TECHNOLOGY n 21 www.drivesncontrols.com September 2025 A UK PIONEER IN GaN (gallium nitride) motor-drive technology has announced a platform which demonstrates how the technology can transform the performance of robot motors by correcting torque cogging and torque ripple dynamically, and providing accurate sensing within the drive. Cambridge-based QPT says that its low-voltage MicroDyno platform achieves this without needing costly external sensors or encoders, while improving performance dramatically compared to standard PWM-based systems. Operating at 1 MHz switching speeds, the platform integrates a compact filter to deliver a true sinewave voltage to motors – a capability that differentiates it from conventional low-frequency PWM-based systems. QPT sees the technology as the basis for a new class of motordrives at all voltage levels. It says that eliminating PWM-induced inefficiencies, noise and wear is a critical challenge for all motordriven systems, from precision robotics to megawatt-scale industrial drives. The MicroDyno platform demonstrates a 48V architecture for use with robots, but the technology is scalable. Using QPT’s proprietary qAttach packaging, the same high-frequency sinewave advantages can extend to 400V and 800V systems, opening up potential applications in industrial automation, HVAC, and electric vehicle traction drives. The sinewave output also unlocks the possibility of multiphase modules that could be used in parallel to reach megawatt levels of power, reducing the number of modules that motor-drive OEMs need to deal with. Most current robot drives operate at 4–16 kHz PWM (pulse width modulation) frequencies, shaping currents into sinewaves, but leaving the voltage at the motor as high dV/dt PWM. Some specialist systems can reach 100kHz, but they face electromagnetic challenges and are still too low in frequency to allow the small, cost-effective filtering needed for true sine voltage outputs and EMI filtering. QPT claims that its MicroDyno platform overcomes this barrier. By extracting the maximum performance from GaN transistors, it can operate at frequencies around 100 times higher than standard, enabling tiny, low-cost output filters, and producing a clean sine voltage at the motor terminals with an extremely high signal-tonoise ratio. The design also eliminates EMI, reduces bearing currents, enables “sensing without sensors”, and allows the use of unshielded cables or integrated motor-drives. QPT hails this as “a transformative shift for robotics integration”. “MicroDyno shows what becomes possible when you combine ultra-fast GaN switching with intelligent filtering,” explains QPT’s founder and CTO, Rob Gwynne. “For robotics, we’re not just improving smoothness. We can now dynamically correct torque ripple and cogging in real time, something that even expensive encoder-based systems cannot do to this level of precision. This opens the door to more precise, more compact and more reliable robots at a much lower system cost.” QPT (Quantum Power Transformation), established as a power electronics specialist in 2019, is pioneering high-frequency GaN motor-drives. Its qIPM platform integrates patented packaging (qAttach), control (qControl), ultra-fast gate drivers (qDrive), highfrequency sensing (qSense), and filtering (qFilter) to deliver true sine wave drives for industrial, HVAC, robots and EV applications. www.q-p-t.com GaN-based drives will ‘transform’ electric motor performance PHOENIX CONTACT HAS announced a wireless IO-Link coupler that provides contact-free transmission of power and data between IO-Link devices and automation systems. The couplers can transmit up to 18W inductively, as well as IO-Link data at speeds of up to 230.4 kb/s, across air gaps of up to 7mm. The technology can replace wear-prone connections and sliprings, while reducing costly outages. The couplers allow devices to be supplied with power and IO-Link data without wear or the need for maintenance, especially in applications where conventional connection technologies are reaching their limits due to space and movement restrictions, vibration, dust and dirt, rotation, and the need for frequent contacts. The near-field communication across the air gap does not require any frequency planning or wireless technology expertise. The couplers use a standard IO-Link interface, and will work with all common IO-Link Class A devices, simplifying their commissioning, maintenance and expansion. They are said to operate reliably, even in demanding conditions. Phoenix Contact predicts that in factories of the future, there will no longer be physical connections in moving applications. It adds that production downtimes due to bent or worn contacts will become a thing of the past. www.phoenixcontact.com/en-gb Contact-free IO-Link couplers transmit power and data wirelessly QPT’s MicroDyno test platform is designed to demonstrate will how its GaN technology can transform the performance of robot motors
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=