence of lead-time.

According to Dr. Marc Perron, President at Alizem: “The industrial motor control market is large, diverse, and very fragmented. The wide diversity of product requirements and features has led to significant hardware customization when using typical COTS motor control IC’s such as MCUs, DSPs or ASSPs for their implementation.

“However, systems based on Altera’s FPGAs and Alizem’s Motor IP allow a wide range of motor applications to be implemented on a common hardware platform and differentiated via software/IP configuration. This approach is particularly beneficial for applications where sales volumes are low to moderate as the cost of low volume production is high.”

Dr. Perron adds, “Alizem goes a step further by delivering evolvable plug-and-play solutions that are tailored for specific motor control applications requirements such as industrial pumps and fans responsible of nearly 40 percent of energy consumed in sectors such as chemicals and water treatment. This enables our customers to ship products with optimal motor control every time and keep focus on their specific differentiation.”

Michael Samuelian, director of the industrial and automotive business units, Altera, said: "Alizem’s COTS Motor Control IP solution helps designers who don’t have the time, the budget or in-house motor control expertise to implement their own FPGA-based motor control designs.

"By choosing Alizem’s IP and Altera FPGAs as a design platform, designers can also add Industrial Ethernet communications and other custom logic to the same FPGA. They can also change with evolving standards by reprogramming the FPGA platform. This lowers a customer’s total cost of ownership over time as a common platform can be used for multiple designs."

Alizem ships its Motor Control IP for Pump and Fan applications as an Altera SOPC Builder component and a motor control software API/library running on Altera’s Nios II processor. Teams with little to no experience in FPGA designs or motor controls can be up and running in less than 30 minutes, which allows them to focus on their product design right out of the box.