Novel control techniques in multiphase drives: direct control methods (DTC and MPC) under limit situations.

Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado U

Extension of Finite-Control Set Model-Based Predictive Control Techniques to Fault-Tolerant Multiphase Drives: Analysis and Contributions

Las máquinas eléctricas son una de las principales tecnologías que hacen posible las energías renovables y los vehículos eléctricos. La necesidad constante de incrementar la capacidad de potencia para generar más energía o para impulsar vehículos cada vez más grandes, ha motivado la investigación y el desarrollo en el área de las máquinas multifásicas las cuales, gracias a su número de fases, permiten no sólo manejar más potencia con menos pulsaciones de par y contenido armónico en la corriente que las máquinas trifásicas convencionales, sino que también permiten obtener una mayor tolerancia a fallos, aumentando el interés de su implementación en aplicaciones donde la fiabilidad juega un papel importante por razones económicas y de seguridad. La investigación más reciente en el área de sistemas multifásicos se centra en el desarrollo de técnicas que permitan explotar las características específicas y especiales de las máquinas multifásicas, viendo el incremento en el número de fases no como un aumento en la complejidad de implementación, sino como un mayor número de grados de libertad tanto en el diseño como en el control, permitiendo mejorar sus prestaciones y fiabilidad, haciéndolas más atractivas para su uso en aplicaciones industriales. Es así como se han desarrollado técnicas de control que permitan operar a alta velocidad o alto par, tolerancia a diferentes tipos de fallos y máquinas con diferentes conexionados de devanados o con sistemas formados por múltiples variadores y máquinas. El objetivo de esta tesis doctoral es la extensión del control predictivo para máquinas multifásicas (específicamente el control predictivo de estados finitos basado en modelo o FCS-MPC por sus siglas en inglés) a la operación tolerante a fallos, aprovechando la capacidad de tolerancia a fallos que las máquinas multifásicas poseen, asegurando su funcionamiento de una manera eficiente y controlada. Con este fin se estudió el modelo matemático de la máquina en condiciones de pre- y post- falta considerando diferentes tipos de faltas, permitiendo establecer el efecto que las condiciones de fallo tienen en el comportamiento del sistema. Se desarrollaron modelos de simulación de una máquina de inducción de cinco fases, considerando faltas de fase abierta y en el disparo de los IGBT’s de una fase, permitiendo el diseño y validación del controlador FCS-MPC tolerante a fallos, cuyos resultados obtenidos fueron presentados en diversos congresos internacionales. La posterior implementación y validación experimental del control tolerante a fallos propuesto dio lugar a la publicación de dos de los artículos científicos presentados en esta tesis. Del mismo modo, se desarrolló un control tolerante a fallos basado en controladores lineales (de tipo resonante), teniendo en cuenta los esquemas propuestos en publicaciones científicas recientes y se realizó una comparativa entre el control tolerante a fallos basado en FCS-MPC y el controlador resonante ante un fallo de fase abierta, mediante resultados de simulación y experimentales, dando lugar a la publicación en un congreso internacional y en un artículo de revista científica. Las contribuciones de esta tesis doctoral se han publicado en la revista científica IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics entre los años 2013/2015

Postfault Operation of an Asymmetrical Six-Phase Induction Machine With Single and Two Isolated Neutral Points

The paper presents a study of postfault control for an asymmetrical six-phase induction machine with single and two isolated neutral points, during single open-phase fault. Postfault control is based on the normal decoupling (Clarke) transformation, so that reconfiguration of the controller is minimized. Effect of the single open-phase fault on the machine equations under this control structure is discussed. Different modes of postfault operation are analyzed and are further compared in terms of the achievable torque and stator winding losses. Validity of the analysis is verified using experimental results obtained from a six-phase induction motor drive prototype

Postfault operation of an asymmetrical six-phase induction machine with single and two isolated neutral points

The paper presents a study of postfault control for an asymmetrical six-phase induction machine with single and two isolated neutral points, during single open-phase fault. Postfault control is based on the normal decoupling (Clarke) transformation, so that reconfiguration of the controller is minimized. Effect of the single open-phase fault on the machine equations under this control structure is discussed. Different modes of postfault operation are analyzed and are further compared in terms of the achievable torque and stator winding losses. Validity of the analysis is verified using experimental results obtained from a six-phase induction motor drive prototype. © 1986-2012 IEEE

Induction Motors

AC motors play a major role in modern industrial applications. Squirrel-cage induction motors (SCIMs) are probably the most frequently used when compared to other AC motors because of their low cost, ruggedness, and low maintenance. The material presented in this book is organized into four sections, covering the applications and structural properties of induction motors (IMs), fault detection and diagnostics, control strategies, and the more recently developed topology based on the multiphase (more than three phases) induction motors. This material should be of specific interest to engineers and researchers who are engaged in the modeling, design, and implementation of control algorithms applied to induction motors and, more generally, to readers broadly interested in nonlinear control, health condition monitoring, and fault diagnosis

Control solutions for multiphase permanent magnet synchronous machine drives applied to electric vehicles

207 p.En esta tesis se estudia la utilización de un accionamiento eléctrico basado en una máquina simétrica dual trifásica aplicada al sistema de propulsión de un vehículo eléctrico. Dicho accionamiento está basado en una máquina síncrona de imanes permanentes interiores. Además, dispone de un bus CC con una configuración en cascada. Por otra parte, se incorpora un convertidor CC/CC entre el módulo de baterías y el inversor de seis fases para proveer el vehículo con capacidades de carga rápida, y evitando al mismo tiempo la utilización de semiconductores de potencia con altas tensiones nominales. En este escenario, el algoritmo de control debe hacer frente a las no linealidades de la máquina, proporcionando un comando de consigna preciso para todo el rango de par y velocidad del convertidor. Por lo tanto, deben tenerse en cuenta los efectos de acoplamiento cruzado entre los devanados, y la tensión de los condensadores de enlace en cascada debe controlarse y equilibrarse activamente. En vista de ello, los autores proponen un novedoso enfoque de control que proporciona todas estas funcionalidades. La propuesta se ha validado experimentalmente en un prototipo a escala real de accionamiento eléctrico de 70 kW, probado en un laboratorio y en un vehículo eléctrico en condiciones reales de conducción.Tecnali

High Performance Control Techniques for Multiphase eDrives

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Fault tolerant vector control of five-phase permanent magnet motors

Equipped with appropriate control strategies, permanent magnet (PM) machines are becoming one of the most flexible types of actuators for many industrial applications. Among different types of PM machines, five-phase BLDC machines are very interesting in fault tolerant applications of PM drives. Torque improvement in five-phase BLDC machines can be accomplished by optimizing their mechanical structure or by enhancing their controlling methods. New current controllers are proposed in this thesis to improve the quality of generated torque under normal operations of five-phase BLDC machines. Proposed current controllers are based on combination of predictive deadbeat controlling strategy and Extended Kalman Filter estimation. These controllers will be the basis for accurate faulty operation of the motor. Operation of five-phase BLDC machines under faulty conditions has also been considered in this study. To improve the generated torque under faulty conditions, both amplitude and phase angle of fundamental and third current harmonics are globally optimized for the remaining healthy phases. Under faulty conditions, appropriate reference currents of a five-phase BLDC machine have oscillating dynamics both in phase and rotating reference frames. As a result, the implemented current controllers under these conditions should be robust and fast. Predictive deadbeat controllers are also proposed for faulty conditions of five-phase BLDC machines. Fault tolerant five-phase BLDC machines are very interesting in automotive applications such as electrical vehicles and more electric aircraft. In addition, these devices are gaining more importance in other fields such as power generation in wind turbines. In all of these applications, the efficiency of PM machine is of most importance. The efficiency of a typical five-phase BLDC machine is evaluated in this thesis for normal and different faulty conditions. Experimental evaluations are always conducted to verify the theoretical developments. These developments include proposed controlling methods, optimized reference currents, and simulated efficiency of five-phase BLDC machine under different operational conditions

Independent power flow control of multiple energy sources using a single electric machine

In this thesis, an independent power flow control of different energy sources connected to a single electric machine with a multitude of three-phase winding sets has been investigated. These machines are highly suitable for high power and critical applications. Additionally, these machines utilise the well-established three-phase power electronics technologies. The interest towards electrification of the transportation systems makes having multiple energy source a viable solution in the near future. Independent power flow control will enable the integration of hybrid energy storage systems on electrical vehicles such that the regenerative power can be directed to a super-capacitor while the cruising power is consumed from a battery bank. Nevertheless, this technique can be envisaged for different applications, from wind turbines to microgrids. In order to make all of this possible, the current amplitude of each winding set needs to be controlled first. Therefore, the control of the individual winding set’s currents’ amplitude and direction for multiple three-phase machines is the main subject of this thesis. The developed control schemes are based on vector space decomposition (VSD) rather than multi-stator (MS) approach. The former approach has a unique harmonic mapping and a single flux and torque producing subspace. Primarily in the thesis, current sharing strategy has been developed for both symmetrical and asymmetrical multiple three-phase machines with a common mode of operation for all the winding sets (motoring or generation). The strategy is based on the correlation of the xi-yi currents of the VSD and the αi-βi currents of the MS approach. These links enable the control of the current amplitude of the winding sets separately while maintaining the same torque and speed. The correlations between these modelling approaches combine good features of both modelling methods, the ability of the MS approach to control each winding set individually, and the VSD feature to perform the control in a completely decoupled subspace. Afterwards, the same strategy is employed to change the power flow direction as well as the amplitude of the multiple three-phase winding sets currents such that concurrent motoring and generation mode of operation is established. Two novel power sharing schemes have been proposed and analysed in this thesis. Both are based on VSD. The first scheme is sharing the flux and torque producing currents equally, while the second one is controlling the power by the torque producing current while preserving the same flux producing current. The transferred power efficiency has been improved significantly using the second approach. The same power sharing technique has been applied to an unorthodox type of machine – a twelve-phase machine implemented as a six-phase machine with double winding (hence, consisting of two six-phase sub-machines). The proposed power sharing scheme here is using a hybrid control approach combining two vector control schemes, based on MS and VSD. The control based on MS is controlling the power transfer from one six-phase sub-machine to the other one, while the control based on VSD, and with auxiliary current control, is sharing and directing power to a specific three-phase winding set within each sub-machine. Last but not least, two novel regenerative test methods have been proposed for multiple three-phase machines. The first approach is based on utilising a modified power sharing control strategy to operate the machine with iv rated current while maintaining the speed and circulating the power among the winding sets. The approach can be implemented differently based on the number of winding sets. With an even number of neutral points, half of the winding sets will be in motoring while the other half are in generation mode. However, when there is an odd number of winding sets, one of the winding sets will be in no-load mode of operation. The second approach is implementing the motoring and generation of the winding sets using a unique y-current component of the VSD. This method is only applicable to multiple three-phase machines with an even number of neutral points. The regenerative test can be applied to induction and synchronous machines equally but with a completely different outcome. For synchronous machines, the test can be used for efficiency evaluation and temperature rise test while for the induction machines the test can provide a straightforward experimental approach to segregate constant losses (core and mechanical losses) from load dependent losses (copper losses). All the proposed control methods have been validated by simulation and experimentally, except for the double winding machine where experiments were not done

Reliable Multiphase Induction Motor Drives

A motor is said to be reliable if it can run at its rated operating condition for a specified period of time. With the widespread use of electric motors in newer applications, reliability is a major concern in terms of safety as well as revenue. About 30-40% of reported failures in induction motors are due to stator faults. It is well known that a stator fault starts as an inter-turn fault within a phase and then propagates into phase-to-phase and phase-to-ground faults that can then lead to complete shutdown of the motor. Two approaches have been taken in this dissertation to make an induction motor drive system more tolerant to stator faults; integration of an inter-turn fault detection method into a five-phase induction motor drive and design of fault-tolerant induction motors. The phase redundancy of five-phase motors makes it possible to achieve continued operation of the motor with an open phase. However, for true fault tolerance the drive must be able to detect an incipient fault and then transition to post fault operation. A low-cost diagnostic method based on DC voltage injection has been developed for detection of inter-turn faults in five-phase induction motor drive systems. It has been shown that difference in DC current response to an injected voltage before and after an inter-turn fault serves as a reliable fault indicator. The diagnostic is non-intrusive, requires no additional hardware and effectively integrates both fault detection and fault-tolerant control into the motor controller. The method has been successfully implemented and tested on low-cost microcontroller. The propagation of a stator inter-turn fault into a phase-to-phase fault is worsened in distributed winding induction motors where the different phase windings overlap each other at the end connections. Tooth wound or fractional slot concentrated winding (FSCW) stators have non-overlapping end connections and hence more physical and thermal isolation between the phases as compared to distributed winding stators. While FSCW configurations have been widely used for permanent magnet motors, their adoption for induction motors is a challenge. An FSCW configuration has been designed for outer rotor induction motors by using a dual slot layer stator structure and multilayer windings. Comparison with a conventional induction motor shows an 11% reduction in the copper usage in addition to having non-overlapping phase windings