Abstract:
A three-phase inverter apparatus includes an inverter main circuit in three phases having a plurality of semiconductor switching devices to convert a DC voltage into the three-phase AC voltages to be supplied to a pulsating load, a current detector configured to detect first and second output currents from the inverter main circuit, a voltage detector configured to detect first to third output voltages from the inverter main circuit, and a control circuit configured to generate a command compensation value using a value obtained by dividing a current RSM obtained from the first and second output currents by an average value of the current RSM, and generate the compensated control command for each of the switching devices by multiplying the command compensation value by a corresponding one of control commands each of which is generated for a corresponding one of the switching devices, using the first to third output voltages.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a three-phase inverter system that converts a DC voltage to three-phase AC voltages to supply the AC voltage to a pulsating load such as an induction motor that causes ripples and the control method of the system. 
         [0003]    2. Background Art 
         [0004]    In a three-phase inverter system for a rolling stock in a DC feeding system, for example, a DC voltage inputted from a pantograph is converted into a three-phase AC voltage by the operation of an inverter section and is supplied to a compressor motor as a driving source of a breaking system, a door driving system and an air-conditioning facility and to a resistive load such as a fluorescent lamp. 
         [0005]    Here, a compressor motor has the property of causing an input current to periodically pulsate depending on the number of the cycle of compressing air. This presents a problem in that voltage drops are periodically produced on the input side of the compressor motor due to the presence of a circuit element such as a filter to thereby cause voltage fluctuation to make fluorescent lamps flicker which are connected to the same feed line. 
         [0006]    Against this, in JP-A-4-340369 (paragraphs [0015] to [0030] and FIG. 1 etc.), a technology (a first related art) is disclosed which suppresses voltage fluctuations produced when a compressor motor is driven to prevent fluorescent lamps from flickering in a three-phase inverter system for a rolling stock. 
         [0007]      FIG. 5  is a diagram showing the whole configuration of a three-phase inverter system according to the first related art. 
         [0008]    In  FIG. 5 , the output of a DC-to-DC converter  103  being connected between a pantograph  101  and a wheel  102  is inputted to a three-phase inverter system  200 . 
         [0009]    The three-phase inverter system  200  is provided with an inverter bridge  201 , a waveform shaping circuit formed of AC reactors  202  and capacitors  203  connected onto the AC output side of the inverter bridge  201 , a transformer  204  connected onto the AC output side of the inverter bridge  201  and a diode bridge  205  connected onto the output side of the transformer  204 . The three-phase inverter system  200  is further provided with an inverter control circuit  220  and a driving circuit  206  that drives the inverter bridge  201  by the output of the inverter control circuit  220 . 
         [0010]    The inverter control circuit  220  is provided with a reference voltage generator  221 , a lag element of first order  222  that provides a time-lag of first order to the difference between the output voltage value of the diode bridge  205  and the reference voltage value and a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) converter  223 . 
         [0011]    On the output side of the three-phase inverter system  200 , in addition to the foregoing, a load fluctuation compensating circuit  210  is provided. The load fluctuation compensating circuit  210  is provided with current transformers  211  detecting the AC outputs of the three-phase inverter system  200 , a diode bridge  212  connected to the current transformers  211 , a band-pass filter  213  connected onto the output side of the diode bridge  212 , an amplifier  214  and a phase-shift circuit  215 . The phase-shift circuit  215  is connected to the inverter control circuit  220  so that the output of the phase-shift circuit  215  is added to the output of the lag element of first order  222  in the inverter control circuit  220 . 
         [0012]    The output of the three-phase inverter system  200  outputted from the load fluctuation compensating circuit  210  is supplied to a compressor motor (an induction motor) M. 
         [0013]    In the load fluctuation compensating circuit  210 , AC output currents detected by the current transformers  211  are converted into a DC voltage containing the foregoing voltage fluctuation as the component thereof through the diode bridge  212 . From thus converted DC voltage, only the fluctuating component therein is extracted with ripples with the frequency of the power supply eliminated by the band-pass filter  213 . The fluctuating component is thereafter amplified by the amplifier  214 . The output voltage of the amplifier  214  is then inputted to the phase-shift circuit  215  in which the phase of the voltage is shifted by 180 degrees, by which a compensation signal is produced for cancelling the fluctuating component. The compensation signal is inputted to the inverter control circuit  220  to thereby execute interruption to the voltage control. 
         [0014]    In the inverter control circuit  220 , the difference between the value of the reference voltage from the reference voltage generator  221  and the detected value of the output voltage from the diode bridge  205  is inputted to the lag element of first order  222 , in which the arithmetic operation on the conduction ratio for PWM control is carried out. To the operated conduction rate, the value of the compensation signal is added, by which the conduction ratio is corrected and the corrected conduction ratio is inputted to the PWM converter  223  at which the inputted conduction ratio is converted into turning-on and -off signals for the semiconductor switching elements in the inverter bridge  201 . On the basis of the turning-on and -off signals, the semiconductor switching elements are made to be turned-on and -off through the driving circuit  206 , by which fluctuations in the output voltages of the three-phase inverter system  200  due to the operation of the compressor motor M are suppressed to prevent fluorescent lamps from flickering. 
         [0015]    In addition, in JP-A-2006-325326 (paragraph [0010] etc.), a three-phase inverter system (a second related art) is described with an object of stabilizing an output voltages like the three-phase inverter system disclosed in JP-A-4-340369. 
         [0016]    In the second related art, as is shown in  FIG. 6  as a diagram showing the configuration of the principal part of the three-phase inverter system according to the second related art, a reactive current i Q  including a fluctuating component is detected on the output side of the three-phase inverter system and the difference between the value of the detected reactive current i Q  and the value of a reactive current, which is provided by making the detected reactive current i Q  pass through a low-pass filter  301  to be averaged, is obtained. The difference is then multiplied by a proportional gain  302  (K) and an output Δf as the result of the multiplication by the proportional gain  302  is added to a reference frequency f for obtaining the final frequency command f* of the three-phase inverter system, by which the output voltage of the system is made to be stabilized. 
         [0017]    In the three-phase inverter system according to the first related art shown in  FIG. 5 , when the effect of suppressing low frequency fluctuating components in the output voltages was verified by using an induction motor as a load and using the band-pass filter  213  with the center frequency thereof at a power frequency (50 Hz or 60 Hz), it was shown that even though the compensation signal from the load fluctuation compensating circuit  210  was used, the frequency of the compensation signal had a large deviation from the actual low frequency fluctuating component to sometimes make it impossible to sufficiently suppress the fluctuations in the output voltages. 
         [0018]    In addition, compensation carried out by extracting only the fluctuating component of an output current therefrom causes an excessively small or large effect of suppression on some average values of root mean square values of output currents even though the fluctuation widths of low frequency current components thereof are equal to make it impossible to obtain a proper effect of suppression. 
         [0019]    Furthermore, addition of a compensation signal to the difference between the value of the reference voltage and the detected value of the output voltage in the three-phase inverter system is equivalent to introducing disturbance to the value of an output voltage command. Therefore, when the gain of the compensation signal is high, the output voltages of the three-phase inverter system became sometimes impossible to be kept constant. 
         [0020]    Moreover, in the three-phase inverter system according to the second related art shown in  FIG. 6 , only by compensating the frequency command with the use of the compensation signal proportional to the difference between the reactive current and the reactive current after passing through the low-pass filter, it was difficult to sufficiently suppress the fluctuations in the output voltages of the three-phase inverter system. 
         [0021]    Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a three-phase inverter system and the control method thereof which can suppress fluctuations in the voltages and currents which are inputted and outputted better than the related ones did. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0022]    For achieving the foregoing object, the three-phase inverter system according a first aspect of the invention is a three-phase inverter system which includes an inverter main circuit in three phases having a plurality of semiconductor switching devices and a control circuit having the detected values of the output currents and the detected values of the output voltages inputted to produce the driving signals turning-on and -off the semiconductor switching devices, and which converts a DC voltage into three-phase AC voltages by the turning-on and -off operations of the semiconductor switching devices to supply the converted three-phase AC voltages to a load. The system is one for driving a pulsating load such as an induction motor. 
         [0023]    The invention is then characterized in that the control circuit includes a root mean square value operation section carrying out an arithmetic operation on the root mean square value of the output currents of the inverter main circuit, an average value operation section carrying out an arithmetic operation on the average value of the output currents, a division section carrying out division of the root mean square value by the average value, a compensation value operation section carrying out an arithmetic operation on a command compensation value proportional to the value of the output of the division section, and a multiplication section multiplying control commands for the semiconductor switching devices in the inverter main circuit by the command compensation value to compensate the control commands, the control commands being operated on the basis of the differences between the output voltages and their respective output voltage command values, and determines the turning-on and -off times of the driving signals by the compensated control commands outputted from the multiplication section. 
         [0024]    Moreover, the three-phase inverter system according to a second aspect of the invention is one in which the three-phase inverter system according to the first aspect forms a power supply system driving an induction motor as the pulsating load in an electric rolling stock on a DC feeding system. 
         [0025]    Furthermore, the control method of a three-phase inverter system according to a third aspect of the invention is a control method of a three-phase inverter system which includes the steps of detecting the output currents and output voltages of an inverter main circuit in three phases having a plurality of semiconductor switching devices, and making the semiconductor switching devices turned-on and -off by driving signals based on the output currents and output voltages, thereby converting a DC voltage into three-phase AC voltages to supply the converted three-phase AC voltages to a load. The method relates to a control method when the load is such a pulsating load as to cause pulsation in the output currents when being operated. 
         [0026]    The invention is then characterized in that the control method further includes the steps of carrying out arithmetic operations on control commands for the semiconductor switching devices on the basis of the differences between the output voltages and their respective output voltage command values, carrying out arithmetic operations on the root mean square value and average value of the detected output currents of the inverter main circuit, dividing the root mean square value by the average value, carrying out arithmetic operation on a command compensation value proportional to the value of the result of the division of the root mean square value by the average value and, along with this, determining the turning-on and -off times of the driving signals by using the final control commands obtained by multiplying the control commands for the semiconductor switching devices by the command compensation value. 
         [0027]    According to the invention, when a pulsating load such as an induction motor is driven by the three-phase inverter system, it is possible to suppress fluctuating components which are included due to the pulsating load in the voltages and currents inputted to and outputted from the three-phase inverter system. This makes it become possible to stabilize the voltages and currents which are inputted to and outputted from the three-phase inverter system and to also prevent fluorescent lights from flickering which are connected to the same feeding line as that to which the pulsating load is connected. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0028]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram schematically showing the whole configuration of a three-phase inverter system according to an embodiment of the invention and the control circuit thereof; 
           [0029]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing the configuration of the principal part of the control circuit shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0030]      FIGS. 3A to 3D  are waveform diagrams showing the waveforms of the input voltage, input and output currents and command compensation value as the results of simulations carried out for explaining the advantage of the embodiment of the invention; 
           [0031]      FIGS. 4A to 4D  are waveform diagrams showing the waveforms of the input voltage, input and output currents and command compensation value as the results of simulations carried out for explaining the advantage of the embodiment of the invention; 
           [0032]      FIG. 5  is a diagram showing the whole configuration of a three-phase inverter system according to a first related art; and 
           [0033]      FIG. 6  is a diagram showing the configuration of the principal part of a three-phase inverter system according to a second related art. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0034]    In the following, an embodiment of the invention will be explained with reference to the attached drawings. 
         [0035]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram schematically showing the whole configuration of a three-phase inverter system according to an embodiment of the invention and the control circuit thereof. The three-phase inverter system is one applied to an auxiliary power supply system mounted on a rolling stock in a DC feeding system, for example. 
         [0036]    In  FIG. 1 , between a pantograph  101  and a grounding pint  103  (a wheel and a rail), an input side LC filter  10  is connected which is formed of a DC reactor  11  and a capacitor  12 . 
         [0037]    Across the capacitor  12 , the DC input side of an inverter main circuit  20  is connected which has semiconductor switching devices  21  to  26  such as IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors), for example, in a three-phase full-bridge connection. On the wires of two phases (U-phase and W-phase, for example) on the AC output side of the inverter main circuit  20 , current detectors  31  and  32  are provided respectively. 
         [0038]    For the semiconductor switching devices  21  to  26  in the inverter main circuit  20 , in addition to the illustrated IGBTs, power semiconductor devices such as bipolar transistors, GTO (Gate Turn Off) thyristors and FETs (Field Effect Transistors) can be used. 
         [0039]    The wire in each of the three phases on the AC output side of the inverter main circuit  20  is connected to a three-phase compressor motor M (hereinafter referred to as an induction motor M) and to a resistive load  43 , formed of resistive load elements such as fluorescent lamps in delta connection to three-phase wires, for example, through an output side LC filter  40 . The output side LC filter  40  is formed of an AC reactor  41  with reactor elements inserted in their respective three-phase wires and a capacitor  42  with capacitor elements in star connection to the three-phase wires. 
         [0040]    To the three-phase wires between the output side LC filter  40  and the induction motor M, the primary side of a voltage detector (an instrument transformer)  44  is connected, onto the secondary side of which a control circuit  50  is connected. 
         [0041]    The control circuit  50  carries out A/D (Analog to Digital) conversion of the detection values of output currents (first and second output current) provided by the current detectors  31  and  32  and the detection values of output voltages (first to third output voltages) provided by the voltage detector  44 , carries out arithmetic operations such as PWM operations so that three-phase AC voltages with a constant magnitude and a constant frequency are made to be outputted from the inverter main circuit  20  and produces driving signals (gate signals) making the semiconductor switching devices  21  to  26  in the inverter main circuit  20  turned-on and -off 
         [0042]    In the foregoing configuration, the input side LC filter  10  smoothes the DC input voltage by eliminating ripples therefrom to input the smoothed DC input voltage to the inverter main circuit  20 . The inverter main circuit  20  carries out turning-on and -off of the semiconductor switching devices  21  to  26  by the gate signals transmitted from the control circuit  50  to convert the DC input voltage into pulse-shaped three-phase AC voltages and output the AC voltages. 
         [0043]    In addition, the output side LC filter  40  shapes the pulse-shaped AC output voltages into sinusoidal-wave-shaped voltages to supply the shaped voltages to the induction motor M and resistive load  43 . 
         [0044]    Incidentally, in the embodiment, the whole system including the input side LC filter  10 , inverter main circuit  20 , output side LC filter  40 , current detectors  31  and  32 , voltage detector  44  and control circuit  50  is to be referred as a three-phase inverter system. 
         [0045]    In the next,  FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing the configuration of the principal part of the control circuit  50  shown in  FIG. 1 , which is mainly actualized by the software of a microcomputer. 
         [0046]    In the principal part of the control circuit  50  shown in  FIG. 2 , the digital values of the three-phase voltages V u , V v  and V w  are obtained by carrying out A/D conversion of the output voltage values detected by the voltage detector  44 . Then, the differences between the values of the voltages V u , V v  and V w  and their respective output voltage command values  51  of the inverter main circuit  20  are inputted to a voltage stabilizing control section  52 . The voltage stabilizing control section  52 , on the basis of the differences, produces commands for providing each of the three-phase output voltages of the inverter main circuit  20  as a sinusoidal wave with a constant magnitude and frequency and outputs the commands. 
         [0047]    The commands outputted from the voltage stabilizing control section  52  are inputted to a PWM operating section  53 . In the PWM operation section  53 , arithmetic operations are carried out for obtaining control commands S 21 * to S 26 * for determining turning-on and -off times for the semiconductor switching devices  21  to  26 , respectively, in the inverter main circuit  20  and the obtained control commands S 21 * to S 26 * are outputted. 
         [0048]    In the inverter main circuit  20 , the output voltage in the U-phase is outputted by the operations of the semiconductor switching devices  21  and  22 , the output voltage in the V-phase is outputted by the operations of the semiconductor switching devices  23  and  24  and the output voltage in the W-phase is outputted by the operations of the semiconductor switching devices  25  and  26 . 
         [0049]    While, the digital current values of the currents I u  and I w  in the U-phase and W-phase obtained by carrying out A/D conversion of the values of the output currents detected by the current detectors  31  and  32 , respectively, are inputted to a root mean square value operation section  55 . In the root mean square value operation section  55 , arithmetic operation on the root mean square value I rms  of the output currents of the inverter main circuit  20  as three-phase AC currents is carried out with the use of the digital current values I u , I w  and the digital current value I v  (obtained as I v =0−I u −I w ) in the V-phase. 
         [0050]    By making the root mean square value I rms  of the output currents pass through a low-pass filter  56  as an average value operation section, the average value I ave  of the output current in a period equivalent to the time constant of the low-pass filter  56  is operated. 
         [0051]    In addition, by dividing the root mean square value I rms  of the output currents by the average value I ave  by a division section  58 , a current ratio I rms /I ave  is obtained. The current ratio I rms /I ave  is equivalent to the ratio of the fluctuating component included in each of the output currents due to the operation of the induction motor M shown in  FIG. 1  as a fluctuating load. 
         [0052]    The current ratio I rms /I ave  fluctuates around the average value thereof 
         [0053]    Therefore, in a compensation value operation section  59 , the current ratio I rms /I ave  is multiplied by a gain G with a specified value, by which the arithmetic operation on a command compensation value α is carried out. By inputting the command compensation value α to a multiplication section  54  to multiply the control commands S 21 * to S 26 *, the arithmetic operations of obtaining the control command S 21 ** to S 26 ** after compensation (compensated control commands) are carried out, in which commands the levels of the control commands S 21 * to S 26 * are corrected. 
         [0054]    Although not shown, the control command S 21 ** to S 26 ** are compared with a carrier as a series of triangular waves, for example, to be obtained as gate signals as being PWM signals. The gate signals become those having the turning-on and -off times of the semiconductor switching devices  21  to  26  corrected compared with the gate signals produced on the basis of the control commands S 21 * to S 26 * before the correction. 
         [0055]    Namely, in the three-phase inverter system according to the embodiment, the root mean square value I rms  of the output currents, including fluctuating components in the output currents of the inverter main circuit  20  due to the operation of the induction motor M as information, is made to be reflected in the command compensation value α. By carrying out arithmetic operations on the control commands S 21 ** to S 26 ** with the use of the command compensation value α, the turning-on and -off times of the semiconductor switching devices  21  to  26  are corrected. 
         [0056]    This can suppress fluctuations in the output voltages and output currents of the three-phase inverter system to make it possible to prevent adverse effect (flickering) on the resistive load  43  formed of resistive load elements such as fluorescent lamps connected to the same feeding line as that to which the induction motor M is connected. Furthermore, it is also possible to suppress fluctuations in the input voltage (the voltage across the capacitor  12 ) and input current. 
         [0057]      FIGS. 3A to 3D  or  FIGS. 4A to 4D  are waveform diagrams showing the waveforms of the input voltage, input and output currents and command compensation value as the results of simulations carried out for explaining the advantage of the embodiment of the invention, respectively. 
         [0058]    In the diagrams,  FIG. 3A  or  FIG. 4A  shows an input voltage to the three-phase inverter system (a voltage across the capacitor  12 ) when the induction motor M is started to be driven by the circuit shown in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 3B  or  FIG. 4B  shows an input current at the time,  FIG. 3C  or  FIG. 4C  shows output currents at the time (in two phases) and  FIG. 3D  or  FIG. 4D  shows the command compensation value α. 
         [0059]    Here,  FIGS. 3A to 3D  are the waveform diagrams when no compensation of the control commands S 21 * to S 26 * is carried out by the command compensation value α shown in  FIG. 2  (that is, no compensation according to the invention is carried out) and  FIGS. 4A to 4D  are the waveform diagrams when the inverter main circuit  20  is controlled by using the control commands S 21 ** to S 26 ** obtained by correcting the control commands S 21 * to S 26 * by the command compensation value α (that is, when the compensation according to the invention is carried out). 
         [0060]    Referring to  FIGS. 3A to 3D , the start of the motor at time t 0  initiates fluctuations in the input voltage shown in  FIG. 3A , the input current shown in  FIG. 3B  and the output currents shown in  FIG. 3C . At time t 1  thereafter, the fluctuation widths of the output currents shown in  FIG. 3C  are approximately the minimum and the fluctuation width of the command compensation value α shown in  FIG. 3D  becomes approximately the maximum. Further, at time t 2 , the fluctuation widths of the output currents shown in  FIG. 3C  are approximately the maximum and the fluctuation width of the command compensation value α shown in  FIG. 3D  becomes approximately the minimum. 
         [0061]    Observations of the output currents shown in  FIG. 3C  and the command compensation value α shown in  FIG. 3D  along the time axis reveal that large and small in the magnitudes of the fluctuation widths of the output currents shown in  FIG. 3C  and those in the magnitude of the fluctuation width of the command compensation value α shown in  FIG. 3D  are inversely related on the whole and the command compensation value α with a specified magnitude is operated in synchronization with the fluctuations in the output currents. 
         [0062]    While, referring to  FIGS. 4A to 4D , by starting the operation of the induction motor M at the time t 0 , the input voltage shown in  FIG. 4A , the input current shown in  FIG. 4B  and the output voltages shown in  FIG. 4C  initiate to fluctuate, in almost the same as those in  FIGS. 3A to 3C . In the simulation, however, the turning-on and -off times of the semiconductor switching devices  21  to  26  are controlled with the use of their respective control commands S 21 ** to S 26 ** after the compensation by the command compensation value α shown in  FIG. 4D . Therefore, it is confirmed that the fluctuations in the voltage shown in  FIG. 4A  and currents shown in  FIGS. 4B and 4C  are gradually suppressed to be converged to their respective stabilized values. 
         [0063]    The invention can be applied not only to the auxiliary power supply system for a rolling stock in a DC feeding system but also to various kinds of three-phase inverter systems driving pulsating loads such as induction motors and the control methods thereof. 
         [0064]    While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.