Patent ID: 7705553

Claim:
A motor drive system controlling power semiconductor devices to provide controlled power to an electric motor, the motor drive system comprising: a rack having a housing with a backplane, the housing providing slots holding modules removably held within the rack so that releasable electrical connectors on a rear face of the modules abut a mating electrical connector on the backplane; a set of modules including: at least one drive control module receiving command signals to provide gating signals for the control of the power semiconductor devices; and at least two gate modules receiving gating signals and providing semiconductor drive signals to the power semiconductor devices; wherein the backplane provides a set of separate serial communication channels communicating between the modules, each serial communication channel independently transferring multi-bit data words as sequential single bits; wherein the separate serial communication channels include at least one serial communication channel communicating among multiple drive control modules and gate modules to direct gating signals between specific modules according to at least one address contained in transmitted data; and whereby drive control modules and gate control modules may be reconfigured without rewiring.