Yes. It’s all simple after one invests a lot of time studying what other experts have done. Kind of like in robotics.
If I recall correctly, you have done a lot of work on motor design?
I spent 20 years working at two manufacturers of 3-phase AC motor controllers and industrial UPS’. My current project is to redesign a brushless DC motor controller so it doesn’t blow up so frequently. The original gate drive circuitry was “agricultural” with very slow di/dt and used a PMOS device for the bottom switches. The buck converter feeds the output bridge with a programmable DC voltage as part of the V/Hz control scheme. Previously, I had replaced the MOSFET with a more appropriate one and sped up the switching to decrease the heating and eliminate the tendency to oscillate at 180 MHz but I think the turn off is now too fast and the high di/Dr is causing noise coupling and/or ground bounce in the long wire harnesses.
Apparently, one of these units was supposed to do an inspection of the bonding between the pipe wall and the cement injected behind it on the Macondo Prospect offshore rig. Our crew were on the rig already but the operator decided they didn’t need/want to do it and sent them home. The failure of the cement bond apparently allowed leakage of gas that eventually reached the rig, causing an explosion and the worst oil spill in history :-/
