Controller parameterization and bias current reduction of active magnetic bearings for a flexible and gyroscopic spindle

A magnetically levitated spindle was designed for fatigue testing of cylinders made of fiber reinforced plastic. In these fatigue tests, the speed of the cylinders is varied cyclically between 15,000 and 30,000 rpm until their mechanical failure occurs. Several eigenfrequencies have to be passed to reach the operational speed range. During long‐term operation, the rotor of the spindle is prone to overheating due to various losses. One way of reducing the rotor temperature is to decrease the bias current of the radial active magnetic bearings. Since the bias current influences the dynamic behavior of the system, the control of the bearings has to be adapted as well. This article describes a controller design for the system with different bias currents to determine the smallest usable bias current. A detailed model of the plant is developed, which is then used to optimize the parameters of the utilized controller with a predefined structure using the weighted ℋ∞ norm as the objective function. Since the rotor is highly gyroscopic, its eigenfrequencies change with the rotational speed. To ensure that the system meets certain robustness criteria at all rotational speeds, the parameters of the controller are simultaneously optimized for the plant model at different speeds. This approach leads to a controller which can be used in the entire speed range without the need for gain scheduling. The functionality of the controller and the influence of the bias current on the rotor temperature are investigated through measurements

Vibration control for active magnetic bearing high-speed flywheel rotor system with modal separation and velocity estimation strategy

The active magnetic bearing (AMB) high-speed flywheel rotor system is a multivariable, nonlinear, and strongly coupled system with significant gyroscopic effect, which puts a strain on its stability and control performances. It is very difficult for traditional decentralized controllers, such as proportional-derivative controller (PD controller), to deal with such complex system. In order to improve the stability, control performances and robustness against noise of the AMB high-speed flywheel rotor system, a new control strategy was proposed based on the mathematical model of the AMB high-speed flywheel rotor system in this paper. The proposed control strategy includes two key subsystems: the modal separation subsystem, which allows direct control over the rotor rigid modes, and the velocity estimation controller, which improves the robustness against noise. Integration of modeling results into the final controller was also described. Its ability and effectiveness to control the AMB high-speed flywheel rotor system was investigated by simulations and experiments. The results show that proposed control strategy can separately regulate the stiffness and the damping of conical mode and parallel mode of the AMB high-speed flywheel rotor system, and obviously improve the stability, dynamic behaviors and robustness against noise of the AMB high-speed flywheel rotor system in the high rotating speed region

Investigation of diamagnetic bearings and electrical machine materials for flywheel energy storage applications

Recent trends in energy production have led to a renewed interest in improving grid level energy storage solutions. Flywheel energy storage is an attractive option for grid level storage, however, it suffers from high parasitic loss. This study investigates the extent to which passive diamagnetic bearings, a form of electromagnetic bearing, can help reduce this parasitic loss. Such bearings require three main components: a weight compensation mechanism (lifter-floater), a stabilizing mechanism and an electrical machine. This study makes use of a new radial modification of an existing linear multi-plattered diamagnetic bearing. Here a prototype is built and analytical expressions derived for each of the three main components. These expressions provide a method of estimating displacements, fields, forces, energy and stiffness in the radial diamagnetic bearing. The built prototype solution is found to lift a 30 [g] mass using six diamagnetic platters for stabilization (between ring magnets) with a disc lifter and spherical floater for weight compensation. The relationship between mass and number of platters was found to be linear, suggesting that, up to a point, increases in mass are likely possible and indicating that significant potential exists for these bearings where high stiffness is not needed – for instance in flywheel energy storage. The study examines methods of reducing bearing (parasitic) losses and demonstrates that losses occur in three main forms during idling: air-friction losses, electrical machine losses, stabilizing machine losses. Low speed (158 [rpm]) air-friction losses are found to be the dominant loss at 0.1 [W/m3]. The focus of this study, however, is on loss contributions resulting from the bearing’s electrical machine and stabilizing machine. Stabilizing machine losses are found to be very low at: 1 × 10−6 [W/m3] – this leaves electrical machine losses as the dominant loss. Such electrical machine losses are analysed and divided into eddy current loss and hysteresis loss. Two components of hysteresis loss are remanent field related cogging loss and remagetization loss. Eddy current losses in silicon steel laminations in an electrical machine are quite high, especially at high speeds, with losses in the order of 1 × 105 [W/m3]. Noting the further high cost of producing single unit quantities of custom lamination-based electrical machine prototypes, this high loss prompts a look at potentially lower cost ferrite materials for building these machines. A commercial sample of soft magnetite ferrite is shown to have equivalent eddy current losses of roughly 1 × 10−13 [W/m3]. The study notes that micro-structured magnetite has significant hysteresis loss. Such loss is in the order of 1 × 10−3 [W/m3] when referring to both remanence related cogging and remagnetization. This study, thus, extends its examination of loss to nano-structured magnetite. Magnetite nano-particles have shown superparamagnetic (no hysteresis) behaviour that promises the elimination of hysteresis losses. A co-precipitation route to the synthesis of these nano-particles is examined. A detailed examination involving a series of 31 experiments is shown to demonstrate only two pathways providing close-to-superparamagnetic behaviour. After characterization by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) and crude colorimetry, the lowest coercivity and remanence found in any given sample falls at −0.17 [Oe] (below error) and 0.00165 [emu/g] respectively. These critical points can be used to estimate hysteresis related power loss, however, to produce bulk ferrite a method of sintering or bonding synthesized powder is needed. A microwave sintering solution promises to preserve nano-structure when taking synthesized powders to bulk material. A set of proof-of-concept experiments provide the ground work for proposing a future microwave sintering approach to such bulk material production. The study uses critical points measured by way of SEM, XRD, SQUID characterization (e.g. remanence and coercivity) to implement a modified Jiles-Atherton model for hysteresis curve fitting. The critical points and curve fitting model allow estimation of power loss resulting from remanent related cogging and remagnetization effects in nano-structured magnetite. Such nano-structured magnetite is shown to exhibit hysteresis losses in the order of 1 × 10−4 [W/m3] from remagnetization and 1 × 10−7[W/m3] from remanence related cogging drag. These losses are lower than those of micro-structured samples, suggesting that nano-structured materials have a significant positive effect in reducing electrical machine losses for the proposed radial multi-plattered diamagnetic bearing solution. The lower parasitic loss in these bearings suggests excellent compatibility with flywheel energy storage applications

Commande par mode glissant de paliers magnétiques actifs économes en énergie : une approche sans modèle

Abstract : Over the past three decades, various fields have witnessed a successful application of active magnetic bearing (AMB) systems. Their favorable features include supporting high-speed rotation, low power consumption, and rotor dynamics control. Although their losses are much lower than roller bearings, these losses could limit the operation in some applications such as flywheel energy storage systems and vacuum applications. Many researchers focused their efforts on boosting magnetic bearings energy efficiency via minimizing currents supplied to electromagnetic coils either by a software solution or a hardware solution. According to a previous study, we adopt the hardware solution in this thesis. More specifically, we investigate developing an efficient and yet simple control scheme for regulating a permanent magnet-biased active magnetic bearing system. The control objective here is to suppress the rotor vibrations and reduce the corresponding control currents as possible throughout a wide operating range. Although adopting the hardware approach could achieve an energy-efficient AMB, employing an advanced control scheme could achieve a further reduction in power consumption. Many advanced control techniques have been proposed in the literature to achieve a satisfactory performance. However, the complexity of the majority of control schemes and the potential requirement of powerful platform could discourage their application in practice. The motivation behind this work is to improve the closed-loop performance without the need to do model identification and following the conventional procedure for developing a model-based controller. Here, we propose applying the hybridization concept to exploit the classical PID control and some nonlinear control tools such as first- and second-order sliding mode control, high gain observer, backstepping, and adaptive techniques to develop efficient and practical control schemes. All developed control schemes in this thesis are digitally implemented and validated on the eZdsp F2812 control board. Therefore, the applicability of the proposed model-free techniques for practical application is demonstrated. Furthermore, some of the proposed control schemes successfully achieve a good compromise between the objectives of rotor vibration attenuation and control currents minimization over a wide operating range.Résumé: Au cours des trois dernières décennies, divers domaines ont connu une application réussie des systèmes de paliers magnétiques actifs (PMA). Leurs caractéristiques favorables comprennent une capacité de rotation à grande vitesse, une faible consommation d'énergie, et le contrôle de la dynamique du rotor. Bien que leurs pertes soient beaucoup plus basses que les roulements à rouleaux, ces pertes pourraient limiter l'opération dans certaines applications telles que les systèmes de stockage d'énergie à volant d'inertie et les applications sous vide. De nombreux chercheurs ont concentré leurs efforts sur le renforcement de l'efficacité énergétique des paliers magnétiques par la minimisation des courants fournis aux bobines électromagnétiques soit par une solution logicielle, soit par une solution matérielle. Selon une étude précédente, nous adoptons la solution matérielle dans cette thèse. Plus précisément, nous étudions le développement d'un système de contrôle efficace et simple pour réguler un système de palier magnétique actif à aimant permanent polarisé. L'objectif de contrôle ici est de supprimer les vibrations du rotor et de réduire les courants de commande correspondants autant que possible tout au long d'une large plage de fonctionnement. Bien que l'adoption de l'approche matérielle pourrait atteindre un PMA économe en énergie, un système de contrôle avancé pourrait parvenir à une réduction supplémentaire de la consommation d'énergie. De nombreuses techniques de contrôle avancées ont été proposées dans la littérature pour obtenir une performance satisfaisante. Cependant, la complexité de la majorité des systèmes de contrôle et l'exigence potentielle d’une plate-forme puissante pourrait décourager leur application dans la pratique. La motivation derrière ce travail est d'améliorer les performances en boucle fermée, sans la nécessité de procéder à l'identification du modèle et en suivant la procédure classique pour développer un contrôleur basé sur un modèle. Ici, nous proposons l'application du concept d'hybridation pour exploiter le contrôle PID classique et certains outils de contrôle non linéaires tels que contrôle par mode glissement du premier et du second ordre, observateur à grand gain, backstepping et techniques adaptatives pour développer des systèmes de contrôle efficaces et pratiques. Tous les systèmes de contrôle développés dans cette thèse sont numériquement mis en oeuvre et évaluées sur la carte de contrôle eZdsp F2812. Par conséquent, l'applicabilité des techniques de modèle libre proposé pour l'application pratique est démontrée. En outre, certains des régimes de contrôle proposés ont réalisé avec succès un bon compromis entre les objectifs au rotor d’atténuation des vibrations et la minimisation des courants de commande sur une grande plage de fonctionnement

Wind Power

This book is the result of inspirations and contributions from many researchers of different fields. A wide verity of research results are merged together to make this book useful for students and researchers who will take contribution for further development of the existing technology. I hope you will enjoy the book, so that my effort to bringing it together for you will be successful. In my capacity, as the Editor of this book, I would like to thanks and appreciate the chapter authors, who ensured the quality of the material as well as submitting their best works. Most of the results presented in to the book have already been published on international journals and appreciated in many international conferences

Kinematics and Robot Design I, KaRD2018

This volume collects the papers published on the Special Issue “Kinematics and Robot Design I, KaRD2018” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/robotics/special_issues/KARD), which is the first issue of the KaRD Special Issue series, hosted by the open access journal “MDPI Robotics”. The KaRD series aims at creating an open environment where researchers can present their works and discuss all the topics focused on the many aspects that involve kinematics in the design of robotic/automatic systems. Kinematics is so intimately related to the design of robotic/automatic systems that the admitted topics of the KaRD series practically cover all the subjects normally present in well-established international conferences on “mechanisms and robotics”. KaRD2018 received 22 papers and, after the peer-review process, accepted only 14 papers. The accepted papers cover some theoretical and many design/applicative aspects

Investigation of Novel Displacement-Controlled Hydraulic Architectures for Railway Construction and Maintenance Machines

This dissertation aims at showing how to transform hydraulic systems of railway multi-actuator machinery characterized by inefficient state-of-the-art systems into the 21st Century. Designing machines that are highly efficient, productive, reliable, and cost affordable represents the target of this research. In this regard, migrating from valve-controlled architectures to displacement-controlled layouts is the proper answer. Displacement-controlled systems remove the losses generated by flow throttling typical of conventional circuits, allow an easy implementation of energy recovery (e.g. during regenerative braking), and create the possibility for the use of hybrid systems capable of maximizing the downsizing of the combustion engine. One portion of the dissertation focuses on efficient propulsion systems suitable for railway construction and maintenance machines. Two non-hybrid architectures are first proposed, i.e. a novel layout grounded on two independent hydrostatic transmissions (HSTs) and two secondary controlled hydraulic motors (SCHMs) connected in parallel. Three suitable control strategies are developed according to the specific requirements for railway machines and dedicated controllers are implemented. Detailed analyses are conducted via high-fidelity virtual simulations involving accurate modeling of the rail/wheel interface. The performance of the propulsion systems is proven by acceptable velocity tracking, accurate stopping position, achieving regenerative braking, and the expected behavior of the slip coefficients on both axles. Energy efficiency is the main emphasis during representative working cycles, which shows that the independent HSTs are more efficient. They consume 6.6% less energy than the SCHMs working with variable-pressure and 12.8% less energy than the SCHMs controlled with constant-pressure. Additionally, two alternative hybrid propulsion systems are proposed and investigated. These architectures enable a 35% reduction of the baseline machine’s rated engine power without modifying the working hydraulics. Concerning the working hydraulics, the focus is to extend displacement-controlled technology to specific functions on railway construction and maintenance machines. Two specific examples of complete hydraulic circuits for the next generation tamper-liners are proposed. In particular, an innovative approach used to drive displacement-controlled dual function squeeze actuators is presented, implemented, and experimentally validated. This approach combines two functions into a unique actuator, namely squeezing the ballast and vibrating the tamping tools of the work-heads. This results in many advantages, such as variable amplitude and variable frequency of the tamping tools’ vibration, improved reliability of the tamping process, and energy efficient actuation. A motion of the squeeze actuator characterized by a vibration up to 45 Hz, i.e. the frequency used in state-of-the-art systems, is experimentally confirmed. In conclusion, this dissertation demonstrates that displacement-controlled actuation represents the correct solution for next-generation railway construction and maintenance machines

IEA ECES Annex 31 Final Report - Energy Storage with Energy Efficient Buildings and Districts: Optimization and Automation

At present, the energy requirements in buildings are majorly met from non-renewable sources where the contribution of renewable sources is still in its initial stage. Meeting the peak energy demand by non-renewable energy sources is highly expensive for the utility companies and it critically influences the environment through GHG emissions. In addition, renewable energy sources are inherently intermittent in nature. Therefore, to make both renewable and nonrenewable energy sources more efficient in building/district applications, they should be integrated with energy storage systems. Nevertheless, determination of the optimal operation and integration of energy storage with buildings/districts are not straightforward. The real strength of integrating energy storage technologies with buildings/districts is stalled by the high computational demand (or even lack of) tools and optimization techniques. Annex 31 aims to resolve this gap by critically addressing the challenges in integrating energy storage systems in buildings/districts from the perspective of design, development of simplified modeling tools and optimization techniques

Evolution of microgrids with converter-interfaced generations: Challenges and opportunities

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Although microgrids facilitate the increased penetration of distributed generations (DGs) and improve the security of power supplies, they have some issues that need to be better understood and addressed before realising the full potential of microgrids. This paper presents a comprehensive list of challenges and opportunities supported by a literature review on the evolution of converter-based microgrids. The discussion in this paper presented with a view to establishing microgrids as distinct from the existing distribution systems. This is accomplished by, firstly, describing the challenges and benefits of using DG units in a distribution network and then those of microgrid ones. Also, the definitions, classifications and characteristics of microgrids are summarised to provide a sound basis for novice researchers to undertake ongoing research on microgrids

Fractional Order AGC for Distributed Energy Resources Using Robust Optimization

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via the DOI in this record.The applicability of fractional order (FO) automatic generation control (AGC) for power system frequency oscillation damping is investigated in this paper, employing distributed energy generation. The hybrid power system employs various autonomous generation systems like wind turbine, solar photovoltaic, diesel engine, fuel-cell and aqua electrolyzer along with other energy storage devices like the battery and flywheel. The controller is placed in a remote location while receiving and sending signals over an unreliable communication network with stochastic delay. The controller parameters are tuned using robust optimization techniques employing different variants of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and are compared with the corresponding optimal solutions. An archival based strategy is used for reducing the number of function evaluations for the robust optimization methods. The solutions obtained through the robust optimization are able to handle higher variation in the controller gains and orders without significant decrease in the system performance. This is desirable from the FO controller implementation point of view, as the design is able to accommodate variations in the system parameter which may result due to the approximation of FO operators, using different realization methods and order of accuracy. Also a comparison is made between the FO and the integer order (IO) controllers to highlight the merits and demerits of each scheme