Beijing Zhongzhi Electronic Control Technology Co., Ltd
Beijing Zhongzhi Electronic Control Technology Co., Ltd. is the first R&D enterprise in China dedicated to the integration of software and hardware solutions for motor controllers in China. Under the guidance of Academician Sun Fengchun, a pioneer of electric vehicle engineering science and technology in China, and Professor Zhang Chengning, chief scientist of the National Engineering Research Center for Electric Vehicles of Beijing Institute of Technology, the company was established by 9 doctors at home and abroad. The company focuses on the R&D of high-efficiency electric drive system, integrated design of controller, and high-precision and fault-tolerant control, aiming to realize the electrification, localization and intelligence of vehicle drive system.
The company strives to create a series of products to achieve full coverage of power levels, and at the same time provide customized services to meet the individual needs of customers, effectively improve the mobility and safety of the whole vehicle, and help the rapid development of the new energy industry in mainland China. The company now has mastered a number of core technologies of electric drive, relying on the National Engineering Research Center for Electric Vehicles of Beijing Institute of Technology, etc., and has more than 50 kinds of leading motor system test benches and large-scale testing equipment at home and abroad. With the new energy vehicle into the comprehensive market-oriented expansion period, military equipment is also in the historical juncture of moving towards electrification, the company's more than 20 sets of independent and controllable motor controller equipment has been in service in transportation, military and civilian and other fields, the highest efficiency technical indicators have reached the international leading level, to show the world the power of China's electronic control.
Rooted in electronic control, science and technology to serve the country
The members of the Chinese electronic control team who are studying mechanical engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology came into contact with the topic of motor drive in their junior year, formed an indissoluble bond with the motor controller, and began to study motor control related to motor control for several years. The team members who have participated in the research group for many times found that many of the core components of the motor controller currently used are directly purchased from finished products produced by foreign R&D companies, and there are problems such as debugging and maintenance difficulties in practical application. Modular products can only be applied based on configured parameters and modes, and it is difficult to contact developers directly when it is necessary to change the control function and usage mode according to different application scenarios, which often consumes a lot of time and trial and error costs in debugging, and once there is a product problem, it can usually only choose to re-purchase, which largely wastes the available resources. In addition, international trade frictions are intensifying, and some core chip supply chains are fluctuating, which makes it imminent for the national production and development of motor controllers. This gave the team members the initial idea of "being Chinese's own controller".
Relying on the laboratory resources and platform, on the basis of hard work and solid basic skills, the members set up a team together, combined with the rich technical accumulation formed by the group in the field of motor control for many years, and completed the first prototype of the motor controller with the comprehensive localization of core components in two years, with an independent controllability rate of 100%. At the same time, the controller is equipped with a precise torque and speed control algorithm, which can realize fault-tolerant control in the failure mode of the sensor, the overall efficiency exceeds 98%, and the power density is nearly doubled compared with mainstream products in the market. The core technology of the project has formed a number of top journal papers and national invention patents, and the products have signed horizontal contracts with a number of military enterprises with the school as the main body, realizing the integration of production, education and research. In the face of the magnificent electronic control market, the members have the idea of changing from scientific research mode to entrepreneurs.
In 2023, after repeated and in-depth program planning, the project team participated in the 2nd "Jingcai Dachuang" Beijing University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, showing their ideas and years of hard work in front of real industry experts and investment. On the arduous road of entrepreneurship, the members supported each other out of the quagmire, and the entrepreneurial project also had a new look, one of the doctoral members got the opportunity to introduce products on the CCTV column, and the team released new products in the fall of 2023.
Chinese-made electronic control: the Chinese's own motor controller
When it comes to their own entrepreneurial path, everyone says that there are accidental factors, but more of them are logical. Some of them have been following their teachers in the laboratory to get in touch with technical research and various projects, and at the same time actively participate in various scientific and technological competitions such as mathematical modeling competitions and mechanical innovation design competitions, and have accumulated a lot of scientific research experience while achieving a lot of good results. The technical learning and competition experience planted the spark for everyone to embark on the road of entrepreneurship later.
Meet the electric drive, ignite the dream
With the gradual development of transportation vehicles to electrification, the motor has become the heart of the three-electric system, and the broad application fields and wide range of application scenarios have made the team members see the significance of engaging in this research. Starting from the basic knowledge of electrical engineering, everyone is fascinated by the flexible and diverse control algorithms and complex and sophisticated hardware design. On the basis of extensive reading of literature, they formed an innovative point in control algorithms, and finally formed their own papers and patents through rounds of simulation optimization and experimental verification, and took a solid and important step in the field of motor controller software design.
I remember that in the process of optimizing the design scheme of the motor controller, because the technical manual was imperfect and the information available for search was insufficient, it took the team members two days to find a small problem caused by improper component configuration. Due to the long development time of foreign products and rich experience in research and development, most of the core components of motor controllers widely used in China are directly purchased from foreign finished kits, which not only saves development time and cost, but also brings many inevitable problems, such as difficult maintenance and trade frictions leading to chip embargo and restriction, etc., which make the R&D team have to face up to the problem of comprehensive localization of scientific and technological products. However, domestic motor controllers in the development and design of often have adopted foreign solutions, even the application of independent research and development of core components, its supporting algorithms and interface design also need a long development cycle and high development costs, is not conducive to the actual production of the pursuit of benefits, so how to find efficient and high reliability of the motor controller national production solutions, has become a breakthrough for team members to find gaps and needs in the professional field.
Concentrate on research and development to overcome difficulties
"Life is an amazing journey, and we are fortunate to meet Daystars at every stage. We are fortunate to have many mentors to guide and encourage us in the process of growing up, so we can walk so steadily. ”
The team members hit it off with their mentors about the idea of developing a domestically produced motor controller. The motor controller products we conceive should not only realize the independent and controllable production of the country, but also run through the integrated design idea in the hardware design, improve the overall lightweight degree of the controller through topology optimization, improve the power density of the electric drive system, and at the same time realize the efficient and reliable heat dissipation effect of the controller through the reasonable and effective supporting cooling system design, and improve the performance of the controller. The team comprehensively evaluated and proposed that the fault-tolerant control algorithm in the sensor failure mode could be combined to achieve high-precision torque and speed control while ensuring the safe and stable operation of the controller after the sensor failure.
After establishing the R&D goals, the team members have been continuously investing in technical research, starting from finding suitable domestic replacement parts, carefully studying the similarities and differences between the design functions of each component and foreign products, and on this basis, trying to independently design supporting algorithms and interfaces. After the initial formation of the national hardware scheme, the design of the fault-tolerant algorithm was carried out, and the original design goal was finally achieved through many simulations and experimental verifications. After two years of design, development, verification and repeated iterative optimization, the R&D team designed and manufactured a high-efficiency, high-power density domestic motor controller for the first time to achieve productization, its core technology has passed the national defense technology achievement appraisal, and the prototype has also been recognized and praised by the demonstration application of cooperative enterprises.
Look up at the stars and keep your feet on the ground
In 2023, the team decided to transform from a simple scientific research model to an entrepreneur, and Beijing Zhongzhi Electronic Control Technology Co., Ltd. began to take shape. After the iterative optimization of the 5th version of the domestically produced motor controller with IGBT as the power module and the 3rd version of the domestically produced motor controller with silicon carbide as the power module, in June 2023, they took the prototype of the 200kW power level electronic components to the stage of Jingcai Daiso on the stage. After extreme polishing and rounds of user testing, the current motor controller series products are more efficient and reliable.
At this stage, the team takes "small steps and fast running" as the combat strategy, and gradually tries to explore, develop and deepen the market while further optimizing the service and product experience. At present, the team has signed sales contracts with a number of military enterprises, with a total amount of more than 10 million yuan, and has reached cooperation intentions with a number of enterprises, and is expected to make a profit of more than 50 million yuan within five years.
In 2023, the student entrepreneurship team of China Electronic Control won the third prize of the scientific and technological innovation track in the second "Jingcai Dachuang" Beijing College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, won the honors of Top 100 Entrepreneurial Teams and 100 "Golden Seeds" projects, and successfully entered the Beijing Competition of the 9th China International "Internet +" College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition.
It is believed that in the near future, Beijing Zhongzhi Electronic Control Technology Co., Ltd. will become a pivotal leader in the field of domestic motor controllers, so that the world can see the power of China's control.
On the road to entrepreneurship, cultivate internal strength
Entrepreneurship requires continuous cultivation of internal strength. There is no such thing as a universal benefit, nor is there an eternal benefit. All results must be accumulated through continuous efforts, and all successes must be hit by many setbacks before they can be achieved. On the road of entrepreneurship, it is not only this career path that is cultivated, but also the mental path of achieving a person to become strong. They firmly believe that no matter what they do or what difficulties they encounter, as long as they have perseverance and hard work, they will eventually see the light of day.