A MOTOR ENERGIZING CIRCUIT

Abstract: Energizing system for a reluctance motor having at least two phases. A sensing and control circuit (1-5) which is constructed to indicate the inductance, or a clearly related magnitude, in the winding in the phase which is next to be energized or activated. The circuit is also constructed to detect the current in the winding in the energized phase and to correct the indicated value of the inductance, or related magnitude, with an operating parameter which has a dependency on the current value in the winding of the energized phase, and to compare this corrected value with a reference value and to utilize the rotational position of the motor rotor, when the corrected value coincides with the reference value, as a starting point for determining a rotational position for changing the energizing state of the phase winding.

Description: A motor energizing circuit The present invention relates to energizing circuit for a reluctance motor of the kind disclosed in the preamble of Claim 1. The most usual manner of controlling commutation from one phase to another in reluctance motors, particularly so- called switched-type drive motors, is to use at least one rotor sensor which is adapted to produce control signals that correspond to the rotational position of the rotor. This means, however, that an additional element must be mounted on the rotor, which in practice has been found to encumber a number of drawbacks and to give rise to errors, particularly in troublesome environments. Brushless d.c. motors which operate with variable reluc¬ tance are well known to the art. The type of reluctance motor for which the invention is intended comprises a sta- tor on which one or more excitation windings are arranged in one or more phases, with separate energizing or activa- tion of the respective phase windings. The stator and- the rotor form a magnetic circuit for generating a mechanical torque which is substantially proportional to the square of the ampereturn of the excited or activated winding and to the permeance change time, which is a function of the movement of the rotor in the motor. Movement of the rotor relative to the stator generates a variation in the reluc¬ tance and therewith the permeance in the magnetic circuit of the stator winding. Torque is only obtained in the drive direction of the motor when the ampere-turn of the winding is maintained for a period in which the permeance increases with rotor movement. Consequently, it is endeavoured to hold each winding energized solely during one such period for this winding. For reasons pertaining to drive techniques it is convenient, although not fully necessary, to energize or activate solely one stator phase at a time, i.e. with no overlap between the phase energizations. Commutation from one phase to another can be effected so that each phase winding is energized or activated during a rotor position period in which current supply to the winding results in an increase in permeance with rotor movement. The supply to each phase winding should be discontinued, or decrea¬ sed, during each rotor position period in which the ampe¬ re-turn of the winding results in a decrease in permeance with rotor movement or shift. As beforementioned, the most usual method in this regard is to use additional rotor sensors for sensing continuously the position of the rotor and controlling the energizing or power supply with the aid of a sensor-controlled circuit. There is a general desire, however, to find ways and means which will aljLow these rotor position sensors to be dispensed with. Conse- quently, several attempts have been made to utilize the variation of the current or voltage characteristics of the stator windings and surrounding circuits to provide an indication of suitable points of time at which the supply voltage can be switched on and off. In one known reluctance motor control system, described in US Patent Specification No. 3,980,933, there is sensed the electro-motive force (EMF) which is induced in the stator winding when the rotor rotates and when the output from a switching device is non-conducting. The output of the switching device is made conductive when the EMF reaches a given level. A considerable bias current is required with this motor, in order to provide sufficiently wide margins. This results in power losses. Furthermore, since no ener- gizing current is delivered to the winding during that time period in which the rotor position is sensed, it is not possible to load the motor to its maximum. Consequent¬ ly, a driving or energizing current must be applied con¬ stantly to one of the phase windings. In the case of another reluctance motor control system, disclosed in US Patent Specification 4,520,302, high fre¬ quency voltage pulses are supplied over the phase winding in that phase which is next in turn to be energized.- The current rise time or current fall time in the winding is measured in order to provide an indication of the rotor position so as to obtain the correct commutating position. The reluctance motor control system described in this pub¬ lication functions solely with stepping motors, in which the motor is rotated solely to desired positions of rota- tion. It will not function with drive motors which are intended to operate under widely varying loads. The object of the present invention is to provide a reluc¬ tance motor control system for use with drive motors. This object is achieved by means of the inventive energizing circuit having the characteristic features set forth in Claim 1. Further properties of the inventive energizing circuit are disclosed in the remaining. Claims. The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram which illustrates one embodi¬ ment of the control system according to the invention; and Fig. 2 is a diagram which illustrates the manner of opera¬ tion of the invention. The circuit, or system, illustrated in Fig. 1 includes three phase windings LI, L2, L3 arranged on the stator of a three-phase reluctance motor. The invention is not restricted to the number of phases of the motor, and three phases have been shown solely by way of example. The motor is driven by a d.c. voltage +V, which may be 310 V for example, this voltage being a normal voltage for drive- type and switch-type reluctance motors. Between earth and the positive terminal of the voltage source, the phase winding LI is incorporated in a circuit which comprises a current measuring resistance Rl, the source-drain-path of a power transistor Tal, the phase winding 1, and a power transistor Tal. In this circuit, the lower transistor Tal is biassed during the whole of the time over which the phase winding LI is to be excited or energized, whereas the upper transistor is pulsed during the phase energizing interval in the manner conventional with switched reluc- tance motors, where each phase energizing or drive pulse is divided into part pulses. This division of the energi¬ zing pulse into part pulses does not constitute part of the actual invention and will not therefore be described in detail. The anode of a diode Dal is connected to earth and the cathode thereof is connected to the part of the phase winding LI remote from the transistor Tal, so as to maintain the current through the phase winding LI during the whole of the energizing pulse interval. A diode Dbl is connected up with the anode of the diode connected to the part of the phase winding LI remote from the transistor Tbl and the positive terminal, to provide a current cir¬ cuit in which the phase winding LI is rapidly drained of current as soon as the transistor Tal is switched off, i.e. blocked. Each of the remaining phase windings L2 and L3 is connec¬ ted in a similar respective circuit. Thus, the phase wind¬ ing L2 is incorporated in a circuit which comprises a current measuring resistor R2, two power transistors Ta2, Tb2, and two diodes Da2, Db2, and the phase winding L3 is incorporated In a circuit comprising- a current measuring resistor R3, two power transistors Ta3, Tb3 and two diodes Da3, Db3. Switching of the transistors to their respective on and off modes is controlled by a control unit 1. This unit is preferably a microprocessor or microcomputer, although the unit may also consist of a circuit comprised of conventio¬ nal circuit components. The control unit 1 has six out¬ puts, each of which is connected to the gating means of their respective transistors Tal, Ta2, Ta3, Tbl, Tb2, Tb3, via a respective amplifier 2, for the purpose of control¬ ling each transistor individually. The inductance of the phase next in turn to be excited is sensed in order to detect an inductance value at which commutation shall be effected for energizing of the phase. Since normally no current flows in an unenergized-or non- activated winding, high frequency pulses of short duration are fed from the control unit to the gating means of the power transistors in the energizing circuit of that wind¬ ing which is next in line for excitation. The control unit 1 will, of course, also steer the power transistor at the same time to an energizing or power phase in a conventio- nal manner. Each pulse has a given duration, _t, which is short in relation to the time period, ' so that the current in the sensed winding has time to fall to zero between each pulse. The current is measured at the end of each pulse by an analogue/digital converter 3 connected to the control unit 1. The rise in current during the duration of each pulse gives an indication of the inductance that pre¬ vails at that time. Accordingly, each of three inputs of a multiplex unit 5 is connected through a respective one of the resistors Rl, R2, R3, all of which have the same resistance. The fourth input of the multiplex unit will be described hereinafter. The multiplex unit 5 is controlled by the control unit 1 with a digital signal for stating which of the inputs of the multiplex unit shall be connec¬ ted to its output. In order to measure the current in the pulse phase which lies in turn to become energizing, the control unit 1 Instructs the multiplex unit to supply the voltage across the resistor Rl, R2, R3 which is to be coupled next to the input of the analogue/digital converter 3. In addition hereto the multiplex unit 5 is steered to carry out further functions in a manner hereinafter described. The control unit 1 determines the inductance by approxima¬ ting the equation CU-Ri) = d/dτ (L.i) with U = L.di/dτ , which is a good approximation for small cur¬ rents _i ^ and low speeds, i.e. low dL/dτ. The US publication 4,*520.302 mentioned in the introduction describes one such system, _m, which measures the time of current changes in a nσn-energizing phase, which in prac¬ tice Involves measuring the Inductance in this phase. Con¬ sequently, according to this published patent specifica¬ tion, commutation is effected when the inductance in. the phase on which the measurement Is carried out has reached a predetermined value. It is assumed in the known control system that the supply voltage is constant. In practice the supply voltage V can often vary quite widely, due to normal variations in vol- tage and also to the voltage ripple obtained when +V is a rectified a.c. voltage. The inductance in a non-energized phase is also dependent on the current strength in an energized phase. The control circuit described In US Patent Specification 4,520,302 takes no account of inductance variations due to current level, which makes it difficult to drive the motor descri¬ bed in said publication at different loads. The inductance of a phase is highly dependent on the current in said phase. In present day reluctance motors, parts of the iron circuit are mostly common to the various phases. Satura¬ tion, and therewith reduced inductance in a phase (see Fig. 2), consequently results in partial saturation and therewith reduced inductance also in remaining phases. The current in the winding of an energized phase increases with increasing load, which causes the variation of induc¬ tance in the winding to decrease with increasing loads. Fig. 2 illustrates the inductance L as a function of the rotational position θ for two mutually different loads, the curve A being obtained with a low load, i.e. a relati¬ vely low value of the current i_ in the energized phase, and the curve B being obtained at relatively high loads, i.e. a high energizing current. Since the iron circuit is common to the phases, similar variations in inductance in the windings is obtained in all phases, irrespective of whether these phases are energized or not. Consequently, in accordance with the invention a compensa¬ tion is made both for varying supply voltage +V and for varying current in the energized winding. A voltage divi¬ der having two series-connected resistors R and R is connected between the positive terminal at +V on the vol¬ ttaaggee ssoouurrccee aanndd eeaarrtthh.. TThhee RR ,, RR oouuttppuuttss ooff tthhee vvooll¬- tage divider are connected t ;oo aa ffourth input of the multi¬ pplleexx uunniitt 55.. TThhee vvoollttaaggee U' measured across R is there¬ with proportional to +V. with each short pulse to the monitored winding, the con¬ trol unit 1 will now cause the multiplex unit 5 to trans- fer the voltage in a selected sequence over the measuring resistor Rl, R2 or R3 in a monitored phase, the voltage over the measuring resistor Rl, R2 or R3 in an energized pphhaassee,, aanndd tthhee vvoollttaaggee UU'' oovveerr the resistor R to the output of the multiplex unit 5. The control unit 1 thus indicates the momentary current at the end of each pulse of short duration to the monitored winding in a non-energized phase, by supplying a control pulse to the control input of the analogue/digital conver¬ ter 3 at the end of the pulse. In conjunction herewith, i.e. immediately prior or immediately subsequent thereto, the current in the energized phase and the voltage U' are also indicated, by controlling the multiplex unit 5 and the analogue/digital converter 11 at appropriate times. The control unit 1 receives on its inputs connected to the analogue/digital converter 3 signals which are in known proportions to the signals to be measured. Compensation shall be made for the current in the energi¬ zed phase and for the momentary supply voltage. This com- pensation can be effected substantially in two ways. The first is to add a compensating rotor angle which becomes smaller with increasing current in the energized phase. This type of compensation is difficult to effect right down to a stationary motor. The second, and preferred manner is to compensate the indicated inductance. In order to obtain with this second, preferred method of compensation a rotor position point Θ 0 p F , for interrupt¬ ing supply to an energized phase and commuting the energi- zation to the next phase, which rotor position point for a selected rotor speed will thus be as constant as possible, the momentary inductance or a value proportional thereto is determined and the inductance value thus obtained com¬ pensated. The function L (Θ,i, ) , i.e. the inductance in a phase a_ as a function of the current in a phase b_ is non-linear with i.. A good approximation for most types of reluc¬ tance motor is most often a (Θ c ,0)/L b (θ c ,i b ) = (1 + c.i b ) where the constant is determined individually for each motor, so as to maintain ® 0 FF GOns tant. ® 0 FF S preferably made equal to Q (_». Naturally, this is done under the proviso that the inductance is compensated in the aforedescribed manner. The commutation condition to be fulfilled when compensating the inductance for both the momentary supply voltage level and the energizing current level is thus This enables a purely static commutation to be achieved irrespective of the current strength in the energized phase and the supply voltage. Static commutation which is independent of rotor rotation as before described can also be achieved, provided that the rotor speed is low. Firstly it is necessary that the approximation d/d τ (L.i) = L.di/dτ applies (i.e. dL/d τ << Ldi(d ), and secondly the frequency of the induc¬ tance-sensing pulses is higher than the commutating fre¬ quency of the motor, since this frequency determines the time resolution in the commutating process. In practice these limitations merely signify that the motor may be operated to between 2055 and 50 of its maxi¬ mum speed, depending on the construction of the motor, when applying this commutating method. At speeds which lie beneath this limit, however, there is obtained a function which corresponds completely to the function obtained with a rotor position sensor. From a control aspect, it is simplest to drive each phase individually, with commutation between the phases in the absence of overlap. Naturally, each phase winding may be energized individually in a manner to optionally obtain overlap between the phases, so that two phases are ener¬ gized simultaneously during given intervals. However, when it is not desired to have an overlap between the phases, but to com utate at the rotation angle Q Q pp from one phase to another, θ will be displaced within the rotor angular range in the same manner as Θ QFF . When driving a reluctance motor in accordance with the invention, it may be convenient in the case of extremely low speeds to energize the phase at the beginning of the rising part of the L-curve at Q 0N τ , but in the case of a higher speed, and particularly when the. speed approaches 20 to 50 of the maximum speed, it may be suitable, in order to obtain a good 'driving effect, to move the rota¬ tional position Θ_ N for phase activation more to the left, i.e. to Q^ ΓTJ , so that activation is effected on the negative flank of the inductance curve immediately prior to the region of extremely low inductance. This will provide improved and smoother functioning of the motor. Displacement of the activation point θ 0N from a location on the rising flank of the inductance curve to a location on the falling flank can be effected continuously. How¬ ever, it is difficult to detect inductance differences during the essentially straight part of the curve, i.e. between Q . and Θ of an induction curve of very low conductance, and consequently it is preferred to move Θ Q „ continuously during the rising and falling parts of the Inductance curve and to effect stepwise movement between these locations. The activation point can also be moved stepwise in a multiple of steps. The significance of being able to move said point becomes greater with decrea¬ sing number of phases. This displacement possibility con- sequently has its greatest significance in motors which comprise two or three phases. In order to obtain this pos¬ sibility the control unit 1 must calculate the slope off the L-curve, i.e. must compare successively indicated inductance values with one another in order to obtain the sign of the change in inductance. Consequently, the control unit 1 is suitably provided with a programme in which the inductance value and the sign of the inductance change for indicating Θ QN are different for different rotational speeds or speed ranges within the low speed range. Various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. An energizing system for a reluctance motor comprising a stator provided with one or more windings for at least two phases, and a rotor which, upon rotation, co-acts with the magnetic circuit in each stator phase and produces in the magnetic circuit of each stator winding a permeance which changes with the rotor angle, characterized by a sensing and control circuit (1—5) which indicates the inductance, or a magnitude clearly related thereto in the winding in that phase which .is next in turn to be energi- zed or activated, which detects the current in the winding of the energized phase, and which calculates a correction factor which has a dependency on the current value in the winding in the energized phase and performs a correction of the indicated " value or the magnitude clearly related thereto with the aid of the correction factor such that, subsequent to compensation, this value is essentially equal to the rotational angle irrespective of the current strength in the exciting phase. - 2. An energizing system according to Claim 1, characteri¬ zed in that the sensing and control circuit (1-5) is con¬ structed to correct the indicated value of the inductance, or the magnitude related thereto, with the correction factor. 3. An energizing system according to Claim 1 or 2, charac¬ terized in that the sensing and control circuit is con¬ structed to detect the momentary supply voltage level and correct the indicated value of the inductance, or the magnitude related thereto, with a factor which is depen¬ dent on the momentary supply voltage level. 4. An energizing system according to any of the preceding Claims, characterized in that the sensing and control circuit (1-5) is constructed to supply voltage pulses of short duration over the phase winding in the phase which is next to be energized or activated and to measure for each pulse the current level (i_) in said phase winding at the end of the pulse duration, which is the time (t), and to measure the current (i fe ) in the phase winding in the energized phase and to measure the supply voltage (U 1 ) when measuring the current level (i„); and to make the following inductance calculation at each measuring moment: L = (l+c.i v )U'.t/i a where is a constant which is dependent on the motor con- 'cerned, and to compare the calculated inductance with an inductance value Lc_ for which commutation- is to be- - - effected, within an interval having a pre-determined inclination of a curve over the inductance as a function of the rotation angle (θ). . An energizing system according to any of the preceding Claims,- characterized in that the sensing and control unit is constructed to calculate the motor speed and to deter¬ mine a value of the rotational position from this calcula¬ tion, to which energizing of the monitored phase shall be made, the determination of the rotational position being made in that this position, in dependence of the calcula¬ ted value of the motor speed, is represented by a positive or negative flank of the inductance curve together with notation of prescription for the position of an energizing start time on the flank of the inductance curve actual for the actual speed. 6. An energizing system according to Claim 5, characteri¬ zed in that the rotor position is adapted to be represen- * _ 14 ' ted by a positive flank of the inductance curve at a very low motor speed and by a positive flank of the inductance curve at motor speeds which lie relatively close to 20%-50 of the maximum motor speed. 7. An energizing system according to Claim 4, characteri¬ zed in that the reference value is arranged to be changed stepwise.

Inventors: HEDLUND GUNNAR, LUNDBERG HENRIK, HEDLUND, GUNNAR, LUNDBERG, HENRIK
Applicants: EMS ELECTRONIC MOTOR SYSTEMS, EMS ELECTRONIC MOTOR SYSTEMS AB
Application year: 1987
Main classification: H02P6
IPC codes: H02P6, H02P25