Caterpillar Inc.

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Seok-hee Han

Jackson Wai

Jesse R Gerdes

Ahmed Khalil

James Michael Thorne

Sangameshwar Sonth

Ernesto Inoa

Dachuan Yu

Baojun Si

Mustafa Guven

Carlos Eduardo Nino Baron

Thomas Merlin Jahns

Osama Mohammad Alkhouli

Mahesh Sitaram Illindala

Varsha Sunkara

An interface circuit to interface an energy source to a power bus of a microgrid includes a switching inverter circuit, an output filter circuit coupled between an output of the three-phase inverter circuit and the power bus, and a control circuit loop to control switching of the switching inverter circuit. The control circuit loop is coupled to the output filter circuit and the switching inverter and includes a proportional-integral oscillator-based repetitive (PIOR) controller.

Voltage source inverter control for unbalanced and nonlinear loads

Techniques to limit electrical power when forming an electrical grid using an active front end unit having an inverter that is coupled to a capacitor (and inductor) that is coupled to an electrical grid. For example, to limit power, the integration of a commanded frequency of the system can be limited to be within a specified phase delta of a measured phase angle of an electrical grid voltage vector. The calculation from power limit to phase delta can be done when the phase of the electrical grid voltage vector has been determined to be accurate and is calculated based on the measured capacitor voltage, grid voltage, and the estimated voltage drop across the output components of the system.

Techniques for limiting power using an active front end

An apparatus can include an inverter to provide an output N-phase alternating-current to an external component. When N equals two, a phase of the N phases can include an upper gate and a lower gate. The apparatus can also include a current detector configured to detect a phase current magnitude of the output alternating current. The apparatus can also include a controller coupled to the current detector and to the inverter. The controller can generate a gate command for controlling a gate of the inverter. The controller can also determine a value for a current threshold less than a shutoff current threshold for the external component. The controller can provide a protection command to turn off the upper gate of a corresponding phase of the inverter responsive to detecting that the phase current magnitude is greater than the current threshold.

Current protection to prevent overcurrent in electrical grids and motors

A method for determining rotor position of a switched reluctance (SR) machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The method may include injecting a test pulse into one or more idle phases of the SR machine, determining a decoupled flux value based at least partially on a total flux value corresponding to the test pulse and a mutual flux value, and determining the rotor position based at least partially on the decoupled flux value.

Sensorless control of switched reluctance machines for low speeds and standstill

A control system is provided for an electric machine having a rotor and a stator. The control system has a converter circuit in electrical communication with the stator and a controller in electrical communication with the converter circuit. The controller is configured to receive a first signal indicating a torque applied to or output by the rotor and receive a second signal indicating a rotational speed of the rotor. The controller is also configured to determine at least one characteristic of a pulse signal based on at least one of the first or second signal. The controller is also configured to inject the pulse signal into one or more phases of the stator via the converter circuit according to the determined at least one characteristic. The controller is also configured to determine a position of the rotor based on the injected pulse signal.

Adjustable pulse injection in electric machine control

A system and method for estimating a position and a speed of a rotor of a Switched Reluctance (SR) machine is provided. The SR machine comprises the rotor, a stator and at least one winding. The method includes generating a diagnostic pulse having a trapezoidal shape. The method further includes injecting a diagnostic pulse into the at least one winding of the SR machine. The method further includes measuring an actual stator current flowing through the at least one winding of the SR machine. The method further includes computing an estimated stator current flowing through the at least one winding using observer-based estimation technique. The estimated stator current is compared with the actual stator current to compute an error signal. At least one of the position and the speed of the rotor is estimated based on the error signal.

Pulse injection current pattern for rotor position estimation

A control system for a switched reluctance (SR) machine having a rotor and a stator is provided. The control system may include a converter circuit in electrical communication between the stator and a common bus, and a controller configured to monitor a bus voltage of the converter circuit and a phase current of the SR machine. The controller may be configured to determine a phase voltage based on one or more of main pulses and any diagnostic pulses, determine an estimated flux based on the phase voltage and an associated mutual voltage, determine a rotor position based at least partially on the estimated flux, and control the SR machine based on the rotor position and a desired torque.

Sensorless control of switched reluctance machines

A control system for a multi-phase switched reluctance (SR) machine, having at least two phases, is disclosed. The control system may include a converter circuit and a controller. The controller may include a phase voltage estimator module configured to determine a first phase voltage and a second phase voltage associated with a second phase second phase for the SR machine. The controller may further include a flux estimator module configured to determine first and second estimated fluxes, the first estimated flux associated with the first phase and based on the first phase voltage and an associated first mutual voltage and the second estimated flux the second estimated flux associated with the second phase and based on the second phase voltage and an associated second mutual voltage, and a position observer module configured to determine a rotor position based at least partially on the first estimated flux, the second mutual flux.

Flux estimator for switched reluctance machines

A control system for use with a motor is disclosed. The control system may have a controller that is configured to receive a torque command for the motor and receive a rotor angular velocity signal indicative of an angular velocity of a rotor of the motor. The controller may also be configured to generate a field weakening command by adding a field weakening adjustment signal to the rotor angular velocity signal, and generate a torque voltage command and a flux voltage command based on the torque command and the field weakening command. Further, the controller may be configured to convert the torque voltage command and the flux voltage command into phase voltage commands and output the phase voltage commands.

Motor control system implementing field weakening

An electric machine includes a rotor having at least one pole pair, the at least one pole pair including a first magnetic pole and a second magnetic pole having opposite polarities. The first magnetic pole may include a first inner radial permanent-magnet layer and a first outer radial permanent-magnet layer. The second magnetic pole may include a second inner radial permanent-magnet layer and a second outer radial permanent-magnet layer. An outer end of the first inner radial permanent-magnet layer and an outer end of the second inner radial permanent-magnet layer may be separated by an angle of between about 27 and about 55 electrical degrees. The electric machine may also include a stator having a stator core with an odd number of stator slots per pole pair of the rotor.

Growing community of inventors

Dunlap, IL, United States of America

Seok-hee Han