This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application 10-2005-0110370 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Nov. 17, 2005, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a voltage of a DC link for an electric vehicle, and more particularly to a method for controlling a voltage of a DC link for an electric vehicle, which can reduce a capacitance of the DC link interposed between an inverter and a DC/DC converter.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle using a battery as a power source like an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle has a DC/DC converter for raising the battery voltage and an inverter for driving a motor. The DC/DC converter and the inverter have a DC link interposed therebetween, and the DC link has a mass storage capacitor for buffering a voltage and a current. Generally, the DC link employs a great mass storage capacitor for reducing a voltage fluctuation ratio between the DC/DC converter and the inverter. In other words, the DC link employs an electrolytic capacitor, or a film capacitor having large volume.
However, since such a capacitor of the DC link has a large-size and an inferior thermal characteristic, an electrolytic solution contained in the capacitor may be leaked from the capacitor in the form of gas or liquid when the capacitor is used for a long time or if heat is applied to the capacitor, thereby shortening the life span of the capacitor. In addition, since the inner space of a vehicle is extremely restricted, an effort to reduce the number of replaced capacitors or attached capacitors is being made.
As shown in
The battery 1 is an energy source having a predetermined potential difference, the DC/DC converter 4 raises the voltage of the battery 1 to a predetermined voltage, the DC link 5 flattens the voltage raised by the DC/DC converter 4, the inverter 6 outputs an AC voltage having a predetermined voltage and a predetermined frequency to the motor 7, and the motor 7 rotates with a predetermined rotational frequency and a predetermined torque. In addition, the control part 80 controls the DC/DC converter 4 and the inverter 6 through a pulse width modulation scheme by performing feedback with respect to a current outputted from the inverter 6 and a voltage of the DC link 5. In
In addition, although the DC/DC converter 4 may have various types, the present invention employs a Buck-Boost converter having a coil 2 and two switches as an example. The inverter 6 may include six switches. Herein, it is natural that the DC link 5 connecting the DC/DC converter 4 to the inverter 6 has at least one mass storage capacitor 5a installed on the DC link 5.
In
An inner loop IL_1 in the block diagram is a control loop for the current icon of the DC/DC converter 4 as generally known and includes a proportional-integral controller 10. In addition, an outer loop (OL) is a control loop for a voltage Vdc of the DC link 5 and includes a proportional-integral controller 10. In addition, another inner loop IL_2 is a control loop for the current iinv of the inverter 6 and includes-a compensator 14. A low pass filter 12 may be installed and used in the compensator 14 for compensating the current iinv of the inverter 6. In
Reference numeral 9 represents a current node receiving a capacitor current reference i*cap and the capacitor current icap. Reference numeral 11 represents a voltage node receiving a battery voltage VB together with a voltage converted from a current through the proportional-integral controller 10.
As shown in
Herein, the block diagram for controlling the voltage of the typical DC link shown in
However, this proportional-integral controller 10 inevitably causes a phase delay due to a time delay of a signal. In addition, the low pass filter 12 used for finding the average 16 of the inverter current inevitably causes a phase delay due to a time delay of a signal.
Accordingly, it is difficult to compensate the instantly changed inverter current iinv. In other words, the current icon of the DC/DC converter 4 does not fully follow the current iinv of the inverter 6 due to phase delays caused the low pass filter 12 and the proportional-integral controller 10, respectively.
In addition, the mass storage capacitor 5a of the DC link 5 must be used due to the disadvantages described above such that the voltage fluctuation ratio is reduced. Accordingly, capacitor installation costs increase, and a wide capacitor installation space is required.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling a voltage of a DC link for an electric vehicle, which can exactly compensate an inverter current without a phase delay, thereby remarkably reducing capacitance of the DC link.
To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a voltage of a DC link in a power system of a vehicle including a battery, a DC/DC converter, the DC link, an inverter, a motor, and a control part controlling the DC/DC converter and the inverter, the method including the steps of installing a compensator in a control loop of the control part such that a DC link current of the DC/DC converter follows a DC link current of the inverter, calculating a predetermined compensation term based on information of the motor inputted into the compensator, and applying the compensation term to a voltage node in the control loop of the control part in the compensator.
Herein, the information of the motor includes a current, a voltage, and a speed of the motor.
In addition, the compensation term is determined through Equation 1.
Herein, s, L, iB, vB, vDC, and iinv denote a Laplacian differential operator, an inductance of a coil installed the DC/DC converter, a battery current, a battery voltage, a voltage of the DC link, and an average of the inverter current.
In addition, the average iinv of the inverter current is obtained through a voltage equation, a phase current equation, and a phase voltage equation of the motor.
In addition, if the compensation term
is input to the voltage node in the control loop of the control part, the inverter current iinv is equal to the current icon of the DC/DC converter through Equation 2, so that the capacitor current icap of the DC link can be zero.
In addition, since the battery voltage vB and the DC link voltage vDC are processed as constants in Equation 1, which represents the compensation term, a differential value of the iinv for a time must be found in order to calculate the compensation term.
The average iinv of the inverter current is given as
by an equation relating to power. Herein, the vdsr, idsr, vqsr, and iqsr denote a d-phase stator voltage, a d-phase current, a q-phase stator voltage, and a q-phase current of a motor. If the average current iinv of the inverter is differentiated with respect to time, a differential value of the average current iinv is obtained through Equation 3.
In the differential value
of the average of the inverter current, the values
approach values shown in Equation 4 and Equation 5 through an Euler method, respectively.
Herein, the Ts and the K denote a PWM period (or, a sampling period) and an integer, respectively. In the differential value
of the average current of the inverter, the values
are obtained through Equation 6 and Equation 7, which are a voltage equation for a permanent magnetic synchronization motor.
Herein, the Ld, Lq, Rs wr and φm denote a d-phase inductance, a q-phase inductance, a stator resistance, a rotator speed, and a rotator magnetic flux of a motor, respectively. The d-phase current ids r of the synchronization motor is controlled as zero at a rated speed.
Equations 4 to 7 are substituted for Equation 3, so that the compensator term
is calculated as shown in Equation 8.
In other words, if the compensation term calculated through Equation 8 is applied to a voltage node in the control loop of the control part, the inverter current iinv may be compensated.
As described above, the method for controlling a voltage of a DC link for an electric vehicle according to the present invention does not allow a low pass filter and a proportional-integral controller employed for the method for controlling a voltage of the typical DC link, thereby preventing a phase delay due to a time delay.
In addition, according to the present invention, a current icon a DC/DC converter fully follows an inverter current iinv, so that a current icap of a capacitor of a DC link becomes zero. Therefore, it is possible to reduce greatly capacitance of the DC link as compared with the method for controlling a voltage of the typical DC link. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce capacitor installation costs, a capacitor volume, and a capacitor weight.
In addition, according to the present invention, since an average inverter current is obtained using a phase voltage and a phase current applied to a motor and a voltage equation of the motor instead of using a hall sensor and a low pass filter employed for the conventional technique, it is possible to omit the hall sensor for measuring a DC link current and the low pass filter differently from the conventional method. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce costs caused by the installation of the hall sensor and the low pass filter.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in such a manner that those skilled in the art (e.g., a field for controlling a voltage of a DC link among power systems of an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle) can easily realize the present invention. In the following description and drawings, the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar components, and so repetition of the description on the same or similar components will be omitted.
Hereinafter, brief description about the spirit of the present invention will be given prior to the detailed description of the present invention. According to the present invention, in an electric vehicle, or a hybrid vehicle, a control part is designed in such a manner that a DC link current of a DC/DC converter fully follows a DC link current of an inverter, based on the fact that, if a DC link current of the DC/DC converter is equal to a DC link current of the inverter in a power system including the DC/DC converter and the inverter, a current flowing toward a capacitor of a DC link becomes zero (0), so that a voltage fluctuation ratio of the DC link does not exist even though a DC link capacitor having low capacitance is installed.
In order to realize the control part, a compensator must be installed in a current control loop of the converter controller, and a frequency response must be quickly achieved. For this reason, the conventional compensation method employing the low pass filter is not efficiency. According to the present invention, a notional differentiator is realized based on variables such as a current, a voltage, and a speed of a motor, and a result for the compensation term is applied to a voltage node instead of a current node in a control loop of a converter controller, thereby suggesting a compensation method having a speedy response. Thus, it is possible to actually reduce capacitance of a DC link.
A method for controlling a voltage of a DC link for an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle according to the present invention is realized in a vehicle power system including a battery 1, a DC/DC converter 4, a DC link 5, an inverter 6, a motor 7, and a control part 80 for controlling the DC/DC converter 4 and the inverter 6. Since the circuit structure of the vehicle power system realized through hardware described above is shown in a schematic view of
Sequentially,
As shown in
An inner loop IL_1 in the block diagram is a control loop for the current icon of the DC/DC converter 4 as shown in
Reference numeral 18 represents a current node receiving a capacitor current reference {dot over (i)}cap and a capacitor current icap. Reference numeral 20 represents a voltage node receiving a battery voltage VB and a compensation term while receiving a voltage converted from a current through the proportional-integral controller 19.
As described above, conventionally, the compensation term is supplied to the current node 18, so that the compensation term passes through the proportional-integral controller 19. Thus, a phase delay is caused. However, according to the present invention, the compensation term generated by the compensator 21 is directly supplied to the voltage node 20 instead of the current node 18 as shown in
In
Herein, s, L, iB, VB, vDc, and iinv denote a Laplacian dfferential operator, an inductance of the coil 2, the current of the battery 1, the voltage of the battery 1, the voltage of the DC link 5, and an average of the inverter current flowing toward the inverter 6, respectively.
Accordingly, the compensator 21 requires the differential value {dot over (i)}inv of the inverter current. However, the inverter current iinv has a typical pulse type as shown in
In addition, if the compensation term
is supplied to the voltage node 20 shown in
In other words, since the current icon of the DC/DC converter 4 fully follows the current iinv of the inverter 6, the current icap of the capacitor 5a in the DC link 5 becomes zero.
The calculation of the compensation term from the compensator 21 shown in
The average current iinv of the inverter 6 may be obtained using information about a phase current and a phase voltage of the IPM motor. The average current iinv of the inverter 6 is obtained as
Herein, vdsr, idsr, vqsr, and iqsr denote a d-phase stator voltage, a d-phase current, a q-phase stator voltage, and a q-phase current. When the average current iinv of the inverter is differentiated with respect to time, a differential value of the average current iinv is obtained through Equation 3.
In Equation 3 representing the differential value {dot over (i)}dsr of the average current of the inverter, the values {dot over (v)}dsr and {dot over (v)}qsr approach values shown in Equation 4 and Equation 5 through an Euler method, respectively.
Herein, the Ts and the K denote a PWM period (or, a sampling period) and an integer, respectively. In Equation 3 representing the differential value {dot over (i)}inv of the average current of the inverter, the values {dot over (i)}dsr and {dot over (i)}qsr are obtained through Equation 6 and Equation 7, which are voltage equations for a permanent magnetic synchronization motor.
Herein, Ld, Lq, Rs wr and φm denote a d-phase inductance, a q-phase inductance, a stator resistance, a rotator speed, and a rotator magnetic flux of a motor, respectively. The d-phase current idsr of the synchronization motor is controlled as zero at a rated speed.
Equations 4 to 7 are substituted for Equation 3, so that the compensator term
is calculated as shown in Equation 8.
In other words, if the compensation term calculated through Equation 8 is applied to a voltage node in the control loop of the control part, the inverter current iinv may be compensated.
As described above, according to the present invention, the compensator 21 is used for compensating the inverter current iinv recognized as disturbance. The compensation term calculated in the compensator 21 is supplied to the voltage node 20 in order to prevent a phase delay caused by a proportional-integral controller through the conventional method for controlling a voltage of a typical DC link. In addition, differently from the conventional technique, a differential value for the average of the inverter current required when the compensation term is calculated is obtained using a phase voltage and a phase current applied to the motor 7 and a voltage equation of the motor. In other words, it is possible to avoid a time delay caused by a low pass filter through the conventional method for controlling a voltage of the typical DC link. Thus, differently from the conventional method for controlling a voltage of the typical DC link, since it is possible to quickly compensate the inverter current, it is possible to reduce capacitance of a DC link.
As described above, the method for controlling a voltage of a DC link for an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle according to the present invention can prevent phase delays caused by a low pass filter and a proportional-integral controller through the conventional method for controlling a voltage of the typical DC link.
In addition, according to the present invention, a current icon of the DC/DC converter fully follows an inverter current iinv, so that a current icap of the capacitor of the DC link becomes zero. Therefore, it is possible to more largely reduce capacitance of the DC link as compared with the conventional method for controlling a voltage of the typical DC link. Accordingly, it is natural that it is possible to reduce capacitor installation costs, a capacitor volume, and a capacitor weight.
In addition, according to the present invention, since an average of the inverter current is obtained using a phase voltage and a phase current applied to a motor and a voltage equation of the motor, it is unnecessary to install a hall sensor and a low pass filter employed for the conventional technique. Therefore, it is possible to reduce costs caused by the installation of the hall sensor and the low pass filter.
The method for controlling a voltage of a DC link for an electric vehicle according to the present invention described above represents just one embodiment, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Consequently, the scope of the invention should not be limited to the embodiment, but should be defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-0110370 | Nov 2005 | KR | national |