The present invention relates generally to electrical power conversion systems and more particularly to active converters with phase current balancing.
Power conversion systems are used in supplying power to a grid, in driving electric motors, and in other applications in which electrical power must be converted from one form to another. Typically, the power converter is constructed using electrical switches actuated in a controlled fashion to selectively convert input power to output power of a desired form such as single or multi-phase AC of a controlled amplitude, frequency and phase to drive an AC motor according to a desired speed and/or torque profile, often in the presence of varying load conditions. Many motor drives include an initial AC to DC power conversion stage that receives multiphase AC voltage from a power source and employs selectively actuated electrical switching devices (e.g., IGBTs, etc.) to perform a controlled rectification to provide DC power on a bus. In many applications, the DC bus is then inverted by another set of controlled switches to provide an output AC (single or multiphase) to drive an AC load, such as an electric motor or a power grid. The initial AC to DC conversion stage may include inductors in the input phase lines to allow generation of DC voltages higher than the peak AC input voltages, thereby facilitating provision of output/load power at any suitable levels. Often, however, the phase voltages from the AC power supply are unbalanced. Even small source voltage imbalance in an AC power converter can result in large discrepancies between phase currents, depending on the filter impedances at the input to the converter. Large differences in the converter phase currents, in turn, can result in stresses to switching components (e.g., IGBTs) of corresponding phase branches in the AC to DC conversion. Accordingly, designers of power conversion systems must either oversize the switches to accommodate source imbalance situations or operate the converter below rated output to prevent switching component damage or degradation. Moreover, voltage imbalance situations may exacerbate the generation of undesired harmonic content by the converter, particularly second harmonics that exceed tolerable levels. U.S. Pat. No. 7,355,865 to Royak et al., assigned to Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc., provides for control of second order harmonics in voltage imbalance situations by using current regulation in the stationary reference frame, the entirety of which patent is hereby incorporated by reference herein. However, this approach may be limited to certain AC line applications to prevent instability. Accordingly, there remains a need for improved apparatus and techniques for power conversion system phase current balancing for source voltage imbalance situations.
Various aspects of the present invention are now summarized to facilitate a basic understanding of the invention, wherein this summary is not an extensive overview of the invention, and is intended neither to identify certain elements of the invention, nor to delineate the scope thereof. Rather, the primary purpose of this summary is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form prior to the more detailed description that is presented hereinafter. The present disclosure involves conversion of multiphase electrical power to DC output power by selective switching control using voltage command values compensated relative to calculated peak phase voltage values and optionally adjusted based on computed RMS phase current errors in order to balance phase currents in the presence of unbalanced phase supply line voltages. In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure, an active power conversion system is provided that includes a converter having an array of switches operatively coupled between the converter input and output, as well as a control system that provides switching control signals to convert multiphase input power to output DC power. The control system includes a current balancing component that controls the converter switches to balance phase currents in the presence of unbalanced phase supply line voltages by determining DC voltage trim values for each phase at least partially according to the measured phase supply line voltages and operating the switching devices according to a phase command signal based at least partially on a phase voltage reference command value and the DC voltage trim value for each phase. The controller determines d and q axis voltage command values in a synchronous reference frame based on measured line voltages and converts these to voltage reference command values for each phase. DC voltage trim values are determined for each phase based at least partially on the measured phase supply line voltages, and phase command signals are derived at least partially according to the phase voltage reference command value and the DC voltage trim value for each phase, with the controller providing the converter switching control signals at least partially according to the phase command signals to provide balanced phase currents.
The current balancing component in one implementation includes a unity voltage reference component, a DC trim component, a trim conversion component, and a phase voltage compensation component. The unity voltage reference component determines a peak voltage value in a stationary reference frame based at least partially on synchronous reference frame voltage command values and determines unity voltage reference values as a ratio of the phase voltage reference command value to the peak voltage value for each phase. The DC trim component includes a feedforward voltage trim component which determines a peak average of the phase supply line voltages and derives a DC voltage trim value as the difference between the peak average of all the phase supply line voltages and the peak value of the individual phase supply line voltage for each phase. The trim conversion component multiplies the unity voltage reference value by the DC voltage trim value to convert the DC voltage trim values to AC voltage trim values for each phase, and the phase voltage compensation component determines the phase command signals for each phase as the difference between the voltage reference value and the AC voltage trim value. The feedforward voltage trim calculation component may be further operative to convert measured RMS line-to-line voltages to phase AC peak voltages. In addition, the DC trim component in certain embodiments adjusts the DC voltage trim value at least partially according to an RMS current error value to derive an adjusted DC voltage trim value for each phase, and the trim conversion component multiplies the unity voltage reference value by the adjusted DC voltage trim value to determine the AC voltage trim values for each phase. The DC trim component may also include an RMS current regulator component that determines an RMS current reference value based at least partially on d and q axis current command values and determines the RMS current error value at least partially according to the difference between the RMS current reference value and a calculated RMS phase current value for each phase.
In accordance with further aspects of the disclosure, a method is provided for controlling an active power converter. The method includes measuring phase input supply line voltages, determining d and q axis voltage command values in a synchronous reference frame based at least partially on the measured phase supply line voltages, and converting these to reference command values for each phase. The method further involves determining DC voltage trim values for each phase at least partially according to the measured phase supply line voltages, determining a phase command signal based at least partially on the phase voltage reference command value and the DC voltage trim value for each phase, and controlling the active power converter based at least partially on the phase command signals. The method may also include determining a peak voltage value in the stationary reference frame based at least partially on the synchronous reference frame voltage command values, determining unity voltage reference values for each phase as the ratio of the phase voltage reference command value to the peak voltage value, and determining a peak average of the phase supply line voltages. In addition, the method may include determining the DC voltage trim value as the difference between the peak average of all the phase supply line voltages and the peak value of the individual phase supply line voltage for each phase, as well as conversion of the DC voltage trim values to AC voltage trim values by multiplying the unity voltage reference value by the DC voltage trim value for each phase, and determination of the phase command signal as the difference between the voltage reference command value and the AC voltage trim value for each phase.
Further aspects of the disclosure provide a computer readable medium with computer-executable instructions for controlling an active power converter providing a regulated DC output by switching current from a multiphase voltage source to balance phase currents in the presence of unbalanced phase supply line voltages. The computer readable medium includes computer-executable instructions for measuring phase supply line voltage values of the input, determining d and q axis voltage command values in a synchronous reference frame based at least partially on the measured phase supply line voltages, converting the synchronous reference frame voltage command values to stationary phase voltage reference command values for each phase, determining DC voltage trim values for each phase at least partially according to the measured phase supply line voltages, determining a phase command signal based at least partially on the phase voltage reference command value and the DC voltage trim value for each phase, and controlling the active power converter at least partially according to the phase command signals.
The following description and drawings set forth certain illustrative implementations of the disclosure in detail, which are indicative of several exemplary ways in which the various principles of the disclosure may be carried out. The illustrated examples, however, are not exhaustive of the many possible embodiments of the disclosure. Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
Referring now to the figures, several embodiments or implementations of the present invention are hereinafter described in conjunction with the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout, and wherein the various features are not necessarily drawn to scale.
Referring initially to
In operation, the controller 50 provides the switching control signals 4a so as to generate the DC voltage Vdc at a desired level, where the switching of the devices 18-28 determines the input phase voltages Vu, Vv and Vw at the converter nodes 30, 32 and 34, respectively. The exemplary converter 8 can generate DC output voltage levels Vdc that exceed the peak input AC voltages from the source 10 due to boost conversion operation of the switches using the inductors L. The switching operation establishes voltage potentials across the inductances L and resistors R in lines 12, 14, and 16 thereby creating line currents Iu, Iv, and Iw which establish a q-axis current Iq to charge the capacitor 40, and an output load at the DC bus lines 36 and 38 (e.g., an inverter in a motor drive application) receives load current IL. The controller 50 and the current balancing component 6 thereof may be any suitable hardware, software, firmware, logic, or combinations thereof that are adapted, programmed, or otherwise configured to implement the functions illustrated and described herein. The controller 50, and the current balancing component 6 thereof in certain implementations may be implemented, in whole or in part, as software components and may be implemented as a set of sub-components or objects including computer executable instructions and computer readable data executing on one or more hardware platforms such as one or more computers including one or more processors, data stores, memory, etc. The components 50 and 6 and sub components thereof may be executed on the same computer or in distributed fashion in two or more processing components that are operatively coupled with one another to provide the functionality and operation described herein. Except as otherwise noted herein, the converter 8 operates generally as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,355,865 to Royak et al., assigned to Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc., the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Referring also to
The exemplary three-phase input line voltages Va, Vb, and Vc in
V
a
=V
a.pk·Sin(ωt)
V
b
=V
b.pk·Sin(ωt−1200) where Va.pk, Vb.pk, Vc.pk are phase voltagepeaks (1)
V
c
=V
c.pk·Sin(ωt+1200)
If the voltage source 10 is balanced, then the corresponding peak values are also equal, as in the following equation (2):
Va.pk=Vb.pk=Vc.pk=e0 where e0 is the phase voltagepeak for a balanced AC line voltagesource (2).
From
where: p=d/t is a differential operator, T=L/R is a time constant, Iq is the q-axis (active) output component of the converter current, and IL is a load current.
As shown in
The relationships of the above equations (3-5) can be converted from a stationary frame (u,v,w or a,b,c) to a synchronous frame (d,q) based on the following equations (7-10):
These equations (3-5) can also be converted to a 2-phase system α,β according to the following equations (11) and (12):
V
α
=I
α
R·(1+Tp)+e0·Sin(ωt) (11)
V
β
=I
β
R·(1+Tp)+e0·Cos(ωt) (12)
These can then be converted to a synchronous d, frame:
The controller 50 generally controls the DC output according to the above equations (6) and (13-14) using the model 52, with further modification of the control scheme to balance the phase currents using the balancing component 6 per the various aspects of the present disclosure. The block diagram of the exemplary phase balancing control scheme is shown in
For unbalanced supply voltages Va, Vb, and Vc, however, the following equation (15) holds:
Va.pk≠Vb.pk≠Vc.pk≠e0 (15),
and the three converter leg currents Iu, Iv and Iw are not identical. In operation, absent countermeasures according to the present disclosure, this unbalance in the phase currents can prevent full utilization of the load-driving capabilities of the converter 8.
As seen in
ΔVa=(Vu−Va) (16)
ΔVb=(Vv−Vb) (17)
ΔVc=(Vw−Vc) (18)
If the voltage source 10 is balanced, the phase peaks are equal:
Va.pk=Vb.pk=Vc.pk (19),
and the phase peaks of the converter output voltage are equal as a result of the 2 to 3 conversion rule in the following equation (20):
(Vu.pk=Vv.pk=Vw.pk=√{square root over (Vd2+Vq2)}) (20).
As a result, the voltage differences from each converter leg are equal (ΔVa=ΔVb=ΔVc) in the case of a balanced input 10. In this case the phase currents Iφ in the converter legs 12, 14, and 16 should be equal since the impedances L and R are the same for each phase.
The inventors have appreciated, however, that when the voltage source 10 is unbalanced, the phase voltage peak values Vφ.pk are not equal (ΔVa≠ΔVb≠ΔVc), while the converter output voltage phase peaks are equal, due to the 2 to 3 conversion rule in equation (20). As a result, the converter leg currents Iu, Iv and Iw will not be equal due to the voltage imbalance of the input source 10. Referring in particular to
The overall architecture of the controller 50 is depicted in
The RMS measurement component 100 receives the line voltage values Va, Vb, and Vc and provides line-to-line RMS voltage output values Vab.RMS, Vbc.RMS, and Vca.RMS, as well as an angle value theta, with further details of the feedforward component 102a being illustrated in
As illustrated in
In operation, the control system 50 (
V
pk
=√{square root over (Vq.com2+Vd.com2)} (24)
The peak voltage value Vpk is then used by the unity voltage reference component 6a (via dividers 6a1-6a3) to determine the unity voltage reference values Vφ.ref.pu as a ratio of the phase voltage reference command value Vφ.ref to the peak voltage value Vpk for each phase per the following equations (21)-(23):
As shown in
The DC trim calculation component 6b calculates the feedforward DC voltage trim values via component 102b as the difference between the peak average of all three voltage source phases and the peak value of each individual phase according to the following equations (25)-(27):
ΔVu.pk=Vabc.avg−Va.pk (25)
ΔVv.pk=Vabc.avg−Vb.pk (26)
ΔVw.pk=Vabc.avg−Vc.pk (27)
The above equations (25-27) involve the phase peak voltage for each individual phase of an unbalanced AC line voltage source. In the exemplary system 8, however, only the RMS line-to-line voltages are measured. Accordingly, the component 102b converts the measured RMS voltages to phase AC voltages. Three phase voltages can be represented according to the above equation (1), and the line-to-line Vab voltage can be calculated according to the following equation (28):
In the case where the voltage input is balanced:
V
a.pk
=V
b.pk
=V
c.pk and Vab=√{square root over (3)}·Va.pk·Sin(ωt+300),
and The RMS_ab voltage is equal to:
The line-to-line Vbc voltage can be calculated according to the following equation (30) as:
Thus, if the AC line voltage source 10 is balanced, then:
V
a.pk
=V
b.pk
=V
c.pk and Vbc=√{square root over (3)}·Va.pk·Sin(ωt−900),
and the RMS_bc voltage is equal to:
The line-to-line Vca voltage can be calculated as:
If the AC line voltage source is balanced then:
V
a.pk
=V
b.pk
=V
c.pk and Vca=−√{square root over (3)}·a·Sin(ωt−300)
The RMS_ca voltage is equal to:
In order to determine the actual phase voltage peak values Va.pk, Vb.pk, Vc.pk as a function of the measured RMS line-to-line voltage values, the following equations (34)-(36) provide (based on equations 29, 31, and 33):
V
a.pk
2
+V
a.pk
·V
b.pk
+V
b.pk
2=2·V2ab
V
b.pk
2
+V
b.pk
·V
c.pk
+V
c.pk
2=2·V2bc
V
c.pk
2
+V
c.pk
·V
a.pk
+V
a.pk
2=2·V2ca
and it is assumed that:
to indicate the relationship between the phase peak and the line-to-line RMS voltages with balanced and unbalanced voltage sources.
Solving the equations (34-37) together and subtracting equation (35) from (36) yields the following equation (38):
V
c.pk
2
+V
c.pk
·V
a.pk
+V
a.pk
2
−V
b.pk
2
−V
b.pk
·V
c.pk
−c
2=2·V2ca
or
(Va.pk−Vb.pk)·(Va.pk+Vb.pk+Vc.pk)=2·V2ca
Taking equation (37) into account:
Subtracting equation (36) from (34) and making the same manipulation:
Subtracting equation (34) from (35) and making the same manipulation:
Solving equations (34) and (39) together yields):
V
b.pk
=V
a.pk
−X
1 (42)
Substitute (42) into (34):
V
a.pk
2
+V
a.pk·(Va.pk−X1)+(Va.pk−X1)2=2·V2ab
After some manipulations:
If we will take into account:
then:
Finally, substituting (39) into (44) we receive the peak value for phase “a”:
Repeating this process for “b” and “c” we will receive:
As a result, the phase peak average of all three voltage source phases is then given by the following equation (48):
Referring also to
I
RMS.ref
=√{square root over (Iq.com2+Id.com2)} (49),
and the final DC voltage trim values are determined by the DC trim calculation component 6b (
ΔVu=ΔVu.pk+ΔViu (50)
ΔVv=ΔVv.pk+ΔViv (51)
ΔVw=ΔVw.pk+ΔViw (52).
As shown in
ΔVu.ac=Vu.ref.pu*ΔVu (53)
ΔVv.ac=Vv.ref.pu*ΔVv (54)
ΔVw.ac=Vw.ref.pu*ΔVw (55)
The phase voltage compensation component 6d determines the final phase command signals Vφ.com according to the following equations (56)-(58):
V
u.com
=V
u.ref
−ΔV
u.ac (56)
V
v.com
=V
v.ref
−ΔV
v.ac (57)
V
w.com
=V
w.ref
−ΔV
w.ac (58)
As best seen in
Referring now to
The method 300 includes determining d and q axis voltage command values Vd.com, Vq.com in a synchronous reference frame at 302 based at least partially on the measured phase supply line voltages Vab.RMS, Vbc.RMS, Vca.RMS. The synchronous reference frame voltage command values Vd.com, Vq.com are converted at 304 to phase voltage reference command values Vφ.ref for each phase, and a peak voltage value Vpk is determined at 306 in the synchronous reference frame based at least partially on the synchronous reference frame voltage command values Vd.com, Vq.com. The method 300 further includes determining unity voltage reference values Vφ.ref.pu at 308 as a ratio of the phase voltage reference command value Vφ.ref to the peak voltage value Vpk for each phase, and determining a peak average Vabc.avg of the phase supply line voltages at 310. The method 300 may optionally include determining DC voltage trim values ΔVφ.pk at 311 for each phase at least partially according to the measured phase supply line voltages Vab.RMS, Vbc.RMS, Vca.RMS, and includes determining the DC voltage trim value ΔVφ.pk at 312 as the difference between the peak average of all the phase supply line voltages Vabc.avg and the peak value of the individual phase supply line voltage Vφ.pk for each phase. In certain embodiments, the method 300 may include adjusting the DC voltage trim value ΔVφ.pk at 313 based at least partially on an RMS current error value ΔViφ to derive an adjusted DC voltage trim value ΔVφ for each phase. AC voltage trim values ΔVφ.ac are then determined by converting the DC voltage trim values ΔVφ.pk at 314 to AC voltage trim values ΔVφ.ac by multiplying the unity voltage reference value Vφ.ref.pu by the DC voltage trim value ΔVφ.pk for each phase. At 316, a phase command signal Vφ.com is determined as the difference between the voltage reference command value Vφ.ref and the AC voltage trim value ΔVφ.ac for each phase, and the power converter is controlled at 318 at least partially according to the phase command signals Vφ.com, where the converter may be controlled at least partially using a current loop in a synchronous reference frame.
The above examples are merely illustrative of several possible embodiments of various aspects of the present invention, wherein equivalent alterations and/or modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon reading and understanding this specification and the annexed drawings. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components (assemblies, devices, systems, circuits, and the like), the terms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component, such as hardware, software, logic, or combinations thereof, which performs the specified function of the described component (i.e., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the illustrated implementations of the invention. Moreover, the various control components may be implemented as computer-executable instructions for carrying out one or more of the above illustrated and described control operations, steps, tasks, where the instructions are included in a computer-readable medium. In addition, although a particular feature of the invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application. Also, to the extent that the terms “including”, “includes”, “having”, “has”, “with”, or variants thereof are used in the detailed description and/or in the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising”.