Argon firmware releases

This page lists the official firmware releases of the Argon (servo drive) and the change log.

Glossary

• Firmware package - a firmware file with .gdf name extension that contains combined firmware for Argon I/O side processor and GraniteCore processor
• I/O side - the I/O side processor of Argon. The source code of this processor is open source.
• GraniteCore - the motion control processor inside the Argon.
• Change log - the list of changes made since the previous package version.
• Remarks - Notes

Firmware package version	Date	I/O side version	GraniteCore version	Change log	Remarks	Importance
0.9.0	1.7.2013	1000	1000	Development version	Shipped with the first production batch
1.0.0	1.9.2013	1000	1005	Initial official release	A requirement for Granity 1.0.0
1.0.1	3.9.2013	1000	1006	Add STAT_STO_ACTIVE statusbit Incremental setpoint change now changes also absolute setpoint readout value	A requirement for Granity 1.0.1	Functional
1.0.2	18.9.2013	1001	1007	New features: Analog in setpoint now has direction input to support 0-10V sources with direction signal (in addition to standard +/-10V) New AC/BLDC motor phasing algorithm: Improved operation when axis is heavy to move Phasing now supports limit switches. Now it's possible to use Hall-sensorless phasing when axis lies at the end of travel or if axis is vertical and pulled down by gravity. Requires limit switches on axis and configuring Limit switch functionLFS to other than Do nothing. Feature to invert the polarity of motor positive/negative direction. Parameter Invert directionAXI on Granity. Improved Dead-time distortion correction giving better servo stiffness Bug fixes: Hall sensor support fixed Failure of phasing under high friction fixed Toggling of general purpose input lines no longer clear faults in case of clear faults signal is constantly on while other signals change state Limit switches now work properly in torque control mode Adjustments: Goal deviation default fault filter time reduced from 0.2 to 0.1 s Space vector modulation code cleanup Default motor direction is inverted compared to the earlier versions (tick Invert directionAXI to set it same way it was before this version)	A requirement for Granity 1.0.2 Re-tuning may be necessary after upgrade!	Important and useful for most users, upgrade highly recommended
1.0.3 download	20.9.2013	1001	1008	Prevent drive damage in certain conditions (see remarks) Activating STO2 now latches a Power stage forced off fault state requiring a clear faults command to return in normal operation	Usage of older firmware versions safe only if STO2 input has been permanently tied to 24 VDC.	Critical
1.0.4 download	27.9.2013	1001	1009	Fix homing issue when index pulse was enabled (Index pulse searchHMI) and Invert directionAXI was unticked		Minor fix
1.1.0 download	6.11.2013	1002	1015	New features: Add motor stopping & braking parameters: Dynamic braking decelerationBDD and Mech brake engage delayBED Add Mech brake assisted phasingBAP parameter to assist motor phasing on a vertical axis where gravity pulls axis down. May eliminate Hall sensor requirement on such axis. Motor now returns to the position where it located at the moment of drive power-on (cancel the motion caused by phasing). Works in position & velocity modes. Improvements: Optimized torque efficiency on high electrical frequency motors Follow error warning status & digital output now works also in velocity control mode in addition to position mode Improve overcurrent protection setting Over current toleranceFOC consistency Changed the default Over voltage fault thresholdFOV limit value from 350 to 365 VDC to avoid braking resistor heating when idling Known bug: Sometimes Initialized state never goes on and also homing won't start in such case. Will be fixed in 1.1.1.	Adjusting the new parameters require Granity V1.1.0. Re-adjusting Over current toleranceFOC may be necessary.	New features. Overcurrent protection consistency improved.
1.1.1 download	7.11.2013	1004	1016	Fixes & adjustments: Properly always sets Initialized state as true after drive is ready for operation Now motor doesn't rotate to zero position in pulse & direction and quadrature setpoint source modes when Apply is clicked on Granity		Fixes & adjustments, not critical
1.2.0 download	10.12.2013	1005	1017	Improvements: Servo control bandwidth increased due to lower position & velocity feedback latency Motion jerks reduced/eliminated while drive is communicating through SimpleMotion V2 bus Fixes & adjustments: Corrected "Optimized torque efficiency on high electrical frequency motors" feature functionality of FW package 1.1.0 when Invert directionAXI or Invert feedback directionFBI parameter was set to true. Fix incorrectly displayed torque capture graph polarity when Invert directionAXI was set Over voltage fault thresholdFOV maximum value increased from 375 to 382 VDC		In most cases servo velocity & position gains may now be set higher yielding higher motor stiffness. Checking motor tuning recommended after upgrade.
1.2.1 download	7.3.2014	1008	1020	Improvements: Maximum current limits increased from 10A continuous & 15A peak to 11A continuous & 16A peak Mechanical brake is now released after 0.8 second delay from drive enable or clear faults command to prevent vertixal axis fall before servo control has strength. This delay is adjustable (parameter number 910, value in milliseconds). Fixes & adjustments: Fix the issue where enabling Hall sensors may cause reduced torque sensitivity or erratic motion Fix the issue where drive may not complete initialization procedure if Error recovery velocityCRV value is set 0
1.3.0 download	27.3.2014	1009	1021	New features: Resolver feedback device support, requires Argon resolver adapter Fixes & adjustments: Adjusted analog (AIN1, AIN2, CHA, CHB) inputs offset & gain errors closer to zero
1.3.1 download	28.4.2014	1009	1023	Fixes & adjustments: Fix an issue where Brush DC motor outputs no torque
1.4.0 download	9.1.2015	1010	1024	New features: "PWM magic trick" to increase maximum effective output voltage of 3 phase AC/BLDC motors by 16%. For more info, see this. Fixes & adjustments: Fix a bug causing overcurrent faults in certain conditions Fix pulse&direction setpoint problem with noisy direction signal that may cause drive getting in erroneous direction state
1.4.2 download Special versions: Simulator wheel build with GraniteCore V9142 (note, this may need installation of third party I/O side firmware on top of this)	23.7.2015	1011	1026	Fixes & adjustments: Added additional protection interlocks for drive's internal in-rush limiter (reliability improvement) Reduce sensitivity of resolver feedback device no-signal failure (fault location code 890101) Increased upper limit of HV DC bus supply (parameter Over voltage fault thresholdFOV increased) Effectiveness of regenerative resistor improved Speed of Phasing a.k.a. phase search increased Current setpoint during Phasing a.k.a. phase search reduced to reduce unnecessary motor heating during power-on Additional changes to Force feedback system (FFB) special version: Eliminate Phasing a.k.a. phase search error in 110-120 VAC power networks Duty cycle limit parameter (6110) now has 200% scale in 110-120 VAC power networks to have equal effect compared to 220-240 VAC networks	Note: simulator wheel special version has changed scale of parameter 6110! Check the maximum speed of motor, and reduce value of 6110 if necessary.	May improve device reliability, upgrade highly recommended
2.0.0 download Special versions: Simulator wheel build with GraniteCore V9200 (note, this may need installation of third party I/O side firmware on top of this)	13.4.2016	2000	2000	New features: Added Position feed-forward gain parameter Position feed-forward gainPFF - helps to reduce overshoot in position control mode. In previous firmware, this value was fixed to 100%. Simulated encoder output from internal EXT connector (6 pin header) - useful with resolver systems where external controller needs encoder count Homing with index pulse search is now possible with resolver feedback device (simulated index pulse at certain resolver angle(s)) Added support for direction input signal in PWM and Analog setpoint modes Identifies the reason why torque of motor is being limited (such as user limit or supply voltage limit). Shown in Granity Testing tab. SimpleMotion V2 protocol updated to the latest version, new features: added support for watchdog (stop drive if valid SM commands not arriving within predefined time period) calculation of setpoint commands via SM bus renewed (drive setpoint is a sum of phyiscal setpoint (step/dir, pwm, analog etc) and the setpoint from SM host (instant and buffered commands). If SM host sets absolute setpoint, then phyiscal counter (incremental types onle) are reset to zero.) in buffered command execution, now only writing to setpoint commands consume user defined time and all other commands are executed as fast as possible (i.e. now possible to modify parameters on the fly while buffered motion is running) Improvements: Increased continuous current output limit from 11A to 12.5A and peak current limit from 16A to 18A Increased maximum overvoltage level from 382 VDC to 388 VDC Support high encoder resolution encoder (up to 4 000 000 PPR, previously was 65 535 PPR). This makes possible to add SinCos encoder support in the next update. Added new torque bandwidth limit choices: 4700 Hz and Unlimited Phasing a.k.a. phase search algorithm improvements Earlier timeout if phasing is not going to succeed Added compatibility for Granity 1.8.0 and later Hard-stop homing parameterizing made more logical - now Offset move after homingHMF can be left zero without issues Operation of offset compensation when using Analog input with direction signal Enhanced AC power soft-start circuity control Home switch & hard stop search direction has been inverted for more logical setup Firmware developers only: communication protocol between two CPU's changed. Merge required I/O side changes from Argon FW GitHub master branch. The new protocol is lighter weight freeing CPU time for future features. Fixes: Increased internal fixed overvoltage protection threshold to avoid unnecessary overvoltage faults	Requires Granity 1.8.0 or later. As this is large update, pay attention to machine safety and be prepared for unexpected motion. It is a good safety practice to disconnect motor shaft for testing. If problems found, please report us for fast FW update.	Medium
2.1.0 download Special versions: Simulator wheel build with GraniteCore V9300 (note, this may need installation of third party I/O side firmware on top of this)	22.2.2017	2100	2100	New features: Added SinCos encoder support Improvements: Regenerative resistor control changes: Maximum on-time for regenerative resistor is now 4 seconds to prevent overloading resistor In over voltage fault, regenerative resistor will not be driven Parameter Over voltage fault thresholdFOV operation has been changed. Refer to Configuring drive voltage limits FUV and FOV for needed adjustments. User now should set value directly by maximum nominal HV DC bus Upper settable value of FOV is now 375 VDC Drive state is controlled by the FOV value as follows: Drive will operate normally until that value Drive will start using regenerative resistor is DC bus voltage is above that level by 0-20 VDC Drive enter into over voltage fault immediately if DC bus voltage exceeds that level by at least 25 VDC If drive is being powered on or restarted during over voltage condition, drive will wait that HV DC bus voltage falls within user specified voltage range before drive attempts to initialize or control regenerative resistor Torque bandwidth limitTBW has been switched from second order filter to first order filter to achieve higher servo stiffness Fixes: Activation of safe torque off STO2 alone now also controls motor brake output	As this is large update, pay attention to machine safety and be prepared for unexpected motion. It is a good safety practice to disconnect motor shaft for testing. If problems found, please report us for fast FW update. Refer to Configuring drive voltage limits FUV and FOV for needed adjustments. Position and velocity control modes may need re-tuning of gains after update	Medium
2.1.2 download Special versions: Simulator wheel build with GraniteCore V9300 (note, this may need installation of third party I/O side firmware on top of this)	17.5.2017	2120	2100	Fixes: Fix an issue where drive setpoint gets zeroed at power-on regardless of non-zero Analog input or PWM setpoint value being present at the power-on		Medium

Known bugs

Bugs that are known in the latest FW revision:

• None

Open source I/O side firmware

Firmware of I/O side CPU in the Argon is GPL V2 licensed open source.

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