Wireless control and measurement system for a hydropower generator with brushless exciter

Hydropower has been around for more than a century and is considered a mature technology, but with recent advancements in power electronics and simulation capability new exciting ways to increase efficiency and reliability is possible. At Uppsala University a brushless exciter has been constructed for the experimental test rig, SVANTE. Power electronics are mounted on the shaft for control of the generator's excitation current. In addition a wireless control and measurement system is needed to provide the desired switching patterns to the power electronics and to evaluate performance of the system. In this thesis a shaft mounted embedded system for control and measurement is constructed as well as magnetic field sensors with measurement range up to 700mT. The computational power comes from a National Instruments sbRIO-9606. The system has 14 individual totem pole power electronics driving channels, 48 analog input channels for current signals and it communicates wirelessly through a bluetooth connection. The system is tested and works satisfactory but has not been mounted on the rotating side of the generator due to delays in the manufacturing

Current control for active magnetic bearings with accurate and noise reduced current measurement

There is always a need for more effective ways to store energy in order to reduce the human impact on the environment. One step on the way can be the use of flywheels as kinetic energy storage devices. Low frictional losses are essential for a flywheel to be effective. To minimize these losses active magnetic bearings (AMB) can be used to keep the shaft centered instead of the more conventional ball-bearings. AMBs use actuators and a fast control system that needs correct and noise-free measurement data of the shaft position and the current in the actuators to work properly. This thesis explains the process of constructing power electronics and a current measurement system for active magnetic bearings (AMB). The focus of the thesis is on how to minimize noise in the circuits, including practical considerations on circuit design and theoretical explanations of the origin of noise in electric circuits. In addition there are discussions on factors to consider when designing a PCB and the importance of choosing the right component for the right application. Finished PCB-designs for both power electronics and current measurement along with specifications of the circuits and calibration data is presented. The finished circuits works well and have low noise levels and high reliability

Current control for active magnetic bearings with accurate and noise reduced current measurement

There is always a need for more effective ways to store energy in order to reduce the human impact on the environment. One step on the way can be the use of flywheels as kinetic energy storage devices. Low frictional losses are essential for a flywheel to be effective. To minimize these losses active magnetic bearings (AMB) can be used to keep the shaft centered instead of the more conventional ball-bearings. AMBs use actuators and a fast control system that needs correct and noise-free measurement data of the shaft position and the current in the actuators to work properly. This thesis explains the process of constructing power electronics and a current measurement system for active magnetic bearings (AMB). The focus of the thesis is on how to minimize noise in the circuits, including practical considerations on circuit design and theoretical explanations of the origin of noise in electric circuits. In addition there are discussions on factors to consider when designing a PCB and the importance of choosing the right component for the right application. Finished PCB-designs for both power electronics and current measurement along with specifications of the circuits and calibration data is presented. The finished circuits works well and have low noise levels and high reliability

Current control for active magnetic bearings with accurate and noise reduced current measurement

There is always a need for more effective ways to store energy in order to reduce the human impact on the environment. One step on the way can be the use of flywheels as kinetic energy storage devices. Low frictional losses are essential for a flywheel to be effective. To minimize these losses active magnetic bearings (AMB) can be used to keep the shaft centered instead of the more conventional ball-bearings. AMBs use actuators and a fast control system that needs correct and noise-free measurement data of the shaft position and the current in the actuators to work properly. This thesis explains the process of constructing power electronics and a current measurement system for active magnetic bearings (AMB). The focus of the thesis is on how to minimize noise in the circuits, including practical considerations on circuit design and theoretical explanations of the origin of noise in electric circuits. In addition there are discussions on factors to consider when designing a PCB and the importance of choosing the right component for the right application. Finished PCB-designs for both power electronics and current measurement along with specifications of the circuits and calibration data is presented. The finished circuits works well and have low noise levels and high reliability

Controlling airgap magnetic flux density harmonics in synchronous machines using field current injection

In this paper, a method to control the harmonic content of the magnetic flux density in the airgap of a synchronous machine is presented. Voltage harmonics in one phase as well as the exciting magnetic forces can be affected. Switched power electronics were used to provide the field current to a synchronous machine, the control added specific current harmonics to the DC field current in order to minimize either voltage harmonics or magnetic forces. The method is verified and compared with simulations and experiments on an existing electrical machine

Start of a synchronous motor using rotor field polarity inversion and rotor back-emf sensing

Synchronous motors are hard to line start due to torque pulsations at zero rotor speed and low starting torque when started using induced current in a damper squirrel cage. By inverting the rotor pole polarity at appropriate times it is possible to, in principle, achieve uniform torque, albeit pulsating with twice the line frequency at zero initial rotor speed. This has been demonstrated in an earlier work. In this paper we demonstrate that high torque starting using the back-emf in the field winding as triggering signal for the rotor polarity inversion is possible. We further discuss the origin of the rotational energy and active and reactive power pulsations. Finally, we show that it is possible to operate a synchronous motors at continuous asynchronous speed by inverting the polarity of the rotor current and adjusting the field current accordingly, although down rated