New sensorless, efficient optimized and stabilized V/f control for PMSM machines

With the rapid advances in power electronics and motor drive technologies in recent decades, permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) have found extensive applications in a variety of industrial systems due to its many desirable features such as high power density, high efficiency, and high torque to current ratio, low noise, and robustness. In low dynamic applications like pumps, fans and compressors where the motor speed is nearly constant, usage of a simple control algorithm that can be implemented with least number of the costly external hardware can be highly desirable for industry. In recent published works, for low power PMSMs, a new sensorless volts-per-hertz (V/f) controlling method has been proposed which can be used for PMSM drive applications where the motor speed is constant. Moreover, to minimize the cost of motor implementation, the expensive rotor damper winding was eliminated. By removing the damper winding, however, instability problems normally occur inside of the motor which in some cases can be harmful for a PMSM drive. As a result, to address the instability issue, a stabilizing loop was developed and added to the conventional V/f. By further studying the proposed sensorless stabilized V/f, and calculating power loss, it became known that overall motor efficiency still is needed to be improved and optimized. This thesis suggests a new V/f control method for PMSMs, where both efficiency and stability problems are addressed. Also, although in nearly all recent related research, methods have been applied to low power PMSM, for the first time, in this thesis, the suggested method is implemented for a medium power 15 kW PMSM. A C2000 F2833x Digital Signal Processor (DSP) is used as controller part for the student custom built PMSM drive, but instead of programming the DSP in Assembly or C, the main control algorithm was developed in a rapid prototype software environment which here Matlab Simulink embedded code library is used --Abstract, page iii

The Essential Role and the Continuous Evolution of Modulation Techniques for Voltage-Source Inverters in the Past, Present, and Future Power Electronics

The cost reduction of power-electronic devices, the increase in their reliability, efficiency, and power capability, and lower development times, together with more demanding application requirements, has driven the development of several new inverter topologies recently introduced in the industry, particularly medium-voltage converters. New more complex inverter topologies and new application fields come along with additional control challenges, such as voltage imbalances, power-quality issues, higher efficiency needs, and fault-tolerant operation, which necessarily requires the parallel development of modulation schemes. Therefore, recently, there have been significant advances in the field of modulation of dc/ac converters, which conceptually has been dominated during the last several decades almost exclusively by classic pulse-width modulation (PWM) methods. This paper aims to concentrate and discuss the latest developments on this exciting technology, to provide insight on where the state-of-the-art stands today, and analyze the trends and challenges driving its future

Roadmap on semiconductor-cell biointerfaces.

This roadmap outlines the role semiconductor-based materials play in understanding the complex biophysical dynamics at multiple length scales, as well as the design and implementation of next-generation electronic, optoelectronic, and mechanical devices for biointerfaces. The roadmap emphasizes the advantages of semiconductor building blocks in interfacing, monitoring, and manipulating the activity of biological components, and discusses the possibility of using active semiconductor-cell interfaces for discovering new signaling processes in the biological world

Recent Advances in Real-Time Load-Pull Systems

In this paper, some of the latest advances in real-time load-pull technologies will be described. A recently introduced ultralow-loss directional coupler, which has been designed and realized by the authors, provides a number of advantages when used in load-pull test sets. This device has been called the load-pull head. The new ultralow-loss load-pull head can transform any passive precalibrated load-pull system into an easily calibrated and accurate real-time load-pull test set, without losing highreflection- coefficient capabilities. Moreover, if used to realize an active loop, the load-pull head reduces the risks of oscillations and the amount of the loop amplifier output power. As an example application, measurements with a passive real-time load-pull setup of a 30-W laterally diffused MOS (LDMOS) transistor are presented. Furthermore, some advice to bypass the remaining unavoidable losses due to probes and cables is given.We will show, with measurements and with very simple calculations, that the combined use of load-pull heads, a passive tuner, and an active loop not only boosts the available ΓL but also decreases the loop amplifier output power, with a sensible reduction in the overall cost of the syste

Flexible and stretchable electronics for wearable healthcare

Measuring the quality of human health and well-being is one of the key growth areas in our society. Preferably, these measurements are done as unobtrusive as possible. These sensoric devices are then to be integrated directly on the human body as a patch or integrated into garments. This requires the devices to be very thin, flexible and sometimes even stretchable. An overview will be given of recent technology developments in this domain and concrete application examples will be shown

Applications of Graphene at Microwave Frequencies

In view to the epochal scenarios that nanotechnology discloses, nano-electronics has the potential to introduce a paradigm shift in electronic systems design similar to that of the transition from vacuum tubes to semiconductor devices. Since low dimensional (1D and 2D) nano-structured materials exhibit unprecedented electro-mechanical properties in a wide frequency range, including radio-frequencies (RF), microwave nano-electronics provides an enormous and yet widely undiscovered opportunity for the engineering community. Carbon nano-electronics is one of the main research routes of RF/microwave nano-electronics. In particular, graphene has shown proven results as an emblematic protagonist, and a real solution for a wide variety of microwave electronic devices and circuits. This paper introduces graphene properties in the microwave range, and presents a paradigm of novel graphene-based devices and applications in the microwave/RF frequency range

The future of computing beyond Moore's Law.

Moore's Law is a techno-economic model that has enabled the information technology industry to double the performance and functionality of digital electronics roughly every 2 years within a fixed cost, power and area. Advances in silicon lithography have enabled this exponential miniaturization of electronics, but, as transistors reach atomic scale and fabrication costs continue to rise, the classical technological driver that has underpinned Moore's Law for 50 years is failing and is anticipated to flatten by 2025. This article provides an updated view of what a post-exascale system will look like and the challenges ahead, based on our most recent understanding of technology roadmaps. It also discusses the tapering of historical improvements, and how it affects options available to continue scaling of successors to the first exascale machine. Lastly, this article covers the many different opportunities and strategies available to continue computing performance improvements in the absence of historical technology drivers. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Numerical algorithms for high-performance computational science'

Report of the direct infrared sensors panel

The direct infrared sensors panel considered a wide range of options for technologies relevant to the science goals of the Astrotech 21 mission set. Among the technologies assessed are: large format arrays; photon counting detectors; higher temperature 1 to 10 micro-m arrays; impurity band conduction (IBC) or blocked impurity band (BIB) detectors; readout electronics; and adapting the Space Infrared Telescope Facility and Hubble Space Telescope. Detailed development plans were presented for each of these technology areas