The Use of Wireless Networks and Mobile Applications in the Control of Electric Machines

Abstract

The paper presents the implementation possibilities of remote control by use of wireless communication and mobile application dedicated to controlling systems of power electronics converters. The article focuses on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies as they are currently the most commonly used in modern mobile devices. The authors wanted to check the usefulness of those methods in the application of a classic drive set with a DC motor. The MIT App Inventor programming environment, which allows quick prototyping of the mobile graphical interface, was used to develop the mobile application. The developed prototype of the mobile application is the second thread of the article, the aim of which is to propose a mobile application interface that enables safe control of the electric drive in an open loop. By repeated testing of the graphical structure of the application and the controls used, the authors obtained the final form of the interface, which, in their opinion, is absolutely required when developing such programs. The evaluated control strategy has been also used to control the rotational speed of a permanent magnet DC motor supplied by a three-phase thyristor rectifier. This paper’s research results have shown the proposed solutions’ advantages and disadvantages.