Field oriented control (FOC) is increasingly being used in consumer and industrial PMSM control for fans, pumps, compressors, geared motors, etc. To further increase energy efficiency at the lowest cost, more and more new functions (e.g., digital power conversion, digital power factor correction (PFC), FOC control of multiple motors in air-con) need to be handled by one single microcontroller. But existing FOC control strategies are complicated and processor-intensive, impeding more microcontroller power from being allocated to those complex new system functions.
For highly dynamic loading (e.g., motors for electric propulsion, compressors), a fast and accurate FOC control loop is needed to control motor currents and voltages to consistently maintain maximum efficiency. But existing FOC has complex transformations in the critical control loop, making it inaccurate and relatively slow.
New microcontrollers include more and more features and peripherals (e.g., human machine interface (HMI), communications) in order to excel in the intensely fierce competition. However, existing FOC control strategies tend to overburden the microcontrollers, hindering the full use of their potential and features in complex applications with FOC motor controls.
The description herein is made with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are generally utilized to refer to like elements throughout, and wherein the various structures are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to facilitate understanding. It may be evident, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more aspects described herein may be practiced with a lesser degree of these specific details. In other instances, known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to facilitate understanding.
To address some of the above mentioned shortcomings, the present disclosure proposes optimized sensored and sensorless FOC control strategies without a computation-intensive Inverse Park Transform. The new control strategies have an optimized and faster control loop, and decreased CPU time utilization. In complex applications with FOC motor control, the new strategies will boost the performance of the microcontrollers and the whole system.
The existing FOC transforms three phase signals into two rotor-fix signals and vice-versa with complex Cartesian reference frame transformations (e.g., Park Transform and Inverse Park Transform) in the control loop which is supposed to be fast. These reference frame transformations are computation-intensive and are inclined to introduce extra calculation errors, resulting in a slow current control loop and a poor response to dynamic motor loads, and make it difficult to handle more composite system functions (e.g., digital PFC, multiple FOC motor controls, digital power conversion) with only one single microcontroller.
Normally, existing FOC for PMSMs uses a Clarke Transform to transform 3-phase currents Iu, Iv, and/or Iw 11 measured by an analog to digital converter (ADC) 14 (ADC conversion can be triggered by a pulse width modulation (PWM) unit 16) to a stationary α-β reference frame as Iα and Iβ18 (which are sinusoidal signals in steady state). Then a Park Transform 20 is used to transform Iα and Iβ18 to another rotating d-q coordinate system as Id and Iq 22, respectively. Id and Iq are feedback signals of the FOC control loop and are almost constants at steady state. Proportional-integral (PI) controllers 24, 26, 27 are used for speed and current controls separately, to achieve controllable motor speed, torque and air gap flux. In general, the flux generating component Id is controlled to 0. It is also possible to control Id to negative values (i.e., a flux-weakening control) to extend the operating speed range of PMSMs. The speed PI controller 27 has an output 28 that provides the reference current for the torque generating component Iq. The current PI controllers 24, 26 output desired voltages Vd and Vq the motor phases should generate in the d-q reference frame. Here Vd and Vq are almost constants in steady state. An Inverse Park Transform 30 is used to transform resultant voltages Vd and Vq to the stationary α-β reference frame as Vα and Vβ32, which are sinusoidal signals in steady state. The amplitude and angle of voltage vector (Vα, Vβ) are the reference voltage for the space vector modulator (SVM) 34, which is used for the control of the PWM unit 16 to create 3-phase waveform outputs from the 3-phase 2-level voltage inverter 12 to drive the motor phases uvw 36. The Cartesian to Polar Transform 38 can be neglected if the microcontroller is not good at such calculation, instead the voltages Vα and Vβ are sent to the SVM modulator 34 directly. The ADC value of the inverter DC link voltage VDC (normally a voltage divider is needed) is also obtained regularly for SVM calculations.
The rotor position is obtained from a rotor position sensor 40 (such as an encoder, a resolver, Hall sensors, etc.) for sensored FOC, or a position estimator for sensorless FOC (see
The present disclosure proposes optimized sensored and sensorless FOC control strategies without an Inverse Park Transform to solve the above-mentioned problems. Table 1 compares the mathematical transformations used in conventional FOC and the proposed new FOC control strategies.
The new FOC control strategies use magnitude and angle to represent the voltage space vector in polar coordinate systems, so that the complex Inverse Park Transform with sine and cosine functions, which are crucial in conventional FOC, can be replaced by a simple addition of angles while keeping the space vector magnitudes unchanged. The addition of angles can be computed precisely and instantly (an addition operation can be done within only one, or a few system clocks with current microcontrollers). It will be shown below that the addition of angles consumes almost zero CPU time if using a controller such as, for example, Infineon microcontrollers with CORDIC coprocessors.
Without the Inverse Park Transform, the system can optimize and speed-up the FOC fast control loop, which will benefit the FOC motor control with highly dynamic loading (such as a compressor or motor for electric propulsion). It also reduces CPU load and saves precious CPU time for other purposes (e.g., digital PFC, multiple FOC motor drive, HMI, communications) in sophisticated systems, hence the microcontroller's potential and features can be used sufficiently. Conversely, with optimized FOC, users could select a microcontroller with less computation power and lower cost to accomplish FOC motor controls of the same quality.
It is worth noting that the transformations solving vector magnitudes and arctangent functions for the new FOC are well suited for many microcontrollers, for example, Infineon microcontrollers with hardware CORDIC coprocessors to achieve decreased CPU time utilization. The new FOC control strategies efficiently use the advantages of CORDIC coprocessors and showcase the prominent features of Infineon microcontrollers.
One aspect of the disclosure, i.e., optimized sensored and sensorless FOC control strategies for PMSM, is the manipulation of the voltage space vector in polar coordinate systems so that Inverse Park Transform, which is essential for conventional FOC, can be replaced by simple addition of angles. Note the voltage space vector magnitudes in the stationary and rotating coordinate systems are the same. Without an Inverse Park Transform, the fast control loop of FOC is optimized. If one uses Infineon microcontrollers with CORDIC coprocessors, for example, more optimizations for the proposed new FOC control strategies can be implemented.
In the disclosure below, proposed new FOC control strategies are highlighted with a detailed description of FOC coordinate systems, space vectors, PI controller, SVM, rotor position determination, and CORDIC of the new FOC control strategies.
New sensored and sensorless FOC without an Inverse Park Transform are shown in
Table 2 lists the equations of the transformations used. Compared to conventional FOC, an addition of angles θ=Θ+φ replaces the Inverse Park Transform, so the fast current control loop becomes more simple and hence faster. Also, in sensorless FOC a Polar to Cartesian Transform is used in the slow control loop to generate Vα and Vβ for the position estimator. The Polar to Cartesian Transform can also be omitted in one embodiment for position estimators that need the magnitude |Vref| and angle θ of the voltage space vector as input signals. Other parts of the optimized FOC control strategies are almost the same as the conventional FOC described supra.
The speed PI controller output 135 is the reference for the Iq PI controller 123. The rotor position 139 and speed calculations 141 from a position sensor 142, speed PI control 143 are the slow control loop. Note that in sensorless control as shown in
A simple addition of angles θ=Θ+φ at 127 accomplishes the transformation from the rotating coordinate system back to the stationary coordinate system, doing the same job of an Inverse Park Transform 30 of existing FOC (see
To provide the highest performance for both sensored and sensorless FOC as shown in
To speed-up the fast current control loop and save CPU time, the Park Transform 119 can also be calculated according to one embodiment by a CORDIC coprocessor of an Infineon microcontroller, while the CPU performs other computations of the system.
For sensorless FOC as illustrated in
The coordinate systems of a 3-phase 2-pole PMSM motor for FOC are shown below in Table 3 and
3-phase 120° separated currents Iu, Iv and Iw of motor stator windings will generate three non-rotating but pulsating magnetic fields in u, v and w directions respectively, resulting in a rotating magnetic field (stator flux space vector). Coincidently, vector addition of Iu, Iv and Iw gives a current space vector {right arrow over (I)} (its magnitude can be scaled down or up but no change of direction) rotating at speed ωi. In stationary α-β reference frame, {right arrow over (I)} has Cartesian coordinates Iα and Iβ, as shown in
Similarly, vector addition of 3-phase 120° separated stator phase voltages gives a rotating voltage space vector. Also, rotating rotor permanent magnet generates a rotating rotor magnetic flux space vector.
One advantage of the optimized sensored and sensorless FOC control strategies of
where: {right arrow over (I)}—Stator current space vector
{right arrow over (V)}ref—Stator voltage space vector
{right arrow over (Ψ)}s—Stator magnetic flux space vector, {right arrow over (Ψ)}s=L{right arrow over (I)}
L—Stator winding inductance per phase
{right arrow over (Ψ)}r—Rotor permanent magnet(s) flux space vector. Its magnitude Ψr can be derived from voltage constant, speed constant or torque constant in motor specifications
φ—Rotor electrical position
Θ—Angle of voltage space vector in rotating Od polar coordinate system
θ—Angle of voltage space vector in stationary Ou polar coordinate system, θ=Θ+φ
PI controllers are used for the rotor speed, Id/Iq current controls. A PI controller is a special case of the PID controller in which the derivative of the error is not used. A PI controller 160 is shown in
where: e—error signal, it is reference value minus feedback value
Kp—Proportional gain
Ki—Integral gain
t—Instantaneous time
T—Variable of integration; takes on values from time 0 to the present time t.
I(t)—Integral term
U(t)—Controller output
A digital implementation of it in a microcontroller can be
I(k)=Kie(k)+I(k−1) (2)
U(k)=Kpe(k)+I(k) (3)
Both I and U in Equations (2) and (3) have minimum and maximum limits to avoid the unwanted windup situation (anti-windup).
The connection of a 3-phase 2-level voltage source inverter 132 and a motor 134 are shown in
To avoid short-circuit of DC link voltage, the inverter has only eight possible switching voltage vectors as shown in the following
Using the voltage space vector in Sector A as an example, the following shows the calculation. Using volt second balancing:
Solving the equation we have
where: Ts—Sampling period
T0—Time of zero vector(s) is applied. The zero vector(s) can be {right arrow over (V)}0[000], {right arrow over (V)}7[111], or both
T1—Time of active vector {right arrow over (V)}1 is applied within one sampling period
T2—Time of active vector {right arrow over (V)}2 is applied within one sampling period
VDC—Inverter DC link voltage
Equations (6) and (7) can be calculated with different methods, e.g., use a look-up table for a sine function from 0 to 60° in microcontroller memory, or be calculated by the CORDIC coprocessor of an Infineon microcontroller, etc.
There are many SVM schemes (e.g., symmetrical or asymmetrical 7-segment schemes, symmetrical or asymmetrical 5-segment scheme, and 3-segment scheme) that result in different quality and computational requirements. SVM scheme can be selected based on microcontroller features and application requirements.
In sensored FOC, the position sensor (such as encoder, resolver, Hall sensors, etc) provides the information of rotor position. In sensorless FOC, the rotor position can be extracted from rotor magnetic flux (to be elaborated below), BEMF, position estimator with PLL structure, or others.
An equivalent circuit of the electrical subsystem of a PMSM is shown in
where: R—Stator winding resistance per phase
R{right arrow over (I)}—Voltage drop on the stator winding resistor
L—Stator winding inductance per phase
d{right arrow over (Ψ)}s/dt—Electromotive force induced by time-varying stator magnetic flux,
d{right arrow over (Ψ)}r/dr—Electromotive force induced by rotating and hence time-varying rotor magnetic flux.
All the terms of Equation (9) are depicted in
{right arrow over (Ψ)}r=∫0t({right arrow over (V)}ref−R{right arrow over (I)})dt−L{right arrow over (I)} (10)
Project both sides of Equation (10) to stationary α-β axes to get the coordinates of rotor flux space vector
Ψrα=∫0t(Vα−RIα)dt−LIα (11)
Ψrβ=∫0t(Vβ−RIβ)dt−LIβ (12)
Iα and Iβ are real-time measured and calculated current values. Vα and Vβ are last control cycle calculation results and presently applying to the motor phases. The integrations shown in Equations (11) and (12) can be simplified by replacing the integrations by low pass filters with a very low cut-off frequency. So the rotor position can be calculated by knowing the motor parameters R and L. The flux position estimator is
The rotor electrical speed is
The proposed optimized FOC control strategies are well suited for Infineon microcontrollers that have hardware CORDIC coprocessors, e.g., 8-bit microcontrollers XC83x, XC88x and XC87x, and 32-bit microcontrollers XMC130x. The following Table 5 gives examples of CORDIC computations that could be used in the optimized FOC control strategies.
where K ≈ 1.64676 MPS − X and Y magnitude prescaler, e.g.: MPS = 1, 2, or 4, depending on microcontroller register setting 1). To solve the Cartesian to Polar Transform, set X = Vd/K, Y = Vq/K, Z = 0. 2). Set Z = φ to calculate Cartesian to Polar Transform and angle addition with one single CORDIC calculation
Addition of Angles: θ = Θ + φ
For sensorless FOC as shown in
This new FOC control strategy of
For the new sensored FOC without Inverse Park Transform as shown in
Simplifying the equation we can get a new uvw to d-q Transform 160 as shown below
where: K1—Scaling factor and K1=2/√{square root over (3)}, which can be neglected here (i.e., make K1=1). The scaling factor 2/√{square root over (3)} can be combined with other scaling factors of the control strategy (e.g., current sensing and amplification, analog-to-digital conversion, etc).
If a look-up table for sine functions is employed in one embodiment, the calculation time for one single new uvw to d-q Transform 160 shown in Equation (16) or (17) will be shorter than the total execution time of the Clarke Transform 115 and the Park Transform 119 in
It will be appreciated that equivalent alterations and/or modifications may occur to those skilled in the art based upon a reading and/or understanding of the specification and annexed drawings. For example, the above examples are discussed in the context of PMSM motors, but the present disclosure is equally applicable for sensored and sensorless FOC control for other AC motors such as Alternating Current Induction Motor (ACIM). The disclosure herein includes all such modifications and alterations and is generally not intended to be limited thereby.
In addition, while a particular feature or aspect may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature or aspect may be combined with one or more other features and/or aspects of other implementations as may be desired. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes”, “having”, “has”, “with”, and/or variants thereof are used herein, such terms are intended to be inclusive in meaning—like “comprising.” Also, “exemplary” is merely meant to mean an example, rather than the best. It is also to be appreciated that features, layers and/or elements depicted herein are illustrated with particular dimensions and/or orientations relative to one another for purposes of simplicity and ease of understanding, and that the actual dimensions and/or orientations may differ substantially from that illustrated herein.
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