Search

In the application of electric railway traction, induction machines may suffer momentary power interruptions. Restarting control while machine running is a critical part of such applications, but residual flux in the free-running rotor deteriorates conventional controller performances, leading to inrush current and torque impact. Thus, this article proposes an improved feed-forward current controller that compensates voltage variations in the restart process. The residual rotor flux, as well as the induced back electromotive force, is estimated only with the measured speed in the free-running stage. The exact electromotive force is compensated at the restart moment, and the following current re-establishing stage. Based on the feed-forward compensation, the restart impact is eliminated and the restart current is controlled accurately in the predefined trajectories. Verified by experiments, the restart controller provides flexible restart manipulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work proposes a microgrid (μ-grid) integrating wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) resources, along with the battery energy storage (BES) to the three-phase grid feeding the nonlinear load. The μ-grid disconcerted by probabilistic nonlinear time dependent parameters and their effects are compensated by cohesive controllers used for utility grid side voltage source converter (GVSC) and machine side voltage source converter (MVSC). The switching controls and the reconfigurability of the μ-grid are addressed on imperative aspects of improving power quality (PQ), power reliability, nonlinear load compensation, and economic utilization of resources. The nonlinear load compensation and PQ enhancement are achieved by executing modified version of the adaptive filtering technique including “momentum”-based least mean square (MLMS) control technique, utilized for providing the switching control signals to the GVSC. It utilizes two preceding gradient weights for obtaining updated weight thereby improving the convergence rate and overcoming the limitation of conventional control of the same family. The MVSC acquires its switching signals from conventional vector control scheme and the encoderless estimation of speed and rotor position of the synchronous generator driven by wind turbine through back electromotive force control technique. The external environmental disturbances are overcome by utilizing perturb and observe (P&O) maximum power point (MPP) for wind optimal power extraction and adaptive P&O with variable perturbation step size for solar MPP estimation. Test results are obtained from the laboratory prototype under steady-state and dynamic conditions, including altering wind speed, intermittent solar insolation, and variable load conditions. The PQ issues are addressed and investigated successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) torque production capability depends on the permanent magnets (PMs) magnetization state, which can be affected by PMs’ temperature and by the current flowing throughout the stator windings; knowledge of the PMs’ temperature can be therefore of great importance both for control and monitoring purposes. PMs’ temperature can be measured or estimated; PM temperature measurement is not easy and is not normally implemented in commercial drives. PM temperature estimation methods can be divided into thermal models based, back electromotive force (BEMF)-based, and signal injection based methods. Existing high frequency (HF) signal injection methods estimate the PM temperature from the measured stator HF resistance. Unfortunately, the resistance is also affected by magnetoresistive effect, which can limit the accuracy of the estimates. This paper proposes the use of the stator d-axis HF inductance for PM temperature estimation. This makes temperature estimation insensitive to magnetoresistive effect. In addition, it allows the use of higher frequencies, reducing the adverse impact of the injected signal on machine performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grid-tied inverters and associated control techniques have gained importance in the domain of distributed generation. Different methods of control have been compared in the literature depending upon the ability to meet total harmonic distortion limits, damping offered to resonant oscillations, and stable operation. Multiple-loop methods compared to their single-loop counterparts have proved to be highly effective for meeting the grid regulations. In the literature, while single-loop and two-loop control systems for LCL filter have been assessed, not much study on three-loop control (TLC) has been done, possibly due to the hardware complexity and cost imparted by the increase in the number of sensors. In this paper, a TLC structure for grid connected inverters is analyzed for stability and parametric variations. Robustness of TLC is compared with single-loop grid current feedback control and a two-loop control structure. An approach to estimate the state variables is proposed in this paper, which cuts down the number of sensors and cost of implementation. The performance of the system is analyzed through simulations and results are validated in a hardware setup, under dynamic and steady-state conditions, thereby showing that this is a promising approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disturbances including harmonics, distortions, transients, fluctuations, and dc offsets in the grid voltages and uncertain load currents, are the most challenging issues in the scenario of renewable sources based energy generating systems integrated to the conventional grid. A three-phase, double stage, grid tied solar photovoltaic based distributed generating (SPVDG) system fulfilling multiple objectives, is presented using an adaptive digital disturbance estimator (DDE) and a peak power tracking scheme. The adaptive DDE has the detection proficiency of all the harmonics and lumped disturbances resulting fundamental component estimation of the periodic signals such as grid voltages and load currents. This system deals with objectives such as reactive power compensation, load balancing, peak solar power extraction, operation at grid voltage sags and swells, estimation of harmonics, dc offsets, disturbances, etc. and their elimination. Moreover, this system ensures the active power flow from the SPVDG system to the local loads as well as the grid through a three-phase voltage source converter (VSC). An adaptive technique is used to adjust the dc-link voltage with respect to the grid voltage variation(s) that is advantageous in terms of losses in the VSC. A Lyapunov function candidate is considered to estimate the gains of the disturbance estimator confirming its parameter convergence. Considering the aforementioned objectives, SPVDG system with the proposed DDE-based control scheme, is simulated using Matlab/Simulink environment and then practically implemented using a prototype developed in the laboratory to confirm its performance under steady and dynamic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensorless control of synchronous reluctance motors (SyRMs) relies on the knowledge of the machine current-to-flux maps. Previous work demonstrated the feasibility of sensorless identification of the flux maps, performed by exciting the machine with square-wave voltage pulses at standstill, and without the need of rotor locking. The rotor position was initially estimated and then used throughout the identification, in open-loop fashion. In some cases, rotor oscillation and eventually position drift led to stop the identification before the programmed $dq$ current domain was covered entirely. In this paper, the rotor position is closed-loop tracked during the motor commissioning to counteract the occurrence of rotor movement. The hysteresis-controlled excitation voltage is augmented with an high-frequency (HF) square-wave voltage component, and the position is tracked through demodulation of the current response to such HF component. The proposed approach is experimentally verified on a 2.2-kW SyRM prototype. The results show that the $i_d, i_q$ commissioning domain is substantially extended, resulting in more accurate flux maps. Moreover, self-tuning of the method is addressed and possible causes of error are analyzed and commented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase-locked loop (PLL) techniques are widely utilized for synchronization and control of grid-connected power electronic systems for estimation of phase angle, frequency, and amplitude of the grid voltage. Recently, an advanced scheme called the three-phase enhanced PLL (3P-EPLL) has been proposed for estimating the grid voltage information. However, recent studies have shown that this 3P-EPLL cannot provide accurate estimations under adverse grid conditions, especially when the grid voltage is polluted with harmonics, dc offsets, and unbalance. This paper proposes an improved scheme of 3P-EPLL. A novel filtering technique called the multiple delayed signal cancelation (MDSC) is integrated into both the phase-angle estimation loop, and the amplitude estimation loop of the 3P-EPLL for eliminating periodic ripples due to harmonics and unbalance in the grid voltage. MDSC filters can indeed provide more flexibility to configure the lowest undesired harmonics, and can have less delay time in the digital implementations when compared with moving average filters and cascaded delayed signal cancelation filters. Thus, the fast response time of the filter is expected. To improve the dynamic performance of the 3P-EPLL, the proportional-integral-derivative controller is used instead of the conventional proportional-integral controller. Comprehensive analysis of the MDSC-based 3P-EPLL is investigated. Both simulations and experimental studies are conducted to validate the prompt dynamic performance of the proposed MDSC-based 3P-EPLL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, new model-based sensorless control methods are proposed that include independent estimations of position and speed errors, and compatible position and speed estimators. Using the proposed position estimator, a unity transfer function can be achieved from the actual position to the estimated position, eliminating the effects of load disturbances. This implies that the position error would ideally be zero, even in a transient state. In addition, the effects of parameter and voltage synthesis errors on the steady-state position error are analyzed. Experimental results verify both the analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed methods under severe load disturbances such as speed transient (20 000 r/min/s) and load torque transient (10 p.u./s). With the proposed methods, position estimation errors are significantly reduced by more than 50% during speed and load torque transients at identical dominant-pole placements, verifying the enhanced tracking capability and robustness of the proposed methods against external load disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel algorithm for in situ efficiency estimation for induction motors operating with unbalanced distorted voltages. The proposed technique utilizes the genetic algorithm, IEEE form F2-method F1 calculations, large motor test database, and a novel stray-load loss formula. The technique is evaluated by testing three small- and medium-sized induction motors with different combinations of voltage unbalance and total harmonic distortion. The results showed acceptable accuracy. The repeatability and usability of the technique with balanced sinusoidal voltages are also validated. The technique may be used as a potential industrial tool that can help derate induction motors in the presence of voltage unbalance and harmonics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A grid supportive two-stage three-phase four-wire solar photovoltaic (SPV) system is presented in this paper, wherein a boost converter is used as a first stage to serve the function of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and a four-leg voltage source converter (VSC) is used to feed the extracted SPV energy, along with supporting distribution system for improvement in the power quality. Unlike conventional SPV inverters, the proposed solar energy conversion system provides extra functionalities such as balancing of grid currents, reactive power compensation, mitigation of harmonics, and neutral current elimination in grid side neutral conductor. An extra feed-forward term is added in the control loop to provide fast dynamic responses. The PV array voltage is continuously adjusted using a boost converter to achieve MPPT. A control approach employing decoupled adaptive noise detection (DAND) algorithm is used for controlling the four-leg grid-tied VSC. The DAND algorithm is a simple approach using two multipliers, one integrator, and one summer per phase for detection of useful component of load current. The proposed control algorithm gives features such as simple structure, fast convergence, frequency adaptive detection, and good steady-state performance. The grid currents are found adhering to an IEEE-519 standard, even under nonlinear and unbalanced loads at common point of interconnection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an online empirical mode decomposition (EMD) based algorithm is proposed for the control of a shunt active filter (AF). Standard EMD algorithm has worked on the principle of time-scale difference between the upper maximum values and lower minimum values of a signal, and for a long time it has been considered good for offline analysis of signals. This paper deals with the real-time application of EMD for the control of AF under balanced and unbalanced loads. Linear interpolators are employed for construction of upper and lower envelopes to avoid computation complexity. Moreover, customized iterative computations for extraction of intrinsic mode functions maintain the efficiency of algorithm. The algorithm extracts the fundamental component of load current and helps in estimating reference currents. Simulations are performed on MATLAB/Simulink platforms. Simulation results are verified with experimental results of a developed prototype of shunt AF. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, two designs of interior permanent-magnet synchronous machine (IPMSM) for sensorless drive with absolute rotor position estimation capability are proposed. A conventional IPMSM design proposed for the same purpose had a demerit that for the absolute position estimation, the rotor should initially stroke for 100 degrees in the worst case. Using the proposed IPMSMs featuring asymmetric winding and asymmetric rotor geometry, the initial stroke of the rotor can be reduced to 30 degrees. Moreover, basic characteristics of the motor such as torque ripples and harmonics of electromotive force (EMF) are conspicuously improved. The proposed designs are evaluated by rigorous finite-element analyses and experimental tests. An analytical model of the proposed motors considering their asymmetric structures is also developed and provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a load torque estimation method for self-sensing brushless dc drives. Torque ripples in brushless dc machines can be reduced using load torque information. This method uses the terminal voltage, the virtual neutral point voltage, and the dc bus current of the machine. The algorithm uses the variation of successive back electromotive force (back EMF) samples to estimate the rotor speed. The rotor position is estimated by defining an intermediate function of estimated speed and back EMF samples. An estimate of acceleration is used to estimate load torque. The load torque information is used for increasing the dynamic stiffness of the drive. The mathematical background is given and discussed, and the simulations and the experimental results prove the performance of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a saliency-based position sensorless drive of permanent-magnet (PM) machines using a single current sensor for cost-effective applications. For the single current sensor system, the dc-link current is measured for the reconstruction of three-phase currents. The phase current reconstruction can only be realized when active voltages are applied. This limitation results in six immeasurable areas for the current reconstruction using the pulsewidth modulation. In order to implement the saliency-based sensorless drive, a square-wave voltage is injected to minimize the harmonics of reconstructed saliency current for the rotor position estimation. By injecting a square-wave voltage on the direction of the rotor $d$-axis, the injection voltage vector is nearly perpendicular to the fundamental voltage vector at low speed. The saliency reflected current or the fundamental current can be separately reconstructed by the dc-link current, leading to the reduced reconstruction errors and improved sensorless performance. By using the proposed signal injection technique on a single sensor system, the saliency-based sensorless drive can work on an interior PM machine with a salient ratio of L_{q}/L_{d} = 1.35 at 1% rated speed (60/6000 r/min) under full torque load based on the experimental evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]