Ramps and Acceleration

Goals:
• Understand acceleration and ramps.
• Set the CW/CCW ramps.
• Perform a ramp changeover.
• Set the UP=DOWN ramp.
• Set the stop and e-stop ramps.

Controlling how fast the motor changes speed is an essential task since every application has
different requirements. Some loads can come up to speed very quickly, while others must be
brought up to speed slowly. Similarly, bringing the motor to a stop can happen quickly or slowly.

The rate at which a motor speeds up or slows down is called acceleration. Although we tend to
think of slowing down as deceleration, engineers treat all speed changes as accelerations. To
accommodate different accelerations, the MOVIDRIVE® B contains a number of time
parameters called ramps. These control motor acceleration for different situations.

Ramp values depend on the application. To calculate a ramp, you need to decide how big a
speed change you wish to make and how long it should take. Let’s use an example.

Assume that you’re going to bring the motor from a stopped condition (0 rpm) to a speed of
1,000 rpm in 10 s. This means that your speed change is 1,000 rpm (1,000 – 0 = 1,000). To
calculate the ramp time, use the following formula:

3,000*
𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 ×
𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎

We plug in our known values (1,000 rpm speed change and 10 s acceleration time):

3,000
30 s = 10 s ×
1,000 rpm

As you can see, if we want a speed change of 1,000 rpm to take 10 s, we must program a ramp
time of 30 s.

If you already know the ramp value and the speed change, you can calculate the acceleration
time. For example, if a drive has a ramp time of 2 s and makes a speed change of 500 rpm, you
can calculate the acceleration time with the following formula:

𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎
𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 ×
3,000

500 rpm
0.33 s = 2 s ×
3,000

So, if the ramp time is set to 2 s and the speed changes by 500 rpm, the actual time to make the
change—the acceleration time—is about 1/3 of a second.

* The 3,000 is a scaling factor required by the MOVIDRIVE® B.

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Let’s practice these ideas. Complete this table by calculating the ramp values for each speed
change and acceleration time:

Speed Change Acceleration Time Parameter Ramp Time

1000 rpm 20 s P130 CW Up
1000 rpm 15 s P131 CW Down
1000 rpm 12 s P132 CCW Up
1000 rpm 8s P133 CCW Down
1000 rpm 6s P134 Up = Down

We’re going to learn about seven ramp parameters stored in the MOVIDRIVE® B. Each of these
handles a particular type of situation.

The first four ramps are called the CW/CCW ramps. They set the acceleration for speeding up
in a clockwise direction (130), slowing down in a clockwise direction (131), speeding up in a
counterclockwise direction (132), and slowing down in a counterclockwise direction (133).

Step 1
Launch MOVITOOLS® Motion Studio.
Create a new project or open an existing one.
Establish communications with the MOVIDRIVE® B.

Step 2
Change the n11 setpoint (160) to 1,000 rpm. If you’ve forgotten how to do this, review the
Terminal Control Mode exercise.

Step 3
Locate parameters 130 through 133. These set the four CW/CCW ramp times.

Step 4
Set the parameters to give acceleration times of 20 s, 12 s, 15 s, and 8 s. Use your
calculated ramp times from the table.

Step 5
Set switch DI 10 to the ON (up) position. (Do you remember why you need to do this?)
Set switches DI 00, DI 03, and DI 04 to the ON (up) position.

Step 6
Locate parameter 000 so you can monitor the motor’s speed.

Step 7
Open the stopwatch app on your smartphone.
Watch parameter 000. Be prepared to start the stopwatch.
Flip switch DI 01 to the ON (up) position and start the stopwatch.

Step 8
When the motor’s speed reaches 1,000 rpm, stop the stopwatch and jot down the time.
Leave the motor running.

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Step 9
Reset the stopwatch and get ready to start it.

Step 10
Flip switch DI 01 to the OFF (down) position and start the stopwatch.

Step 11
When the motor speed reaches 0 rpm, stop the stopwatch and jot down the time.

Question

1. Do the measured clockwise ramp times match the expected values?

Step 12
Repeat Steps 6–11, but use switch DI 02 to start and stop the motor. Remember, this switch
causes the motor to run in a counterclockwise direction.

Question

1. Do the measured counterclockwise ramp times match the expected values?

In some situations, you don’t need four different ramp values. A single ramp may be all that’s
required. This is what the UP=DOWN ramp (134) does. All speed changes, regardless of
direction have the same acceleration.

To use this ramp instead of the four CW/CCW ramps, you need to instruct the MOVIDRIVE® B
to switch ramp types. To do this, you must assign the Speed ramp changeover control function
to one of the digital inputs.

Step 1
Assign the Speed ramp changeover control function to DI 11. If you’ve forgotten how to do
this, review the Terminal Control Mode exercise.

Step 2
Locate parameter 134 and set it to give an acceleration time of 6 s. Use the calculated ramp
time from the table.

Step 3
Set switches DI 00, DI 03, DI 04, and DI 11 to the ON (up) position.

Step 4
Flip switch DI 01 to the ON (up) position and notice about how long it takes the motor to
reach full speed (you don’t have to time it).

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Step 5
Flip switch DI 01 to the OFF (down) position and notice about how long it takes the motor to
stop.

Step 6
Flip switch DI 02 to the ON (up) position and notice about how long it takes the motor to
reach full speed.

Step 7
Flip switch DI 02 to the OFF (down) position and notice about how long it takes the motor to
stop.

Question

1. Does it appear that the motor is now using just one ramp value instead of four?

Ramps are also used to determine how fast the motor stops when the MOVIDRIVE® B
deliberately halts the motor on its own. This can happen for a variety of reasons.

If the Enable/stop signal goes inactive, the MOVIDRIVE® B will stop the motor. The ramp
stored in parameter 136 controls how fast this happens.

Similarly, if the Emergency stop/fault response is associated with a system event, the
MOVIDRIVE® B will stop the motor. The ramp stored in parameter 137 controls how fast this
happens. In most cases, this ramp will be very short since an emergency stop usually merits a
very fast stop.

Let’s experiment with both of these ramps.

Step 1
Locate parameter 136 and set it to 6 s.

Question

1. With this ramp time, how long it will take the motor to stop from a speed of 1,000 rpm.

In the Terminal Control Mode exercise, you assigned DI 10 to the /External fault control
function. By default, if this control function gets activated, it will trigger an Emergency
stop/fault response. So we can use DI 10 to test the e-stop ramp.

Step 2
Locate parameter 137 and set it to 1 s.

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Question

1. With this ramp time, how long it will take the motor to e-stop from a speed of 1,000 rpm.

Step 3
Set switches DI 00, DI 03, DI 04, DI 10, and DI 11 to the ON (up) position.
Just a reminder: DI 03 is the Enable/stop switch.

Step 4
Flip DI 01 to the ON (up) position.
Wait for the motor to reach full speed (about 6 s).

Step 5
Trigger a stop event by flipping DI 03 to the OFF (down) position.
Notice about how long it takes the motor to come to a stop (you don’t have to time it).

Step 6
Flip DI 03 to the ON (up) position to re-enable the MOVIDRIVE® B.
Wait for the motor to reach full speed.

Step 7
Trigger an emergency stop event by flipping DI 10 to the OFF (down) position.
Notice how long it takes the motor to come to a stop.

Question

1. How did the two stop conditions differ?

Step 8
Set switches DI 00, DI 03, DI 04, DI 10, and DI 11 to the ON (up) position.
Set switch DI 01 to the OFF (down) position.

Step 9
Clear the fault condition from the MOVIDRIVE® B. If you’ve forgotten how to do this, review
the last task in the Terminal Control Mode exercise.

Step 10
Flip all switches OFF.