Design and Implementation of an Electric Differential for Traction Application

International audienceThe use of an Electric Differential (ED) constitutes a technological advance in vehicle design along with the concept of more electric vehicles. EDs have the advantage of replacing loose and heavy mechanical differentials and transmissions with lighter and smaller electric motors directly coupled to the wheels via a single gear or an in-wheel motor. This paper deals then with an Electric Differential System (EDS) for an Electric Vehicle (EV) directly driven by dual induction motors in the rear wheels. A sensorless control technique is preferred to a position or speed encoder-based control one to reduce the overall cost and to improve the reliability. The EDS main feature is the robustness improvement against system uncertainties and road conditions. The EDS control performances are validated through experiments on a dSPACE-based test bench. The experimental results show that the proposed controller is able to track the speed reference and the curvature angle with good static and dynamic performances

Comparative Analysis of Estimation Techniques of SFOC Induction Motor for Electric Vehicles

International audienceThis paper presents system analysis, modeling and simulation of an electric vehicle with different sensorless control techniques. Indeed, sensorless control is considered to be a lower cost alternative than the position or speed encoder-based control of induction motors for an electric vehicle. Two popular sensorless control methods, namely, the Luenberger observer and the Kalman filter methods are compared regarding speed and torque control characteristics. They are also compared against the well-known model reference adaptive system. Simulations on a test vehicle propelled by 37-kW induction motor lead to very interesting comparison results

Improved method for the scalar control of induction motor drives

Many control schemes have been proposed for induction motors, which are in themselves highly complex non-linear and sometimes internally unstable systems.One of themost accurate control schemes is encodered rotor flux orientated vector control. The advantages and disadvantages of this control are well known and several variations, or reduced vector schemes, have been proposed. This study introduces an improved encoderless scalar, or approximated vector, control method for induction machines which can be applied to general purpose applications that do not require the most precise control. The proposed method overcomes practical difficulties and is suitable for industrial applications. The slip compensated stator flux linkage oriented scheme proposed in this study does not require flux estimation or a speed sensor, only requiring nameplate data, stator current and stator resistance measurement, which can easily be determined at start-up. Simulation and experimental investigations including field weakening operation and the effect of stator resistance variation demonstrate the improved performance of the new scheme compared to previous open loop V/Hz and stator resistive compensated schemes especially at low rotor speeds

Improved rotor flux estimation at low speeds for torque MRAS-based sensorless induction motor drives

In this paper, an improved rotor flux estimation method for the Torque model reference adaptive schemes (TMRAS) sensorless induction machine drive is proposed to enhance its performance in low and zero speed conditions. The conventional TMRAS scheme uses an open loop flux estimator and a feedforward term, with basic low pass filters replacing the pure integrators. However, the performance of this estimation technique has drawbacks at very low speeds with incorrect flux estimation significantly affecting this inherently sensorless scheme. The performance of the proposed scheme is verified by both simulated and experimental testing for an indirect vector controlled 7.5-kW induction machine. Results show the effectiveness of the proposed estimator in the low- and zero-speed regions with improved robustness against motor parameter variation compared to the conventional method

Speed -Sensorless Estimation And Position Control Of Induction Motors For Motion Control Applications

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2006High performance sensorless position control of induction motors (IMs) calls for estimation and control schemes which offer solutions to parameter uncertainties as well as to difficulties involved with accurate flux and velocity estimation at very low and zero speed. In this thesis, novel control and estimation methods have been developed to address these challenges. The proposed estimation algorithms are designed to minimize estimation error in both transient and steady-state over a wide velocity range, including very low and persistent zero speed operation. To this aim, initially single Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) algorithms are designed to estimate the flux, load torque, and velocity, as well as the rotor, Rr' or stator, Rs resistances. The temperature and frequency related variations of these parameters are well-known challenges in the estimation and control of IMs, and are subject to ongoing research. To further improve estimation and control performance in this thesis, a novel EKF approach is also developed which can achieve the simultaneous estimation of R r' and Rs for the first time in the sensorless IM control literature. The so-called Switching and Braided EKF algorithms are tested through experiments conducted under challenging parameter variations over a wide speed range, including under persistent operation at zero speed. Finally, in this thesis, a sensorless position control method is also designed using a new sliding mode controller (SMC) with reduced chattering. The results obtained with the proposed control and estimation schemes appear to be very compatible and many times superior to existing literature results for sensorless control of IMs in the very low and zero speed range. The developed estimation and control schemes could also be used with a variety of the sensorless speed and position control applications, which are challenged by a high number of parameter uncertainties

Nonlinear control and observation of full-variable speed wind turbine systems.

With increasing concern for the environmental effects of power generation from fossil fuels, wind energy is a competitive source for electrical power with higher efficiency than other clean sources. However, the nature of this power source makes controlling wind turbines difficult. The variability of wind as a source either requires highly accurate measurement equipment or sophisticated mathematical alternatives. In addition to the unknown quantities of the weather itself, the efficiency of power capture at the turbine blades is highly nonlinear in nature and difficult to ascertain. The ability of either determine these troublesome quantities, or control the system despite ignorance of them, greatly increases the overall efficiency of power capture. To this end, a series of nonlinear controllers and observers have been developed for wind turbine systems

Control Strategies and Design to Range in Light Railway Systems

The thesis deals with different control strategies and a design method to improve energy efficiency and reliability in light railway transportation systems. The possibility of use Supercapacitors Energy Storage System (SESS) in light railway systems is explored, by evaluating the suitability of on-board application for a Prototype Railway Vehicle, with the introduction of a methodology for Design to Range in catenary free operations in order to fill gaps in power supply. Furthermore, a stationary configuration of SESS in light railway system is also investigated by means of a demonstrator of a Metro rail System set in Hitachi Rail Italy test room, carrying out a control strategy for energy flows management in case of non receptive DC grid. Further investigations has regarded the introduction of two sensorless control strategies for two different railway traction architectures with IM and PMSM drives, focusing the attention on energetic and dynamic performance in different specific operating conditions required to the railway traction drives. Numerical and experimental results are obtained and discussed in different operating conditions, for real case studies, showing the feasibility and the fulfillment of the mission for the different solutions proposed

Sensorless control for limp-home mode of EV applications

PhD ThesisOver the past decade research into electric vehicles’ (EVs) safety, reliability and availability has become a hot topic and has attracted a lot of attention in the literature. Inevitably these key areas require further study and improvement. One of the challenges EVs face is speed/position sensor failure due to vibration and harsh environments. Wires connecting the sensor to the motor controller have a high likelihood of breakage. Loss of signals from the speed/position sensor will bring the EV to halt mode. Speed sensor failure at a busy roundabout or on a high speed motorway can have serious consequences and put the lives of drivers and passengers in great danger. This thesis aims to tackle the aforementioned issues by proposing several novel sensorless schemes based on Model Reference Adaptive Systems (MRAS) suitable for limp-home mode of EV applications. The estimated speed from these schemes is used for the rotor flux position estimation. The estimated rotor flux position is employed for sensorless torque-controlled drive (TCD) based on indirect rotor field oriented control (IRFOC). The capabilities of the proposed schemes have been evaluated and compared to the conventional back-Electromotive Force MRAS (back-EMF MRAS) scheme using simulation environment and a test bench setup. The new schemes have also been tested on electric golf buggies. The results presented for the proposed schemes show that utilising these schemes provide a reliable and smooth sensorless operation during vehicle test-drive starting from standstill and over a wide range of speeds, including the field weakening region. Employing these new schemes for sensorless TCD in limp-home mode of EV applications increases safety, reliability and availability of EVs

Sensorless drives for aerospace applications

This Engineering Doctorate thesis investigates the different implementations and theories allowing drives to control motors using sensorless techniques that could be used in an aerospace environment. A range of converter topologies and their control will be examined to evaluate the possible techniques that will allow a robust and reliable drive algorithm to be implemented. The focus of the research is around sensorless drives for fuel pump applications, with the potential to replace an existing analogue implementation that is embedded in a fuel pump, contained within the fuel tank. The motor choice (Brushless DC) reflects the requirement for endurance and tight speed control over the life of the aircraft. The study of currently understood sensorless control will allow a critical analysis over the best and most robust sensorless control technique for a controller of this nature, where reliability is a fundamental requirement.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceEaton AerospaceTitchfieldGBUnited Kingdo

Sensorless control of surface mounted permanent magnet machine using fundamental PWM excitation

This thesis describes the development of a sensorless control method for a surface mounted permanent magnet synchronous machine drive system. The saturation saliency in the machine is tracked from the stator current transient response to the fundamental space vector PWM (pulse width modulation) excitation. The rotor position and speed signals are obtained from measurements of the stator current derivative during the voltage vectors contained in the normal fundamental PWM sequence. In principle, this scheme can work over a wide speed range. However, the accuracy of the current derivative-measurements made during narrow voltage vectors reduces. This is because high frequency current oscillations exist after each vector switching instant, and these take a finite time to die down. Therefore, in this thesis, vector extension and compensation schemes are proposed which ensure correct current derivative measurements are made, even during narrow voltage vectors, so that any induced additional current distortion is kept to a minimum. The causes of the high frequency switching oscillations in the AC drive system are investigated and several approaches are developed to reduce the impact of these oscillations. These include the development of a novel modification to the IGBT gate drive circuit to reduce the requirement for PWM vector extension. Further improvements are made by modifications to the current derivative sensor design together with their associated signal processing circuits. In order to eliminate other harmonic disturbances and the high frequency noise appearing in the estimated position signals, an adaptive disturbance identifier and a tracking observer are incorporated to improve the position and speed signals. Experimental results show that the final sensorless control system can achieve excellent speed and position control performance