published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

An AC/AC converter has been designed and implemented for the purpose of providing a modular drive system with a Brushless Doubly-Fed Machine (BDFM.) This converter is to be used in laboratory testing and also as part of a demonstration system in the field. All hardware needed to start and run the BDFM is now consolidated into a single NEMA standard frame electrical equipment box. This allows easy transportation and setup of the drive system, and will enable the BDFM drive system to be directly compared with existing induction machine based drive systems. Converter subsystem overviews in the body of the text and comprehensive schematics in the appendices of this thesis describe all circuitry included in the drive system. Sufficient construction detail is given to allow for duplication of this converter by qualified technical personnel. While not tailored for mass production, this converter may provide a starting point for a commercially viable design. / Graduation date: 1998

The Brush less Doubly-Fed Machine (BDFM) has the potential to be a more cost effective replacement for conventional induction or synchronous machine drives. The BDFM has two stator windings: a power winding and a control winding. An electronic power converter of variable voltage and frequency is connected to the control winding and allows the speed of the machine to be adjusted synchronously. The power winding, by design, carries the majority of the current needed for operation, the control winding only a fraction of the current, thus enabling the converter rating to be as low as 25% of the rating of the machine depending on the speed range of operation. To date, only one specific stator pole-pair combination has been investigated, namely the 3/1 combination, where 3 and 1 refer to the power winding pole-pairs and the control winding pole-pair, respectively. Since the speed of the machine is dependent on the sum of the pole-pairs of the stator windings, a general pole numbered model is needed to evaluate the performance of such general machines with other pole-pair number machines. The BDFM describing system equations are transformed to the two axis (dq) rotor reference frame using a power invariant transformation. The analysis shows an additional term involving the common bar impedance which was not present in earlier analyses. The dynamic model is simplified to yield a steady state synchronous model. The synchronous frequency of analysis is investigated which results in two equivalent steady state models. The models developed can easily handle excitation of any frequency or sequence on the control winding without the use of an auxiliary model as used in previous analyses. The voltage forced model predictions match data taken for a 5 hp BDFM laboratory prototype, establishing the validity of the analysis. The model is used in illustrating the torque producing capabilities and unity power factor operation of the machine under a variety of inputs. Using the model, predictions are made on a different pole-pair combination machine (4/2 BDFM) for use as a 60 hp pump drive as an alternative to a 3/1 BDFM for the same application. / Graduation date: 1995

The exceptional feature of the brushless doubly-fed machine is the lack of need for frequent replacement of brushes. The inherent instability of this machine has to be overcome for its application in adjustable speed drives and variable speed generation systems. Specific objectives were: to study the characteristics of the machine pertinent to its application in adjustable speed drives and variable speed generation systems, to develop a stabilizer depending on the nature of the instability. The brushless doubly-fed machine was found to be unstable over much of the useful operating range. A digital feedback control was implemented using a combination of hardware and software elements/to stabilize the machine. The feedback system was a band pass filter. The software was developed with a processing time fast enough to match the speed of response required by the stabilizer to overcome the unstable oscillations. The performance of the machine was compared with and without the stabilizer to test its effectiveness. Stable operation was achieved over the entire operating region. / Graduation date: 1991

The Brushless Doubly-Fed Machine (BDFM) has recently become an important research topic in the field of variable-speed AC drives. In recent studies, the BDFM has shown significant potential for improving the reliability and performance of AC drive systems, as well as reducing total system cost. While the BDFM offers several advantages over existing AC drives in steady-state operation, it suffers from dynamic instabilities and slow response times, and a feedback control system is necessary. The mathematics of the BDFM are much more complicated than those of a singly-fed machine, and thus traditional control methods can't be applied. In this thesis, a control method known as "Direct Torque Control" has been adapted from that of a singly-fed induction machine and successfully applied to the BDFM. The thesis begins by discussing the background of the BDFM, its open-loop operating characteristics, and some of the control considerations. The reduced-order system differential equations are introduced, and it is noted that they are coupled and nonlinear. Furthermore, all state variables are time-varying (but periodic), even in steady-state operation. In the controller development, it is found that a linear relationship exists between the desired torque/flux-level change and the d-q voltages to be applied to the control winding of the machine via the power-electronic converter. This linear relationship, together with a one-step-ahead predictor to compensate for computational delay, is successfully used to control the speed and efficiency of the machine, for a wide range of speeds and load torques. Numerous open- vs. closed-loop simulations are compared and summarized, and it is found that the performance of the BDFM is greatly improved in the closed-loop, with faster response and reduced oscillation. Further simulations investigating the robustness of the controller are summarized, and it is found that the controller is reasonably insensitive to errors in most of the the static machine parameters. Hardware implementation is briefly discussed but is not complete; laboratory results are not yet available but should be soon. Future controller considerations are then discussed; included among the recommendations are an on-line parameter estimator for use in adaptive control, and a controller for generator applications of the BDFM. / Graduation date: 1993

The loads on the electrical systems of automobiles are projected to increase significantly in the near future. This will result in a requirement for improved efficiency over the present-day car alternators. An alternative scheme proposed at Oregon State University employs a Brushless Doubly-Fed Machine (BDFM) as an alternator. This thesis begins with a study and characterization of the existing car alternator system. The configuration of the proposed scheme is discussed. In the proposed configuration, the power winding of the machine generates the bulk of the power and the control winding provides the excitation. The power winding feeds a power rectifier, which in turn charges the battery in an automobile. The control winding is supplied through an inverter. Issues related to inverter and rectifier design are discussed. A 3-phase pulse width modulated inverter and a bridge rectifier were developed and tested for performance. A PSPICE simulation model for the rectifier was developed and results are compared with laboratory tests. A Voltage Regulator Circuit (VRC) and an Efficiency Maximizer Unit (EMU) for the system are designed and developed. A prototype alternator system is tested and the principle of efficiency maximization is verified. Finally. the comparative performance of the the existing and the proposed system is discussed and some recommendations for further improvements in the prototype system are made. / Graduation date: 1992

Conventional PM machines have fixed PM excitation and can only perform flux-weakening by controlling the d-axis current. This current incurs the power dissipation and reduces the efficiency during flux-weakening operations. Memory machines change this situation by introducing the memory function, namely magnetizing or reversely magnetizing Al-Ni-Co PMs to change the air-gap flux density. This provides another new way to realizing flux-weakening. And the elimination of the flux-weakening d-axis current improves the overall efficiency. But the single-memory machines have lower power density due to the low-energy Al-Ni-Co PMs. By incorporating the memory concept and with the intention of improving the power density, the DC-excited PMBL dual-memory machines have been proposed and implemented, based on two kinds of PMs which are high-coercivity Nd-Fe-B PMs and low-coercivity Al-Ni-Co PMs. The Nd-Fe-B PMs provide a strong magnetic field to excite high air-gap flux density; while the Al-Ni-Co PMs can be forward magnetized to strengthen the magnetic field produced by Nd-Fe-B PMs or can be reversely magnetized to cancel that field. Consequently the air-gap flux density can be controlled within a wide range. A series of design principles on such kind of dual-memory machine are devised for guidance. The key design principles involve how to determine the number of salient poles on the stator and rotor, how to choose the surface areas and thicknesses of the two kind of PM pieces and how to size the rotor dimension. Generally, increase on the proportion of Nd-Fe-B PMs will raise the base field and the load capacity. On the other hand, increment on the proportion of Al-Ni-Co PMs will extend the controllable flux range. Analysis is also carried out on the equivalent magnetic circuit to formulate the magnetizing force exerted on Al-Ni-Co PMs. The machine model is analyzed by using time-stepping FEM (TS-FEM) and co-simulation of FEM software and Matlab Simulink. The dynamic reverse magnetizing processes are simulated and presented in details under different magnetizing current. In addition the effect of adding iron bridges between the two kinds PMs is also evaluated by simulations. Furthermore, the control methods are evaluate by simulations and experiments. The direct torque control (DTC) scheme is adapted to this doubly-salient dual-memory machine and a torque estimator is proposed to facilitate the DTC method. Both of the simulation results and the experimental results confirm the validity of the proposed design principles and the effectiveness of the control methods. Eventually, this dual-memory machine is proposed as a pole-changing wind power generator and a pole-changing EV machine. Simulation and experimental results have verified the validity of the pole-changing scheme and the pole-protection scheme. / published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The alternators in today's automobiles are of the claw-pole or Lundell construction, which is a readily manufactured, low-cost derivative of the conventional rotating dc field synchronous generator. The efficiency of the Lundell system is low due to a complicated magnetic circuit of predominantly solid steel and a high windage rotor structure. As the number of electrical devices in a car increases, so does the demand on the generator system. The Lundell alternator is not able to meet the demands and numerous alternative systems are under investigation. This led to the development of the brushless doubly-fed alternator system with the advantages of regulation over a wide speed range, competitive system cost based on inexpensive machine construction, low rating controller, diode rectifier and robust, low maintenance configuration. The conventional alternator has only one degree of control (de excitation), whereas the doubly-fed alternator has three control quantities: excitation magnitude, frequency and phase sequence. Excitation magnitude is used to regulate the output voltage, which leaves two control parameters to optimize efficiency over the alternator speed range. Simulation tools were developed for conducting design studies on the BDFM alternator system. Various stator and rotor configurations were studied through simulation and a few prototypes were built. A proof-of-concept prototype built in an existing induction machine frame achieved comparable efficiency characteristics to the Lundell System and exceeded the Lundell performance over part of the speed range. Significant performance improvements are expected for a new, optimized prototype which will not rely on the induction machine laminations, but will utilize custom components designed for this low voltage, high frequency application. Since the increase in automotive power demand is likely to be coupled with an increase in system voltage, a 24V, 2kW alternator system is investigated and simulation results are presented. / Graduation date: 1993

No description available.