Modélisation et réglage d'un entraînement à haute performance par un moteur réluctant

Usually, each phase of the direct reluctance motor is fed separately by its own inverter producing a squarewave phase current depending on the rotor position. In the present work, a star-connection of the three stator phases is used and the direct reluctance motor is fed by a three-phase switched inverter. The space phasor theory shows that three-phase sinewave currents can produce a constant electromagnetic torque. In this case, the rotating reference frame rotates at half of the rotor speed and in the opposite direction. This command strategy allows to reduce the stator deformation due to the electromagnetic radial force which is very high in this type of motor and which is mainly responsible for the acoustic noise. The electromagnetic torque control is realised by a sliding mode control of the three phase currents. In the rotating reference frame, it is possible to show that the eight commutation states of the switched inverter are placed around an ellipse in the complex plane of the derivatives of the space phasor of the phase current. A study of this ellipse has allowed to determine the maximal torque as a function of the speed for a given continuous voltage. It is important to insure that the torque reference will never exceed this limitation in order to avoid a pullout phenomenon, highly unwanted in the speed control. Despite the fact that the resolver inside the casing of the direct reluctance motor produces a small periodic error, it is accurate enough for the position measurement and to produce the three current references. However, the derivative of the position measurement provides a speed evaluation with such a ripple that the speed control cannot be outstanding. So, for the speed measurement, an additional laser rotary encoder is used. The experimental study in the steady-state mode of the speed control shows the presence of an electromagnetic torque ripple. This is a residual ripple caused by the dissimilarity between the stator poles teeth-shapes and the magnetic saturation effect. Although this torque ripple is rather low compared with the usual command strategy, two methods are proposed in order to compensate it. The first method is based on the use of a correction factor depending on the tooth angle. First, in steady-state conditions, the correction factor is stored off-line in a table. Then it is used in-line as a feedforward disturbance compensation. The second method of reducing the residual torque ripple consists in implementing an observer of variable disturbance. This is a disturbance observer able to determine the frequency content of the torque ripple. For instance, in order to observe the continuous component, the fundamental wave as well as the harmonics 2, 3, and 6, the observer must have ten poles. The main difficulty to deal with such an observer is the fact that each pole moves quickly as a function of the motor speed. So, in order to guarantee the observer stability over a large range of speed, the poles are located dynamically regarding to the motor speed by the way of a discontinuous adaptation of the feedforward coefficients. The theoretical study and the numerical simulation have allowed to formulate some criteria about the way of locating the poles. Experimental results confirm the efficiency of the observer of variable disturbance in order to reduce the electromagnetic torque ripple.

A contribution to energy saving in induction motors

Electric motors consume over half of the electrical energy produced by power stations, almost the three-quarters of the electrical consumption in industry and almost the half of commercial electrical consumption in developed countries. Motors are by far the most important type of electric charges, and so constitute the main targets to achieve energy saving. Owing to their simple and robust construction, the asynchronous motors and especially those of squirrel-cage types, represent about 90-95% of the electrical energy consumption of electric motors, which is equivalent to about 53% of total electrical energy consumption. They are widely used as electrical drives in industrial, commercial, public service, traction and domestic applications. Owing to the importance of induction motors, this thesis is aimed at contributing to energy saving efforts, more specifically in the field of low power induction motors. A contribution is kept in perspective by taking into consideration the energy saving potential during the motor design stage as well as during its operation. Every effort to save energy in motor application can be made by always attempting to use energy only as much as what needed during its operation. The best way is to exploit the saving potential during motor design, while at the same time taking into account its intended application. It can be achieved either through the improvement of motor design or through the reduction of its input electrical energy when the motor has already been built. These two efforts are studied, elaborated and worked out thoroughly in this thesis. To attain this objective, a synthesis has been started with the description of how to model an induction motor. To obtain a better model, an improvement is proposed by using the Schwarz-Christoffel mapping to calculate the slot leakage inductance in induction motor. With such method, slot-leakage inductance can be determined more precisely, resulting in more accurate prediction of motor characteristics. It is based on the stored magnetic energy calculation using two-directional field distribution in the slot. The air gap influence can be observed easily, so that a reasonable slot leakage definition can be adopted. Unlike the conventional method, which is only suitable for rectangular slots (otherwise empirical corrections are required), the proposed general slot form can be extended to any desired polygonal slot form. Consideration of saturation is also indispensable because ignoring it could result in inaccuracy in motor performance prediction. Considering the saturation is essential owing to its important role in self-excitation phenomenon to establish voltage build-up in induction generator. However, the self-excitation phenomenon is undesirable in certain group of capacitor motors as it may hinder the switching-off process and mechanical braking at a desired moment. The undesirable switching-off failure condition is to be avoided by properly designing the capacitor motor. Like in this capacitor motor special application, where a proper design is useful from the point of view of operation safety, designing properly a motor is also very important in energy saving efforts. Motor design and optimization to minimize losses as well as to make possible wide speed-range motor operation are some of the efforts. However, when induction motor has already been built, saving energy is only possible by managing its supplying electrical energy. Various strategies are possible and a particular emphasis on the use of triac to reduce motor input voltage is presented. Besides, a brief economic saving evaluation is given to draw attention to the energy saving potential.

EPFL2005

A modular software package for the analysis of power networks and electrical drives

Alain Sapin, Jean-Jacques Simond

This paper deals with a software package for the numerical analysis in transient and steady-state modes of power electrical networks or variable speed drives with arbitrary topologies. The package is composed of a series of units, each representing a specific cell in the network : voltage supply, electrical machine, mechanical system, transmission line, circuit-breaker, phase shifting transformer, static converter with control and command organ, regulator, etc. SIMSEN is highly flexible and efficient. It is implanted on microcomputer or on workstation. The network or the variable speed drive to be simulated is assembled using a graphic input interface by adequatly choosing and linking the building units, so as to fulfill a desired topology. An existing system may be easily extended or modified. A simple procedure can be used in order to define a new unit or to modify an existing one. The initial conditions of operation can be partly or entirely specified by the user. A transient mode of operation may include several successive perturbations. The simulation results are displayed through an efficient graphic interface. An original feature of SIMSEN is its ability to analyse electrical networks involving semi-conductors (diodes rectifiers, thyristor or GTO current converters, voltage inverters, etc.). Thus, systems having a complex structure can be simulated. Practical examples of applications to such systems constitute the main part of this paper : constant or variable speed groups involving induction and synchronous machines, HVDC networks, reactive power static converter SVC. These examples show how SIMSEN can be used for an optimized design of complex networks.

1995

Control of Current in AC Induction Machines with Pronounced Slot Harmonics for Smooth Torque

Nicolas Lorétan

AC introduction motors have been used in traction applications for a long time. They have a good efficiency for a low cost and are very robust. Most of these motors have been developed for industrial applications and they have a torque ripple because of the presence of slot harmonics. The smoothness of the torque is important for traction applications ands the torque ripple should be reduced or even suppressed without loss of eficiency.

2011

A contribution to energy saving in induction motors

EPFL2005