The present disclosure generally relates to systems, components, and methods for permanent magnet-free motor design, construction, and control. Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to inventive and unconventional systems related to traction applications for transportation and industrial applications.
Permanent Magnets (“PMs”) are widely used in traction electric motors to replace field windings in the salient rotors, which produce static magnetic fields. Since PMs are compact compared to wound field coils, higher power densities have been achieved by using PMs, and copper losses in the field coils have been eliminated. However, PM motor technologies have several disadvantages. One problem is that field-weakening for high-speed control cannot be performed without sacrificing efficiency and risking demagnetization. PMs also produce fixed, unidirectional fields which cannot be manipulated to shape flux path. Additionally, PMs often use rare earth elements whose availability is severely limited to only a few countries, leading to high costs and availability risks. During fault conditions, motors which use PMs may produce uncontrollable open-circuit back-EMFs that risk power converters and safety, especially at high rotor speeds. Locating PMs on the rotor also has problems such as bonding issues in manufacturing and might limit the motor to lower permissible running speeds. Emerging stator-PM machines rely on excessive PMs to achieve high torque density, and torque improvement is constrained by saturation of magnetic core, and further torque density improvements by increasing stator current is not feasible.
Therefore, there is a need for improved systems, components, and methods for motor control. The present disclosure describes systems, components, and methods that overcome the shortcomings of rotor mounted PMs in traditional motor topologies by replacing them with stator mounted electromagnets. By adopting this architecture, dependency on critical rare earth elements is eliminated; fine regulation of flux-weakening via decreasing the field excitation current leads to a wide constant power range performance; inherent fault protection by disabling field excitation using power electronic field drive converters to collapse the back emf; and high-speed rotor operations are made possible by using a simple laminated steel rotor without any permanent magnets, resulting in power density improvements of up to four times over state-of-the-art technologies, translating into weight and cost reduction.
The disclosed systems, components, and methods for permanent magnet-free motor control are directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.
One aspect of the present disclosure may be directed to a system for driving a motor, the system comprising: a motor including: a rotor; and a stator including a plurality of stator phase coils and a plurality of electromagnets, the plurality of electromagnets being inter-dispersed with the plurality of stator phase coils, wherein the motor is configured to produce a first plurality of motor signals. In an embodiment, a controller, coupled to the motor to receive the first plurality of motor signals, may be configured to: produce a first plurality of control signals to a drive inverter and a DC-DC converter to affect at least one phase current delivered to at least one of the plurality of stator phase coils and an at least one excitation current delivered to at least one of the plurality of electromagnets.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a method for driving a motor, the method comprising: coupling a controller to a motor including: a rotor; and a stator including a plurality of stator phase coils and a plurality of electromagnets, the plurality of electromagnets being inter-dispersed with the plurality of stator phase coils. The method may include producing, with the motor, a first plurality of motor signals. The method may also include producing, with the controller, a first plurality of control signals to a drive inverter and a DC-DC converter to affect at least one phase current delivered to at least one of the plurality of stator phase coils and an at least one excitation current delivered to at least one of the plurality of electromagnets.
Yet another aspect of the present disclosure is directed to an n-phase electric motor comprising: a rotor; and a stator, the stator including: a plurality of stator phase coils and a plurality of electromagnets, the plurality of electromagnets being inter-dispersed with the plurality of stator phase coils. The plurality of electromagnets may be configured to produce a circumferential flux in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction based on a DC excitation current and the plurality of stator phase coils is configured to modulate the circumferential flux density.
Other systems, methods, and components are also discussed herein.
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar parts. While several illustrative embodiments are described herein, modifications, adaptations and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the components and steps illustrated in the drawings, and the illustrative methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, removing, or adding steps to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description is not limited to the disclosed embodiments and examples. Instead, the proper scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.
Prior known systems and methods for driving a motor involved using a permanent magnet on a rotor. Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems, components, and methods configured to drive a motor by (1) relocating the magnets from rotor to stator, (2) simplifying rotor & stator construction with the use of modular cores and (2) partially or completely eliminating the use of permanent magnets (PM) by replacing them with electromagnets. For ease of discussion, an example system for driving a motor is described below with the understanding that aspects of the example system apply equally to methods and components.
Disclosed embodiments may include an n-phase electric motor comprising: a rotor; and a stator, the stator including: a plurality of stator phase coils and a plurality of electromagnets, the plurality of electromagnets being inter-dispersed with the plurality of stator phase coils; wherein the plurality of electromagnets is configured to produce a circumferential flux in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction based on a DC excitation current and the plurality of stator phase coils is configured to modulate the circumferential flux density.
An n-phase electric motor may be a device that converts electrical energy into mechanical motion through the use of rotating magnetic fields. The motor may be of the radial flux type, or axial flux, or a hybrid combination of both. Motors of this topology may be driven by a combination of inverters for phase current control and DC-DC converters for field current control.
In some embodiments, the motor may include electromagnets placed inter-dispersed with stator phase coils of the n-phase motor, as shown in
In the configuration shown in
In the illustrated cross-section view of the motor in
The variations shown in
In some embodiments, the motor construction and operation may also be of the axial flux type. In the axial flux topology, several variations are possible, such as single stator and single rotor; single stator and dual rotor; and dual stator and dual rotor. In some embodiments, similar to the radial flux motor, a hybrid version in which some permanent magnets are replaced by electromagnets (DC field windings) may be realized in which the DC field coils are selectively energized for time-limited enhanced torque production.
Disclosed embodiments may include a system for driving a motor, the system comprising: a motor including: a rotor; and a stator including a plurality of stator phase coils and a plurality of electromagnets, the plurality of electromagnets being inter-dispersed with the plurality of stator phase coils; wherein the motor is configured to produce a first plurality of motor signals; and a controller, coupled to the motor to receive the first plurality of motor signals, configured to: produce a first plurality of control signals to a drive inverter and a DC-DC converter to affect at least one phase current delivered to at least one of the plurality of stator phase coils and an at least one excitation current delivered to at least one of the plurality of electromagnets.
The controller may include one or more processors as well as a memory medium(s) coupled to the processor(s) on which one or more computer programs or software components may be stored. As used herein, “processors” may include processor cores or processing chips. For example, a programmable controller with multiple processors may include a single processing chip with multiple cores (e.g., 2, 4, 8, etc.) or may include multiple processing chips (e.g., multiple central processing units), where each processing chip includes one or more processors. Multiple processors may refer to any combination of chips and cores. The memory medium may store one or more programs which are executable to perform the methods described herein. In some embodiments, the controller may include a microcontroller, or any other compact integrated circuit designed to govern a specific operation in an embedded system. The microcontroller may be programmable. In other embodiments, the controller may include a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or any other semiconductor device that is based around a matrix of configurable logic blocks (CLBs) connected via programmable interconnects. The FPGA may be reprogrammed to application or functionality requirements corresponding to the functions disclosed herein after manufacturing.
As shown in
In some embodiments, the controller may determine the phase currents and DC field current, based on speed and torque references, and measured speed and torque values. In PM machines, the generated electromagnetic torque is a function of the number of rotor poles, direct and quadrature inductances, stator current values, and permanent magnet flux. In such PM machines, an increase in commanded torque is realized only by increasing the magnitude of stator phase currents through the machine. However, in the embodiments disclosed herein, the generated electromagnetic torque may be a function of the number of rotor poles, direct and quadrature inductances, stator current values, and the DC field coil current., as shown in the following equation. The following equation provides an example of one implementation of a torque function. Other implementations may include additional variables or remove certain variables. Certain other implementations may include other non-idealities or nonlinearities, or remove certain non-idealities or nonlinearities.
where To is the output electromagnetic torque, Po is the output power, ωm is the angular velocity, P is the number of poles, ide and iqe are direct and quadrature axis currents obtained through abc-dq transformation, Ldde and Lqqe are direct and quadrature axis inductances, and λdc is the flux linkage due to the current in the electromagnetic field windings.
In some embodiments, in addition to the stator current as a variable, the DC field coil current may also be available to regulate the torque. An increase in electromagnetic torque requirement may accomplished by regulating phase currents (using the multi-phase inverter) and DC field currents (using the field current DC-DC converter) in optimized proportions, resulting maximum operating efficiency. Locating the DC field coils in the stator may allow for high bandwidth control of the field flux, enabling fast and dynamic control of the machine's electromagnetic torque. In other motor architectures such as interior permanent magnet motors, replacing the PMs-in-the-rotor with electromagnets-in-the-rotor requires field delivery mechanisms like brushes, slip rings, inductive wireless power transmitters, or capacitive wireless power transmitters. The control bandwidth available in those implementations would be limited by the field delivery mechanisms and as such, would also limit the dynamic torque performance of the system.
When the motor enters the high speeds of the constant power region, field weakening may be used to minimize the back emf voltages at the terminals of the stator. In embodiments disclosed herein, this can be readily accomplished by modulating the DC field coil current via the DC-DC power converter. A PM machine relies only on injection of stator currents whose phase difference with the motor back emf varies with the operating speed. The embodiments disclosed herein, in addition to the stator current phase angle method, may also use the modulation of DC field coil current to weaken the field.
Disclosed embodiments may include a method for driving a motor, the method comprising: coupling a controller to a motor including: a rotor; and a stator including a plurality of stator phase coils and a plurality of electromagnets, the plurality of electromagnets being inter-dispersed with the plurality of stator phase coils; producing, with the motor, a first plurality of motor signals; and producing, with the controller, a first plurality of control signals to a drive inverter and a DC-DC converter to affect at least one phase current delivered to at least one of the plurality of stator phase coils and an at least one excitation current delivered to at least one of the plurality of electromagnets.
While the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to particular embodiments thereof, it will be understood that the present disclosure can be practiced, without modification, in other environments. The foregoing description has been presented for purposes of illustration. It is not exhaustive and is not limited to the precise forms or embodiments disclosed. Other embodiments may include radial flux motors with dual (inner and outer) rotors, axial flux motors with one stator and one rotor, stacked axial flux motors with multiple stators and multiple rotors connected together. Modifications and adaptations will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosed embodiments.
Computer programs based on the written description and disclosed methods are within the skill of an experienced developer. Various programs or program modules can be created using any of the techniques known to one skilled in the art or can be designed in connection with existing software. For example, program sections or program modules can be designed in or by means of .Net Framework, .Net Compact Framework (and related languages, such as Visual Basic, C, etc.), Java, C++, Objective-C, HTML, HTML/AJAX combinations, XML, or HTML with included Java applets. Program sections or program modules may also be designed in or by means of Integrated Design Environments prescribed or provided by commercially available microcontroller, processor, or field programmable gate array manufacturers.
Moreover, while illustrative embodiments have been described herein, the scope of any and all embodiments having equivalent elements, modifications, omissions, combinations (e.g., of aspects across various embodiments), adaptations and/or alterations as would be appreciated by those skilled in the art based on the present disclosure. The limitations in the claims are to be interpreted broadly based on the language employed in the claims and not limited to examples described in the present specification or during the prosecution of the application. The examples are to be construed as non-exclusive. Furthermore, the steps of the disclosed methods may be modified in any manner, including by reordering steps and/or inserting or deleting steps. It is intended, therefore, that the specification and examples be considered as illustrative only, with a true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims and their full scope of equivalents.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/327,158 filed Apr. 4, 2022, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63327158 | Apr 2022 | US |