Can I use SoftMotion to simulate a PID motor control loop using a Solidworks model?

[Melomania]

Hi

I'm not a labVIEW user yet. But I probably will become one when I can do the following:

I have a Solidworks model of a complex machine with multiple servo motors. Can I use labVIEW plus SoftMotion to calculate the needed motor forces and aply these forces on the Solidworks model making some parts in the model move and can I get positional feedback from the Solidworks model which I can use in labVIEW to calculate the motor forces again. This way I could use labVIEW to simulate the complete motor control loop including some PID filtering.

I could find some posts about SoftMotion, but they all seem to handle about SoftMotion in combination with external hardware. But I would like to do a complete software simulation.

I hope this is possible.

[Eric_R]

Hi Melomania

Solidworks for SoftMotion works in an interesting manner. First SoftMotion runs in labview and plots a trajectory path based off the input from the user. The generated points are controlled by speed, velocity and acceleration. These generated points are sent to SolidWorks where the physics engine takes over. SolidWorks calculates the ammount of force required to move the component the given distance and also if there are any collisions that take place. Basically the whole process is open loop with no PID being implemented. The purpose for the software is to test your motion system for collisions and calculate the required torque for your motors to move and the velocities and accelerations provided. A system prototyped with SoftMotion Solidworks will still need to be tuned when constructed in the real world.

For your application I would look into Control Design and Simulation Toolkit.