NPM PCD Series User manual

Pulse Control LSI
PCD/PCL/G series
Guidebook

INDEX
1. Introduction ·················································································································· 1
2. Outlines ······················································································································· 1
2-1. Acceleration/Deceleration control················································································· 1
2-2. Advantage of using PCL ···························································································· 1
2-3. Is pulse control difficult with a CPU (1-chip microcomputer)?············································ 2
3. Examples of basic configuration, application, and operation pattern using PCL.··························· 5
3-1. CPU Interface·········································································································· 5
3-1-1. Parallel bus interface (8-bit, 16-bit) ········································································· 5
3-1-2. Serial bus interface ····························································································· 5
3-2. Examples of basic configuration with PCL······································································ 6
3-2-1. Connections using a stepping motor········································································ 6
3-2-2. Connections using a servo motor············································································ 7
3-3. Example of terminal assignment diagram······································································· 8
3-4. Application·············································································································· 8
3-5. Examples of operation patterns ··················································································· 9
3-5-1. Preset operation (positioning operation)··································································· 9
3-5-2. Deceleration stop operation··················································································· 9
3-5-3. Immediate stop operation ····················································································· 9
3-5-4. Origin return operation ························································································· 9
3-5-5. Examples of acceleration/deceleration pattern··························································10
3-5-6. Change in speed patterns by changing speed (during S-curve acceleration/deceleration
operation) ·················································································································10
4. Introduction of PCL series·······························································································11
4-1. PCD46x1A Series-···································································································11
4-2. PCD2112A·············································································································12
4-3. PCL61x5 series·······································································································12
4-4. PCL60xx series·······································································································14
4-5. G9103C·················································································································15
5. Register······················································································································17
5-1. Speed pattern setting ·······························································································17
5-2. Registers for speed pattern settings ············································································17
5-2-1. RMV: feeding amount (target position) setting register ···············································17
5-2-2. RFL: FL speed setting register··············································································17
5-2-3. RFH: FH speed setting register·············································································17
5-2-4. RUR: Acceleration rate setting register ···································································17
5-2-5. RDR: deceleration rate setting register ···································································18
5-2-6. RMG: Speed magnification setting register ······························································18
5-2-7. RDP: Slow-down point setting register····································································18
5-2-8. RUS: S-curve range setting register in an acceleration···············································18
5-2-9. RDS: Deceleration S-curve range setting register ·····················································18
5-3. Registers related to environment settings ·····································································19

5-3-1. RMD: Operation mode setting register····································································19
5-3-2. RENV1 to RENV4: Environment setting registers······················································19
5-4. Counting register·····································································································19
5-4-1. RCUN1/RCUN2: Counter register··········································································19
5-4-2. RCMP1/RCMP2: Comparison data (comparator) register············································19
5-4-3. RLTC1 to RLTC4: Latched data register (read-only) ··················································19
5-5. Interrupt register······································································································19
5-5-1. RIRQ: Event interrupt factor setting register·····························································19
5-5-2. REST: Error interrupt factor check register ······························································19
5-5-3. RIST: Event interrupt factor check register ······························································19
6. Command ···················································································································20
6-1. Operation command·································································································20
6-2. General-purpose output bit control command (10h to 1Fh) ···············································20
6-3. Control command ····································································································20
6-4. Register control command·························································································20
7. Status·························································································································21
8. Basic specifications and technical terms ············································································22
8-1. Basic specification···································································································22
8-2. Explanations of technical terms in catalogues and user's manuals ·····································22
9. Function······················································································································23
9-1. List of functions·······································································································23
9-2. Function description·································································································25
9-2-1. S-curve acceleration/deceleration operation·····························································25
9-2-2. Acceleration/deceleration S-curve range setting ·······················································25
9-2-3. Triangular motion elimination function (Auto FH correction function) ·····························25
9-2-4. Origin return operation ························································································26
9-2-4-1. Origin return operation 0························································································26
9-2-4-2. Origin return operation 1························································································26
9-2-4-3. Origin return operation 2························································································27
9-2-4-4. Origin return operation 3························································································27
9-2-4-5. Origin return operation 4························································································27
9-2-4-6. Origin return operation 5························································································28
9-2-4-7. Origin return operation 6························································································28
9-2-4-8. Origin return operation 7························································································28
9-2-4-9. Origin return operation 8························································································29
9-2-4-10. Origin return operation 9·······················································································29
9-2-4-11. Origin return operation 10·····················································································29
9-2-4-12. Origin return operation 11·····················································································30
9-2-4-13. Origin return operation 12·····················································································30
9-2-4-14. Origin return with feeding amount limit ····································································30
9-2-4-15. Origin escape operation ·······················································································30
9-2-4-16. Origin search operation························································································30
9-2-5. Servo motor interface··························································································31
9-2-5-1. Servo motor control overview··················································································31

9-2-5-2. In-position (INP) signal ··························································································32
9-2-5-3. Deviation counter clear (ERC) signal········································································32
9-2-5-4. Alarm (ALM) signal································································································33
9-2-6. Stepping motor interface······················································································33
9-2-6-1. Current-down (CDW) signal·····················································································33
9-2-6-2. PH1 to PH4 signals (Excitation sequence signal for 2-phase stepping motor) ·····················34
9-2-7. Encoder input····································································································34
9-2-7-1. Introduction of encoders·························································································34
9-2-7-2. A-, B- and Z-phase signals ·····················································································35
9-2-7-3. What is multiplication (x) ?······················································································36
9-2-8. Up/down counter································································································36
9-2-9. Slow-down point auto setting function·····································································37
9-2-10. Comparator·····································································································37
9-2-11. Pre-register (pre-buffer for the next operation)························································38
9-2-12. Pulser input·····································································································38
9-2-12-1. What is pulser ?··································································································38
9-2-12-2. Pulser input ·······································································································38
9-2-13. Interpolation function·························································································39
9-2-13-1. Linear interpolation······························································································39
9-2-13-2. Circular interpolation····························································································39
9-2-14. Override the target position ················································································40
9-2-15. Simultaneous start/simultaneous stop···································································40
9-2-16. Stepping motor out-of-step detection function·························································40
9-2-17. I/O port (General-purpose I/O terminal)·································································40
9-2-18. Ring counter function ························································································40
9-2-19. Software limit function ·······················································································41
<At the end> ···················································································································41
<Appendix> Continuous operation in PCL61x5 ····································································42

- 1 -
1. Introduction
This document describes the features and the basic functions of Pulse Control LSI (=Motion Control LSI), PCD/PCL/G
series, provided by Nippon Pulse Motor Co., Ltd. (NPM).
In recent years, developing and designing engineers in equipment manufacturers have been decreased, so we hope this
manual would help you to understand how quickly and easily you can build a desired motion control in a short period of
time.
(Hereinafter, NPM-made pulse control LSIs are collectively referred to as "PCL".)
Please note that this document is made in order to understand the basics of pulse control LSIs, and the detailed
explanations such as restrictions and operations that may differ depending on the settings are excluded.
Refer to the user's manual if you want the more detail information on how to set the functions.
2. Outlines
2-1. Acceleration/Deceleration control First, we explain about “acceleration/deceleration control”
which is the MUST to understand PCLs. If you have already
known this, you can skip this section.
Stepping motors are so called “Give up easily type of motors”.
If you try to move a heavy load quickly, they would easily give
up before trying to say “I cannot move such a heavy load at
such a high speed. (This is called “out-of-step”
phenomenon.)
When compared to an automobile, an automobile with a
manual shift (which has recently been few) can stall if you try
to start driving at the 5th speed all of a sudden.
In order to increase the speed, you need to accelerate
gradually in steps from 1st, 2nd, 3rd...
A stepping motor works in the same way. If you want to move
a load somewhat at faster speed, you need to accelerate
from low to high speed.
On the other hand, a stepping motor cannot stop suddenly
when running at high speed. The moment of inertia
overshoot the motor from the position that you want to stop.
To stop at the exact position, you must also decelerate to an
instantaneous stop speed [=FL speed(starting speed, speed
to stop)].
Acceleration/deceleration is required to perform positioning as quickly and accurately as possible.
Additionally, if acceleration/deceleration characteristics can be S-curve rather than straight.... it can be gentler and give less
impact to the moving load.
Please imagine to move a table with a glass of water on left and right horizontally.
The operation pattern shown in Fig. 1 is with linear acceleration/deceleration.
When starts moving, ends acceleration, starts deceleration and stops moving, the “angle” can cause the water to shake
significantly due to the impact.
To prevent water from shaking as much as possible, you might want to use S-curve acceleration/deceleration as shown in
Fig. 2.
Stepping motors are used to transport a variety of things. Some can be handled somewhat roughly, but others, for example
semi-conductor wafers, should be handled “slowly and softly. Failures to handle them slowly and softly can give them an
impact and may ruin the costly wafers.
S-curve acceleration/deceleration is the ability to move things more gently than ever.
2-2.Advantage of using PCL
Controlling a stepping motor requires, of course, devices or circuits that produce pulse signals.
FL
FH
Speed
Time
Accelerate gradually Decelerate and stop
Fig. 1
More gentle acceleration and
deceleration results in less impact.
Fig. 2
Speed
Time
FL
FH

- 2 -
Motor control (motion control) is often created by "CPUs (1-chip microcomputers)" or "FPGA". So can program them to
perform acceleration/deceleration speed controls. But please wait before doing it.
Do you know about dedicated LSIs specialized in motor control?
They are called "Pulse Control LSIs (PCL series)".
There are various names to call them, such as motor control ICs, motion control LSIs or pulse generators. However they all
are the same thing basically.
<A story from a customer>
★Have you had any experiences to control motors with devices other than pulse control LSIs? -
No, not here.
Why? The answer is very simple; "PCLs are very convenient and make things easier."
For example, if only a CPU is used to create pulse signals, we heard that I need to create the programs to control
counters and timers by making the ports ON and OFF.
If we only create a program using a constant speed control, it can be easy. However, it's a little troublesome to
create a program using acceleration and deceleration controls.
★A high-performance CPU is also required, isn’t it? -
Recent CPUs are becoming high-performance in relatively inexpensive, and linear accelerations and
decelerations may be possible. However, performing S-curve acceleration/deceleration can be a different subject.
To create a program where acceleration/ deceleration rates changes all the time is very difficult, and we do not
want to create such a troublesome program!
If you want to do it with a low-cost CPU, processing speed of other controls than motor controls become very
slow. Therefore, it is necessary to use a somewhat high-performance CPU. Maybe....
However, if you use PCL chips, all you need to do is simply to write the setup data and to send the commands
from the CPU, do it is very easy.
★What are the exact advantages of using PCL? What makes you comfortable? -
When considering the cost and development period in total, it is more advantageous to use PCL products. Not
only to reduce costs, but also to develop and deliver products as soon as possible with limited number of
development and design engineers, which is very important.
2-3. Is pulse control difficult with a CPU (1-chip microcomputer)?
When a pulse control is performed by a CPU, what is
difficult?
Take an acceleration/deceleration speed control as an
example...
It's a little professional spoken, but “higher speed = shorter
pulse cycles.” "To accelerate" means making a program so
that the pulse cycles become gradually shorter.
When creating a program, simply shortening the pulse cycle
is not enough. You need to calculate and program them
correctly. Since the setting is related to acceleration and
deceleration ratios, you have to set them very precisely.
Even linear acceleration/deceleration is “relatively difficult”,
so S-curve acceleration/deceleration can be “super
difficult”.
FL
FH
Speed
Time
......
Shorten the cycle little by little
However, you have tried and overworked for days to write
a program, and finally becomes able to output
acceleration/ deceleration pulses using a CPU. But still
you have many other things to consider and cannot take
a break at this point.
Speed
How many pulses are lett
when the deceleration
starts?
FH
F
L
Time
Does the motor stop
when it slows down to
FL speed?

- 3 -
For example,
● What will be the total number of pulses to output? and the pulses need to be counted.
● Acceleration has started successfully, but at how many pulses remains should we start decelerating?
● Although a deceleration has started successfully, can we stop precisely when we decelerate to starting speed (FL
speed)?
● The current position cannot be managed only by the number of output pulse, so a current position counter may be
required.
●If any forced stop by an external signal is required, how should we process the signal?
We need to consider the above things.
As described above, when creating the software using CPUs
(1-chip microcomputer), we believe that programming and
processing speed settings are the most annoying. PCL can reduce
such annoying in the development process.
If PCLs are used, for example, basic positioning controls can be
performed with s-curve acceleration/deceleration as shown in the
flow chart in the left.
That is everything you need to do. Isn’t it simple?
You can perform positioning operation with S-curve acceleration/
deceleration, and you can also know the current position at any
locations by reading the up/down counter.
When the operation is completed, an interrupt is issued to a CPU to
inform that the operation is completed. Since the CPU can assign
motor control work to PCL, the CPU can do other work during that
time.
Also, in order to forcibly stop the operation by an external signal, a
dedicated terminal can be used, so it is very easy.
It might be easy to understand the relationship if you consider CPU
as the boss and PCL as the subordinate.
The boss (CPU) assigns a task (motor control) by giving data and
instructions to the subordinate (PCL) with absolute confidence, and
the boss can do other work (processing). After the task is completed,
the subordinate informs the boss that it has been completed, and
then wait for the next task from the boss.
Writing and Reading data
Sending data from CPU to PCL is called “writing data” to PCL.
There are two types of data to write: registers and commands.
Conversely, when CPU checks the current status of PCL (what
numerical values have been set, what status has it been in, etc.),
the process is called "reading data" from PCL.
The types of data to be read include registers, commands, and
statuses.
In addition to reducing development man-hours, there are
advantages as follows:
・High frequency pulses can be output.
・Motor control tasks are left to PCL, so the load to CPU becomes
less.
・Specializing in motor controls ensures high operational reliability.
Yes
No
Start
Writes various
environment setting data
Output pulse logic selection
Positioning operation mode
setting
Operation direction and
S-curve accel/decel
selection
Deceleration start point
automatic setting, etc.
Writes starting speed (FL
speed) data
Writes operation speed
(FH speed) data
Writes acceleration/
deceleration data
Writes the number of
output pulse data
Writes start command
Operation complete
In motion?
Read the statuses
or check interrupts

- 4 -
Now, we summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each control device as follows:
CONTROL DEVICE ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGE
CPU/
1-chip microcontroller ・
Low cost in low-end applications
・
It is difficult to create programs.
・High-speed operations and complicated
operations are difficult to perform.
・It is necessary to test whether or not the
actual operation will be realized.
・High-speed CPU is required for
complex operations. (or a dedicated
CPU is required.)
・Burden is applied due to the motor
controls, and processing speed for
other process becomes slow.
FPGA
・
Functions suited to the application can
be created freely.
・Programs can be rewritten, and
correction is relatively easy.
・
It is very difficult to create programs.
・It can freely create functions suitable for
the application, so the functions tend to
be limited only for the application.
(Since unnecessary functions are not
created,) it is difficult to use for other
applications.
・Relatively expensive and not suitable
for mass production
Pulse control LSI
(PCL) ・
The development man-hours can be
shortened because the functions
related to motor controls are built- in
as the standard. (The operation has
been verified in the factory.)
・Low-end CPU can be used due to
the less CPU burden. Motor control
tasks are left to this dedicated LSI.
・High frequent pulses can be output.
・The outputting pulse cycle during
acceleration or deceleration changes
linearly, not by steps.
・
Depending on the CPU to be compared,
the cost is slightly higher.
We have a lineup of PCL models that can be used for servo motors if the servo motor drivers are pulse signal input
types.

- 5 -
3. Examples of basic configuration, application, and operation pattern using PCL.
NPM's pulse control LSI (PCL) was designed to control motors, and since its release in 1985, it has a long history in the
market and has been supported by many customers a long period of time.
・Divides the incoming reference clock to create pulse signals at various frequencies suitable for motor control.
⇒Controls the rotation speed of a motor by generating pulse signals at specified frequencies.
・Motor control can be "left" simply by giving operation pattern data and instructions (commands) from CPU.
⇒The load on CPU can be reduced.
・Required number of axis/ functions can be selected out of five different series.
3-1. CPU Interface
PCL does not function by itself. You must have a source to control it. The source can be a one-chip microcomputer or a PC;
anything is OK as long as data settings or a start instruction can be made. The source CPU can realize complicated motor
controls by a simple data operation.
3-1-1. Parallel bus interface (8-bit, 16-bit)
Parallel bus interface is built-in to all models except PCD2112A and G9103C (described later).
・CS (Chip select signal Input)
・WR (Write enable signal input)
・RD (Read enable signal input)
・INT (Interrupt signal output)
・WRQ (Wait signal output)
・A0 to A2 [Address bus input (the number varies depending on the model)]
・D0 to D15 (data input/output)
Other terminals are used to perform operations that match the type of the source CPU.
User-friendly interface can be selected either for 68000, H8, 8086 or Z80 series CPU.
3-1-2. Serial bus interface
Recently, the number of CPUs that does not have parallel bus interface is increasing.
So, PCD46x1A series, PCD2112A, and PCL61x5 series (described later) have 4-wire synchronous serial bus interfaces to
cope with it.
Up to four LSIs can be connected by one slave select signal (SS).
The connected LSIs can be identified by the device selection data set to DS0 and DS1 terminals.
・SCK (Serial Clock): Serial bus interface clock terminal.
・SS (Slave Select): Input terminal for slave(LSI) selection.
・MOSI (Master Output Slave Input): Input terminal from the master (CPU) to the slave (LSI).
・MISO(Master Input Slave Output): Outputs terminal from the slave to the master.

- 6 -
3-2. Examples of basic configuration with PCL
The basic configurations are shown in the figures below.
3-2-1. Connections using a stepping motor
The following signals can be input as mechanical position detection signals.
1) End limit signal
Stops immediately or decelerates to stop when the signal is turned ON in the moving direction and remains stopped even
if the signal is turned OFF.
2) Slow-down signal
While this signal is enabled, if the signal turns ON, the speed is reduced to FL. After that, it will accelerate again when it
turns OFF.
3) Origin signal
Used for an origin return operation.
Some models can decelerate to stop when the origin signal turns ON without using the slow-down signal.
Command pulse/ Directional signal
ORG
Stepping
motor driver
(-) Direction
SD - EL +EL
Stepping
motor
Slow-down signal
Origin signal
(-) End limit signal
(+) End limit signal
CPU
Interrupt
Data
PCL
Crystal
oscillator
Reference
Clock
Table
(+) Direction