Thien eDrives cuts electric motor controller development time in half with model-based design

BANGALORE, INDIA: MathWorks announced that Thien eDrives (formerly ATB Technologies), a developer of electrical drive systems, used MATLAB and Simulink to model, simulate, and implement an electric motor control system on TI’s C2000 microcontroller unit (MCU). By applying Model-Based Design, Thien eDrives moved rapidly from the first prototype to the final series, reducing development time by 50 percent.

To develop an electric drive for a fuel cell vehicle compressor unit, including the motor control software, electronics, motor, and other mechanical components, Thien eDrives needed a design approach that enabled early verification of control strategies, code generation, and rapid design iterations throughout the project.

Model-based design allowed for verification at multiple stages of development, helping produce a high-quality component within a shortened timeframe. Automatic code generation eliminated the time-consuming and error-prone hand-coding process while providing added confidence of compliance with certain MISRA C standards. Using models also simplified design reviews with Thien eDrives customers by eliminating the need for code review-driven processes.