Patent Grant
9347452
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to European Patent Application No. 11160573.9 filed in Europe on Mar. 31, 2011, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to fans, such as fans controlled with a frequency converter.
Fans are widely used appliances in industrial and service sector. They can be important components in production processes, and a failure of a fan system can cause significant production losses and hazards to worker safety. In addition to their importance in production processes, fan systems consume vast amounts of electrical energy. One sixth of the electricity consumed in electrical motors is consumed by fan systems in the industrial sector, and over one fourth in the service sector.
The use of frequency converters in the control of fan systems has become common, and will increase in the future, because of the efficiency benefits of rotational speed control. Frequency converters can also produce estimates of the state of the motor, including shaft mechanical torque and rotational speed, based on the motor model and internal current and voltage measurements. With the help of fan parameters provided by the fan manufacturers, these estimates can be used to determine the operating point of a fan (i.e., the produced flow rate and pressure).
Stalling phenomenon is one of the most common harmful events occurring in a fan, and it can reduce the service life and reliability of a fan. There is equipment available for reducing the risk of a fan stall, for example, by altering the upstream flow, but no known method for detecting a stall occurrence in a fan without the use of external measurements.
An exemplary method of determining stall of a fan is disclosed, when the fan is controlled with a frequency converter having means for providing a rotational speed estimate of the fan and torque estimate of the fan and when the characteristic curves of the fan are known, the method comprising: estimating rotational speed (n) of the fan; estimating torque (T) of the fan; transferring the characteristic curves of the fan to the estimated rotational speed (n) of the fan; determining a stall region of the fan from the characteristic curves; determining an operating point of the fan from the estimated rotational speed (n) and the estimated torque (T) using the characteristic curves; calculating RMS values of the low frequency components of the torque and rotational speed estimates (TRMS, nRMS); combining the calculated RMS values of the low frequency components of the torque and rotational speed estimates (TRMS, nRMS) for obtaining a low frequency parameter (S); and determining an occurrence of stall when at least one of the operating point of the fan is in the stalling region and when the low frequency parameter (S) is above a set limit.
An exemplary system of determining stall of a fan is disclosed, when the fan is controlled with a frequency converter having means for providing a rotational speed estimate of the fan and a torque estimate of the fan and when characteristic curves of the fan are known, the system comprising: means for estimating rotational speed (n) of the fan; means for estimating torque (T) of the fan; means for transferring the characteristic curves of the fan to the estimated rotational speed (n) of the fan; means for determining a stall region of the fan in the characteristic curves; means for determining an operation point of the fan from the estimated rotational speed (n) and the estimated torque (T) using the characteristic curves; means for calculating RMS values of low frequency components of the torque and rotational speed estimates (TRMS, nRMS); means for combining the calculated RMS values of the low frequency components of the torque and rotational speed estimates (TRMS, nRMS) for obtaining a low frequency parameter (S); and means for determining an occurrence of stall when at least one of the operation point of the fan is in the stalling region and the low frequency parameter (S) is above a set limit.
In the following the disclosure will be described in greater detail by means of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and arrangement for implementing the method so as to solve the above problem relating to the detection of stalling.
The exemplary embodiments described herein use disclosure estimates provided by a frequency converter driving the fan and characteristic curves of the fan. A frequency converter produces estimates for the shaft torque and rotational speed of the motor connected to the fan. These estimates are later referred to as the fan torque estimate and the fan rotational speed estimate. This information can be used for determining the operation point location of the fan. When the operating point of the fan is in the stalling region or when low-frequency variations in power are detected, the stalling of a fan is probable. According to an exemplary embodiment, both above indications are combined for more accurate determination of the stall.
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are advantageous because the fan stalling can be estimated accurately without any additional sensors or measurements. If the stall condition is detected, the fan can be controlled to another operating point so that stalling of the fan does not wear or break the fan or any other structures relating to the fan.
The operating point location of a fan can be determined by the flow rate and pressure produced by the fan (Qv and p, respectively). The operating point can be estimated using the rotational speed estimate nest and torque estimate Test and the fan curves published by the manufacturer. This method is known and will be referred to as the QP calculation. The operating point can be used to asses the energy efficiency of a fan system and to decide, if a fan is susceptible to stall.
The stall phenomenon is said to cause the following, among other things pulsating airflow noise and system ducts that seem to breathe in response to the pressure variations. These phenomena are assumed to produce low frequency time domain variation (e.g. 0-2 Hz) in the power consumption of the fan. It has been noticed that these variations in power can be found in the estimates of torque and rotational speed of a frequency converter. The magnitudes and relations of the variations depend on the characteristics of the fan system and internal control structure of the frequency converter.
QP calculation and monitoring of the estimate fluctuation can be utilized for stall detecting individually or together with each other. By combining these two methods the reliability of the diagnosis can be increased compared to the use of the individual methods.
The method of the disclosure is divided into three consecutive functions in the following: the estimation of the fan operating point location, the measurement of the reference value for the low frequency fluctuation of the torque and rotational speed estimates, and determination of the occurrence of stall based on the operation point and/or a measured reference value.
Estimation of the Fan Operating Point Location
The fan operating point location can be continuously estimated utilizing the fan characteristic curves and the rotational speed and torque estimates of the frequency converter (nest and Test, respectively). This method is called the QP calculation. The mechanical power of the fan can be calculated from the torque and rotational speed estimates, when they are known in the rpm and Nm units:
The fan's flow rate to power (Qv, P) and flow rate to pressure (Qv, p) characteristic curves are modified to the current rotational speed with affinity equations.
where Qv is the flow rate, p is the fan pressure, Pmech is the fan's mechanical power consumption, n is the rotational speed, and the subscript 0 denotes the initial values given by the manufacturer. A graphical example of the QP calculation, with these corrected curves, is presented in
The stalling region can be given for a specific rotational speed, and the stall region can be shifted to the right rotational speed with the affinity equations (2)-(4) as shown in
When considering the region where the fan is susceptible to stall, a wider area should be regarded as the avoidable operation region than just the region where the output pressure drops. Under the conditions of
Measurement of Reference Value for Low Frequency Fluctuation of Torque and Rotational Speed Estimates
The RMS values for the low frequency fluctuation of the torque and rotation speed estimates are acquired from a data set that represents the current conditions. This data set can be at least five seconds long with a sufficient sampling frequency and when the fan is operated at a constant torque or rotational speed reference. The RMS values of the low frequency fluctuations of the torque and rotational speed estimates are determined from the estimates without the DC level, which will later be referred to as an unbiased estimate. The unbiased estimate eunbias for variable e can be calculated as
eunbias=e(k)−ē (5)
where e(k) is the estimate and ē is the mean value of the estimate data set. The frequency band for low frequencies can be in a range determined to be from 0 to 2 Hz. This frequency band can be obtained by decimation, filtering or some other kinds of signal conditioning. The filtered estimate will be referred as efiltered. The RMS value of the estimate is calculated as:
where m is the number of samples in the filtered unbiased discrete time set and k is the index of the sample in the set. This RMS value obtained by equation (6) is used for the evaluation of the low frequency estimate fluctuation, which is an indication of stall. Thus the RMS values for torque and rotational speed estimates TRMS, nRMS can be calculated using equation (6).
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, if the operating point of the fan is outside a defined stall region, then the RMS value for the estimate is saved as a reference for the acceptable variation. Both the RMS values for the rotational speed estimate and the torque estimate are saved. When there is more than one measurement, the reference value can be calculated as an arithmetic mean of the measurements.
where m is the number of measurements made.
Once the estimates are obtained, the operating point is determined and it is checked if the operating point of the fan is in the defined stall region 33. If the operating point is in the stall region, the procedure is stopped 36. If, on the other hand the operating point is not in the stall region, values for TRMS and nRMS are calculated 34 according to the equations given above.
Once the operating point of the fan was not in the stall region, the calculated RMS values are used for calculation 35 of reference values of torque and rotational speed as explained above. After the calculation of the reference values the procedure is stopped 36.
Determining the Occurrence of Stall
The function for determining the occurrence of stall utilizes the two functions described before: the estimation of the fan operating point location and the measurement of the reference value for the low frequency fluctuation of the torque and rotational speed estimates.
Firstly, the operating point of the fan is determined, and the operating point is investigated whether or not it is within a stall region of the fan as already explained above. The RMS value of the low frequency estimate fluctuation is calculated, when the rotational speed or torque reference for the frequency controller has remained constant for the time of the measured data set. Secondly, the acquired RMS values are made dimensionless by dividing the RMS values with the reference values for obtaining a low frequency parameter S.
The control system of the frequency converter and its parameters determine, whether the load oscillation caused by stalling is visible as a fluctuation either in the torque or rotational speed estimate, or in both. Thus, in order to make the method less dependent on the control method applied in the converter, a geometric sum of the dimensionless values can be formed.
where S is the variable used for stall detection and nRMS and TRMS are the RMS values of low frequency fluctuation for rotational speed and torque, respectively.
According to an embodiment, the logic for the stall detection takes account of both of the previous mentioned functions to improve the reliability of the method. If the fan is operating in a stall region and S is above its limit value, then the fan is considered as stalling. According to an embodiment, when the fan is operating in a stall region, and the parameter S is below its limit value, the fan is not considered to stall. Otherwise, if the fan is operated outside the stall region, the fan is not considered to stall.
It is up to the user of the fan system to decide if the stall detection is carried out from one indicator (stall region or parameter S) or from both indicators.
As shown in
Other inputs include the estimated operating point 44 and the defined stall region 45. Logic block 46 checks whether or not the operating point is in the stall region. If the operating point falls within the stall region, block 46 outputs 1 as an indication of the possibility of the occurrence of stall. If the operating point is outside the stall region, the output from the block 46 is 0. The output from the block 46 is fed to logical AND block 47.
Once both the used indicators indicate stall, the output from the block 47 is true, and it is determined that the fan is stalling. As mentioned above, the decision for the stall can also be based on only one of the indicators. In
Changes in rotational speed have no significant effect on the RMS values of the low frequency fluctuations of torque or rotational speed. To eliminate the possibility that the changed rotational speed causes erroneous calculation of S, the estimation can be made in the same rotational speed region for which the Treference and nreference have been determined.
This region can be for example±150 rpm wide for a fan with a 2900 rpm nominal rotational speed (i.e., about 10% speed range compared with the nominal speed). If the fan operates on a wide rotational speed region, it might be reasonable to have different Treference and nreference values for different sections of the used rotational speed region.
Evaluation of the Method
The method of the disclosure was tested with a frequency-converter-fed fan system comprising (e.g., consisting of) the components given in Table 1.
The RMS values were calculated from data sets having a duration of 6.4 seconds and a sampling frequency of 500 Hz. Firstly, the DC level (i.e. mean value of each data set) was removed from the estimates. Then the estimates were decimated to the sampling frequency of 60 Hz, and then they were filtered with a discrete-time IIR filter. Finally, the frequency content of the unbiased and filtered estimates was determined by applying a Welch method for the power spectral density estimation. This rise in the estimate low frequency fluctuation in the stalling regions (measurements 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12) was obvious in the measurements. The measurements were conducted with a constant 2700 rpm rotational speed reference and the flow was controlled with a valve.
The low frequency fluctuation RMS values for nRMS and TRMS were calculated from the unbiased and filtered estimates with equation (6). The estimated flow rates for the measurements, the location in the stall region, the variable S and the decision of stall are given in Table 2. The limit value for S was fixed as 2. It can be seen that the algorithm estimates the occurrence of stall correctly, as can be expected.
The algorithm was also tested with data, where the measurements were taken from several separate measurement series. There was approximately a month between the measurement series. As can be seen in Table 3 the method works properly even with measurements that have significant difference in time, and hence difference in environmental conditions. Compared with Table 2 the only difference is in the measurement no. 9 where S was just under the limit value. But as mentioned before, the measurement no. 9 is on the border where the fan either stalls or does not stall depending on the operating conditions.
It should be noted, that the above calculations and the method can be carried out directly in a frequency converter which provides the rotational speed and torque estimates. Frequency converters contain a vast amount of calculation capacity and memory that can be read and written. If the method is carried out in a frequency converter, it can output indication of stall to the process control system of the plant. It is also possible to carry out the operations of the method in another entity than in the frequency converter. In this case the frequency converter provides estimates of the rotational speed and torque to the other entity, which may be a process computer, for example.
Thus, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restricted. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description and all changes that come within the meaning and range and equivalence thereof are intended to be embraced therein.
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