Sinusoidal current control for solenoid

[jaskarangrover]

Hello

My name is Jackie, I am a student in CMU. I am interested in controlling current in a pair of solenoids, which are facing each other as in a Helmholtz coil setup. The idea is to create a time varying magnetic field in the center of the workspace. I have one roboclaw 2x60A motor driver connected to the two solenoids and I would like to command sinusoidal current riding on top of a dc current to each coil. The inductance of coils are close to 15mH and the frequency range of interest is 1Hz to 50 Hz.

It would be great if someone could point me to programs which can be used to do this.

Thanks,
Jackie.

[Basicmicro Support]

The Roboclaw current sense is fairly course. You cant see minute current changes to make smooth sine waves. The MCP controller line however has a differential amplifier to read the current with so its readings are much better quality at fine resolutions. I'd recommend either moving to the MCP line or adding your own current sense circuits for your sine wave feedback.

As for software that will do what you want I doubt there is anything off the shelf that will do it. You will need to roll your own in my estimate.