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4, April 2011
CASCADE
MULTILEVEL
INVERTER
BRUSHLESS
SYNCHRONIC
MOTOR
SINUSOIDAL
COMMUTATION
CONTROL
ENCODER
GEAR TRAIN
I. INTRODUCTION
For the automation of a process, e.g. an industrial robot arm,
a bottling plant, etc., it is necessary to control motor rotor
position. For these kinds of tasks step by step motors and DC
or AC servomotors are the most used devices, being the last
ones an example of present technology, where a synchronic
brushless motor is controlled by means of a two-level inverter
with PWM modulation (conventional inverter).
This work intends to control a robotic arm angular position
by means of a brushless synchronic motor (PMM) powered
and controlled by a multilevel inverter. Through the analysis
and implementation of such configuration, it is proposed to
overcome the problems commonly affecting position control
of DC servomotors, having lower performance and requiring
more maintenance; and the problems of AC servomotors,
usually controlled by a converter, thus generating high levels
of dv/dt what, in addition to high switching frequencies, can
cause motor damages compromising their shelf life. Besides,
high switching frequencies increase losses, finally affecting
systems efficiency magnet [1]-[8].
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Canadian Journal on Electrical and Electronics Engineering Vol. 2, No. 4, April 2011
V. PROPOSED CONTROL
S11
S12
S11
S12
S12
S11
S12
S11
S12
S11
S12
S11
S 21
S 22
S 21
S 22
S 21
S 22
S 22
S 21
S 22
S 21
S 22
S 21
S31
S32
S31
S32
S31
S32
S32
S31
VCC
VCC
3VCC
VCC
3VCC
3VCC
9VCC
9VCC
S32
S31
9VCC
S32
S31
MEIP
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Canadian Journal on Electrical and Electronics Engineering Vol. 2, No. 4, April 2011
14 [V], in order to obtain the lowest switching frequency.
Considering this remarkable advantage, we can carry on
switching at a frequency of 2 [KHz] obtaining a response
without vibrations at the moment of keeping the position.
Figure 7 shows a chart of machine angular speed, where we
can notice the transient regime and the time lapse required for
reaching the permanent regime, obtaining a constant speed;
after that, we get the reference position, having zero speed,
therefore implying a fixed position.
Fig. 6. Motor spindle position angle in terms of time. Simulation run with
a reference of 400 [rad] and a final switching frequency of 2 [KHz]
(lowest level).
Canadian Journal on Electrical and Electronics Engineering Vol. 2, No. 4, April 2011
Fig. 12. Synchronous brushless motor per phase voltage at machine start.
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Canadian Journal on Electrical and Electronics Engineering Vol. 2, No. 4, April 2011
Figures 14, 15 and 16 show switching patterns of the
MOSFETs shots, for 14 [V], 42 [V] and 126 [V] bridges,
respectively (see figure 3).
Fig. 14. Gate-Source Voltage (0-15 [V]) for MOSFETs of the auxiliary
14 [V] H bridge. Scale from 0 to 200 [ms].
time, voltages per phase are continuous; this implies that phase
resistance is the only factor limiting the current. In a two-level
VSI inverter we can operate only between +Vcc, 0, or -Vcc,
what means switching at a very high frequency (around 20
[KHz]) in order to avoid exceeding the motor current limit
values and keeping the spindle without vibrations. Using the
inverter configuration scaled in powers of three, we achieve
the same goals but with a switching frequency of 2 [KHz] for
the lowest power bridge, since we operate with the inverter
lowest voltage levels (14 [V]), allowing voltage gradients be
smaller than the ones in conventional VSIs.
The obtained experimental values validate simulation
results; however, the machine stator currents have a greater
distortion due to interactions and synchronicity between
MOSFET switching of the different inverter bridges.
Depending on power and tension levels, other types of
inverter scaling can be employed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work had the support of the Department for Scientific
and Technologic Research of the Universidad de Santiago de
Chile, by means of Project 060713UO, Santiago, Chile.
Fig. 15. Gate-Source Voltage (0-15 [V]) for MOSFETs of the auxiliary 42
[V] H bridge. Scale from 0 to 200 [ms].
REFERENCES
[1]
Fig. 16. Gate-Source Voltage (0-15 [V]) for MOSFETs of the auxiliary
126 [V] H bridge. Scale from 0 to 200 [ms].
VIII. CONCLUSION
Canadian Journal on Electrical and Electronics Engineering Vol. 2, No. 4, April 2011
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BIOGRAPHIES
Claudio Urrea was born in Santiago, Chile. He received
the M.Sc. Eng. and the Dr. degrees from Universidad de
Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile in 1999, and 2003,
respectively; and the Ph.D. degree from Institut National
Polytechnique de Grenoble, France in 2003. Ph.D. Urrea
is currently Professor at the Department of Electrical
Engineering, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, from
1998. He has developed and implemented a Robotics Laboratory, where
intelligent robotic systems are development and investigated.
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