Patent Application
20190052215
This application claims priority to German Patent Application No. DE 10 2017 118 342.6, filed Aug. 11, 2017, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a three-phase AC motor, wherein the three-phase AC motor has a rotatably mounted rotor and a stator comprising a first group of coils and a second group of coils, wherein each of the coils generates an oscillating magnetic field upon actuation using an alternating current.
Three-phase AC motors are known from the prior art in various embodiments. What they all have in common is that, in said three-phase AC motors, coils are arranged in the stator, said coils being operated using phase-offset alternating currents such that an oscillating magnetic field is formed around each coil. The geometric arrangement of the coils and the associated phases are selected here in such a way that the magnetic fields of all the coils are superposed to form a rotating magnetic field that exerts a torque on the rotor.
A common design is in this case the three-phase AC motor having three phases, in which the coils are arranged on the stator in such a way that the magnetic fields generated by the coils are arranged at an angle of 120° with respect to one another and the associated phases are shifted by 120° with respect to one another. The individual oscillating fields are superposed here to form a rotating field, wherein the field amplitude remains constant and rotates at the frequency of the applied three-phase alternating current. Calculation methods that can be used to determine the resulting rotating field from a general geometric arrangement of coils and the associated phases are known to those skilled in the art from the literature (for example Rolf Fischer, “Elektrische Maschinen” [Electric Machines], Section 4.2).
In many cases, the primary voltage source provides a DC voltage, which first has to be converted to the necessary AC voltages by means of an inverter. Such a situation is present, in particular, in electric motors fed by a battery, as is the case in electric vehicles, for example. A common design of this conversion consists in that the desired AC voltage is generated by pulse-width modulation, wherein the shape of the voltage profile and the phase and frequency thereof can be set in a controlled manner in a broad range by controlling the modulator accordingly.
A further model is a three-phase AC motor having 6 phases. To this end, documents US Patent App. Pub. No. 2007120520, which is incorporated by reference herein, WO 2014132385, which is incorporated by reference herein, and WO 2014207858, which is incorporated by reference herein, disclose designs having two sets of three-phase windings and inverters for generating rotating fields. Document US 20090033251, which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses an electric motor, in which six phases are generated by means of an inverter in order to control the torque generated in the motor. Document US Patent App. Pub. No. 20160365821, which is incorporated by reference herein, addresses an electric motor having two sets of three-phase windings that can be operated in six phases.
These embodiments are designed to convert electrical energy to kinetic energy as efficiently as possible.
Described herein is a control method through which electrical power is fully or partly converted to heat in a targeted manner.
A method for controlling a three-phase AC motor is disclosed, wherein the three-phase AC motor has a rotatably mounted rotor and a stator comprising a first group of coils and a second group of coils, wherein each of the coils generates an oscillating magnetic field upon actuation using an alternating current, wherein the phases of the alternating currents are selected such that the superposition of the magnetic fields of the first group of coils generates a magnetic rotating field that rotates with a direction of rotation and the superposition of the magnetic fields of the second group of coils generates a magnetic rotating field that rotates counter to the direction of rotation.
This method makes it possible to configure the actuation of the motor coils such that the proportion of electrical energy converted to heat and the proportion driving the rotary movement of the motor can be set in a controlled manner. As a result, it is advantageously possible to generate heat without a separate heating mechanism being required. In a vehicle, the generated heat can then be fed to the heating/cooling system, for example.
In order to describe the spatial arrangement of the coils and the temporal response of the alternating currents associated with the coils dearly, it is assumed in the following text that a running direction is stipulated for the arrangement of the coils such that the orientations of the magnetic fields generated by the coils form a defined sequence of angles in this running direction and the phases of the alternating currents associated with the coils analogously form a defined sequence of phase angles. When the phase angles are shifted in a positive manner with respect to one another in the running direction, that is to say each phase temporally leads its predecessor, a rotating field that rotates counter to the running direction is created. In contrast, if the phase angles are shifted in a negative manner with respect to one another in the running direction, a rotating field that rotates in the running direction is created. The stipulation of said running direction is in this case arbitrary and serves only to provide a frame of reference for a clear description.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method for operating a six-phase motor known from the prior art is used, in which the six alternating currents are each shifted by 60° with respect to one another and in each case operate six coils arranged at angular steps of 60° with respect to one another. In order to realize the actuation according to aspects of the invention, the six coils are subdivided into two groups such that the coils within each group are each arranged in a manner rotated by 120° with respect to one another. For the control system according to aspects of the invention, it now suffices to leave the actuation of the first group unchanged and to reverse the phase sequence of the second group. As a result, the second group generates a rotating field that rotates in an opposing direction with respect to the rotating field of the first group. If the amplitudes of all the alternating currents are equal, the two rotating fields exert opposing torques on the rotor, said two rotating fields mutually canceling each other out. The electrical power is therefore not converted to movement but instead converted to heat.
Further embodiments of the invention emerge through generalization of the described six-phase system. In this case, 2n coils are arranged at equal angular steps of 180°/n with respect to one another and are divided into two groups of in each case n coils such that the coils of each group are arranged at angular steps of 360°/n with respect to one another. The coils of the first group are operated using alternating currents that are phase-shifted in a positive manner with respect to one another, whereas the coils of the second group are operated using alternating currents that are phase-shifted in a negative manner with respect to one another. The operation of a six-phase motor described further above corresponds in this case to the special case of n=3.
Furthermore, embodiments of the invention in which a plurality of coils belong to the same line run and are accordingly actuated using the same alternating current are also possible. This results in a geometric arrangement of n coils and m≤n associated phase angles. The n coils are again divided into two groups, which do not necessarily comprise the same number of coils. The possibilities of assigning the alternating currents to the coils such that the resulting magnetic fields of the two groups rotate in the opposite direction can be described systematically only with difficulty but can be determined easily by those skilled in the art by means of the calculation methods described at the outset.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, the two groups are actuated using alternating currents that within the first group are phase-shifted in a positive manner with respect to one another and within the second group are phase-shifted in a negative manner with respect to one another. In this case, the amplitudes of the alternating currents are each identical within one group but differ between the two groups. As a result, two rotating fields rotating in the opposite direction are generated, wherein the strength of the first and second field is in each case constant over time and changes cyclically in direction, in this case, however, the first rotating field has a greater or lower field strength than the second rotating field. During the superposition, the torques of the two rotating fields do not mutually cancel each other out but instead generate a residual torque in the difference, while some of the electrical power is converted to heat. In the case of such superposition of the two rotating fields, a so-called elliptical rotating field is generally generated, which rotates at a constant rate and generates as a result the residual torque, the field amplitude of which, however, varies over time such that a pulsating profile of the residual torque results.
Further embodiments of the invention result from the generalizations in which a general number n of coils is operated using m≤n alternating currents each having m amplitudes. In this case, too, the possibilities of assigning the currents and coils to one another such that the two groups generate oppositely rotating magnetic fields cannot be illustrated succinctly, but can be determined by those skilled in the art by means of the calculation methods mentioned at the outset.
A further subject of the invention is a system composed of a three-phase AC motor and an inverter for carrying out the control method described in the claims. All the embodiments of the control method can be carried out using the system according to aspects of the invention, as a result of which the system also has the advantages of the respective embodiment mentioned at the corresponding location.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the system composed of a three-phase AC motor and an inverter according to aspects of the invention, the inverter is designed in such a way that it is fed from a DC voltage and generates therefrom a plurality of AC voltages phase-offset with respect to one another by pulse-width modulation. Said AC voltages are then applied in accordance with the invention to the coils in such a way that the thus generated magnetic fields of the first group of coils are superposed to form a rotating field that rotates in the opposite direction to the rotating field of the second group.
In accordance with a further preferred embodiment, the inverter is designed such that the amplitudes and phases of the generated AC voltages can be set in a variable manner. As a result, a general control method can be realized, in which the coils are actuated by voltage profiles, which are coordinated with one another in a targeted manner, such that the induced magnetic fields are superposed to form a desired overall field.
In accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the system composed of a three-phase AC motor and an inverter according to aspects of the invention, the three-phase AC motor has an apparatus that can be used to lock the rotary movement of the rotor. Possible forms of this apparatus are, for example, a brake or a locking brake. As a result, it is advantageously possible to prevent the rotary movement in a mechanical manner, such that also in the case in which the control method does not balance the torques accurately, the electrical power is converted exclusively to heat, without additional movement being generated.
Further details, features and advantages of the invention will emerge from the drawings and from the following description of preferred embodiments on the basis of the drawings. The drawings in this case illustrate purely exemplary embodiments of the invention, which do not restrict the concept of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102017118342.6 | Aug 2017 | DE | national |
