Hội nghị - Triển lãm quốc tế lần thứ 4 về Điều khiển và Tự động hoá VCCA-2017

Innovative Control Techniques for Performance Improvement and

Energy Saving of Electric Motor Drives

Các phương pháp điều khiển tiên tiến nhằm nâng cao chất lượng
và tiết kiệm năng lượng cho các hệ truyền động điện
Ta Cao Minh
Center for Technology Innovation, Hanoi University of Science and Technology
Email: minh.tacao@hust.edu.vn

Abstract efficiency has become a very important factor in

Electric motors have been used in a wide range of
application and they account for as much as more than
55% of the world's power consumption today. In this
paper, we have used control engineering approach to
achieve two goals: improve the performance of the
motor drives and reduce the energy consumption. For
the induction motor drives, we have developed a
search technique using Golden Section to adjust the
flux generating current until the input power settles
down to its minimum. The efficiency-optimization
algorithm is very fast and permits to reduce the
energy consumption at light-load condition as much
as 20% compared to the conventional vector control.
For the BLDC motor drive, we have proposed the
Pseudo Vector-Control (PVC) method, in which the
reference current signals are calculated in the rotating
d-q frame, taken the back-EMF into consideration.
The control method greatly reduced the torque ripples
of the drives, without any additional hardware or
intervention to the motor construction. In addition, the
flux weakening for high-speed mode can also be
achieved. The PVC and several supporting techniques
have been successfully applied to Automotive Electric
Power Steering systems and have been granted
several Japanese patents.
Keywords
Induction Motor, BLDC Motor, Vector Control,
Effeciency Optimization Control, Pseudo Vector
Control (PVC).
1. Background
The era of electrical drives can be seen as started
in 1880s when Nicola Tesla invented the
asynchronous motor (or induction motor). Since then,
the electric motor gradually replaced the steam
engines, which were considered the power-train for
the first industrial revolution in the 18th century.
During the last 125 years, motors have been very
much developed and used in a wide range of
applications, from industry to aerospace and house
appliances. As a huge number of motors are used, it
is claimed that motors consume more than 55% of the
total global produced electricity. Therefore, beside the
premier concern of performance, the system
modern drives.
The introduction of high-power semiconductor
devices such as diodes, BJTs, thyristors, triacs and
then the IGBTs actually gives the electric drives a
great variation in quality and quantity. Semiconductor
switches with increased voltages and greater current
conduction have created increasingly diverse
configurations: rectifiers (AC/DC converters),
inverters (DC/AC converters), DC/DC converters and
AC/AC converters allowing proper control of the
power supply to the motor, in accordance with the
technology requirements.
Fig. 1 shows the classification of rotating
machines. Induction motors (IM) are known as
industry the most popular motors due to their simple
construction, low cost, easy maintenance. They are
traditionally used in the processes where the speed is
constant such as for pumps or fans due to the fact that
variable-speed control was very difficult for this kind
of machine.
In their works, Hasse (1969) and Blaschke (1972)
[11] made a breakthrough in IM control. By applying
the “transvector” method, IM are controlled in the d-q
coordinate system, rotating at the speed of the rotating
magnetic field, rather than in the traditional static a-b-
c coordinate system. The two methods of Hasse and
Blaschke have received great attention from the
scientific and industrial community and are now
known as Indirect Vector Control Method (Hasse) and
Direct Vector Control Methods (Blaschke). Major
advances in microprocessor technology,
microcontrollers, and in particular in DSPs, enable
sophisticated algorithms in real time to help vector
Fig. 1 Classification of electric (rotating) motors

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id*  Current
 Controller
* Speed iq*  Current
Controller  Controller
Fig. 2 Basic Vector Control (or Field Oriented Control – FOC) scheme.
control (or so-called Field Oriented Control FOC) to
become a standard industrial AC motor control
technology since1990s.
In order to archive high performance of the drive,
several advanced algorithms should be employed in
the control loops to deal with the high nonlinearity of
the model, sensibility to the variation of parameter
and working condition. Such control laws can be
named as: decoupling control, self-scheduling PID
control, robust control, adaptive control, fuzzy-logic-
based control and estimation [1].
Asynchronous motors, with vector control, have
become easy to control, gaining high performance,
thus gradually replacing DC motors in applications
requiring smooth control in a wide range speed range.
The direct torque control (DTC) proposed by
Takahashi in 1986 [12] and Depenbrock in 1987 [13]
is also a noteworthy technique. In this method, the
torque of the motor is not controlled "indirectly"
through the electric currents, but it is controlled
“directly” by switching the power semi-conductors
devices, according to the instantaneous state of the
torque and flux. This method allows the torque
response to be tens of times faster than that of the
vector control method. However, the torque ripple is a
drawback that limits the application of the method in
many cases. Researchers have published thousands of
studies in international journals and magazines in the
last decades of the 20th century. However, the inherent
weaknesses of the method could have only been
improved, but not thoroughly resolved. So far, the
DTC has been seen as a complementary method of
vector control for applications requiring fast torque
control, but not too harsh on the torque ripple, such as
drives for electric vehicles (EV), for example.
The vector control and DTC methods were
originally proposed for asynchronous motors.
However, they have been extended to all types of AC
motors that require speed control, such as servo
applications, motion control for robots, conveyors,
elevators, or aerospace vehicles, etc. Such motors
include Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor
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 
va* INVERTER
vd*
d-q v*
b
to PWM IM Load
vq*
a-b-c vc
*
e
Rotor position from
Position Sensor or Estimator
id ia
a-b-c
ib  (ia  ic )
to Measured currents
iq d-q ic
(PMSM), both Surface and Interior types (SPM and
IPM), Switched Reluctance Motors (SRM), as shown
in Fig. 1, and even linear motors.
2. Efficiency-Optimization Control of
Induction Motor Drives
In the conventional Vector Control (or FOC), the
flux-generating stator current is kept to be constant in
base speed region. This fact makes the efficiency of
the drive to be low in light-load operating conditions.
The machine efficiency is defined as the ratio of
the mechanical output power to the electrical input
power. For a given operation point, the output
mechanical power (as the product of produced torque
and rotating speed) is constant. The machine
efficiency can, thus, be improved by reducing the
electrical input power by means of minimizing the
total losses.
The losses in an IM can be classified into stator
and rotor copper losses, iron loss, stray loss, and
mechanical loss, as shown in Fig. 3. Effort is focused
on minimizing the electromagnetic losses (copper and
iron losses) since they represent the main portion of
the total machine losses and because they are
controllable. The iron loss is caused by the air-gap
flux, while the copper loss is the result of the presence
of motor currents. The stray loss, for its part, depends
mainly on the amount of harmonics contained in the
voltage and current supplied by the inverter, and on
motor construction (due to slot and skin effects). The
mechanical loss is roughly accounting for the
remaining 10% of the total loss.
The techniques allowing the efficiency
improvement can be divided into two categories. The
first category is the so-called loss-model-based
approach. This is also termed the loss-model
controller
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the input power in some practical cases.

P Pout
  out  In our research, we have followed the power-
Pin Pout  Ploss measure-based approach and proposed a novel
algorithm having very fast convergence. The
Output proposed algorithm minimizes the input power of the
power
Input
= cte
system by utilizing the “golden section technique”
power
[2]. Since the golden section technique has a close
Losses relation to the Fibonacci search method, our algorithm
can be considered as an alternative to the solution
Search Control Loss Model Control proposed in literature. However, the golden section
technique has a
Fig. 4 Definition of efficiency and efficiency
improvement topology great advantage over the Fibonacci search algorithm
in that we do not need to know a priori the number of
evaluations in the minimum-searching process.
Output Power The efficiency control is based on an algorithm
Input Power
that searches the optimal value of the flux component
of stator current, for which the input power of the
system is minimum. The input power can be
calculated as the product of the measured dc voltage
PFe  f ( ) Pjs Pjr PS Pf
Core loss Stator Rotor Stray-load Friction & and dc current. The steps in searching algorithm is
2
I R loss 2
I R loss loss windage loss determined using the golden sections. The name
“golden section” comes from a classical problem of
Fig. 3 Losses in induction motors dividing line segments or rectangles in a particular
(LMC), consisting of computing the losses by using way.
the machine model and selecting the flux level that In our control configuration, the indirect vector
minimizes these losses. The second one is the power- control method is employed. The reference flux
measure-based approach, known also as search current is derived from the efficiency optimization
controllers (SCs), in which the flux (or its equivalent algorithm, whereas the torque component current is
variables) is decreased until the electrical input power obtained from the speed control loop. It is important
settles down to the lowest value for a given torque to mention the multiple rate of the overall control
and speed. system. To ensure good dynamic performance of the
In general, the first approach is fast but depends control system, the rated value of the flux current is
largely on the machine parameters, which are very used in the transient states, when there is a change in
difficult to be exactly obtained due to the parameter the speed command or in the load torque. After the
sensibility to operating conditions. The second system has arrived in the steady state, the Efficiency
approach, on the other hand, is simpler and can Optimization Algorithm (EOA) is activated. Even
include all kinds of losses including the loss in the after the minimal input power point is reached, this
inverter, since the power entering to the system is background routine remains activated to tracks shifts
measured and used in the optimization algorithm. of the optimal point due to the slow changes in the
However, it is relatively slow due to the search load torque. When a transient state occurs, the flux
process. In addition, it is difficult to precisely measure

Diode rectifier

Search Control
Input power Pin I dc
Vdc
I S or T *
usa
isd* +
*
usd
Loss Model Control r EOC Rid dq * P Inverter
usb
isq* +
- *
usq W
+ R Riq u *
abc sc M
r* - -
e
isa
isd
dq isb
isq
isd* isq* abc isc  (isa  isb )

sl + e e

Slop
Cal.
+ IM
r

Fig. 5 Configuration of Efficiency-Optimization Algorithm in Vector Control Scheme

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Fig. 6 Experimental results of no-load test
with a constant speed reference
current reference is immediately restored in its rated
value. The transient state is easily detected by using
the speed error signal, which is denoted by entering to
the efficiency-optimization block. Because the flux
command current is reduced stepwise, torque
pulsation might be encountered, which normally is
compensated slowly by the speed control loop. To
overcome this problem, a simple and effective
technique is proposed by using a filter in the output of
the efficiency-optimization routine. The proposed
efficiency-optimization control algorithm including
the basic indirect vector control part is written in C-
language and implemented on a laboratory
experimental 2.2kW IM drive using a 32-bit floating-
point digital signal processor (DSP) TMS320-C32
board.
The simulation and experimental results of the no-
load and light-load tests show the fast convergence of
the proposed algorithm, as the reference flux current
is settled down to its optimum within 1.5% of the
current tolerance after only nine iterations. Under this
Table I. Input power comparison between conventional
Vector Control and Efficiency-Optimization Control [2]
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Fig. 7 Light-load dynamic test
with a change in speed reference
condition, the input power is minimum. In addition to
its quickness and simplicity, the proposed technique
preserves the good dynamic performance and it is
completely insensitive to the parameter variation.
Other important advantage of the technique is that we
do not need to know a priori the number of functional
evaluations and, moreover, the knowledge of speed or
torque is not required in the search process. A speed
error is used only for detecting transient operations of
the system. Even though the technique has been
developed for an IM in our work, it can be universally
applicable to other ac machines.
The results of two significant tests were presented
in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, namely, a no-load test with the
constant speed and a dynamic test with a change in
speed reference and with a light load. The input
power comparison between conventional Vector
Control and Efficiency-Optimization Control was
reported in Table. I.
We can see that a reduction in input power of the
order of 30% for no-load and of 20% for light-load
operations was obtained. A substantial power saving
is, thus, achieved and the efficiency of the drive is
consequently improved. The EOC is simple and very
effective method, as the efficiency of the drive is
greatly improved, the energy can be thus saved.
The speed of the motor can be estimated using
instantaneous reactive power in the MRAS-based
sensorless control configuration (MRAS: Model
Reference Adaptive System) [3]. Combining this with
the above Efficiency-Optimal Control using input
active power, the control system is seen as a unique
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 

va* INVERTER
id*  Current vd*
 Controller d-q v*
b

i *
v* to PWM PMSM Load
q  Current q
a-b-c vc
*
 Controller

e
Rotor position from
Position Sensor or Estimator

id ia
a-b-c
ib  (ia  ic )
to Measured currents
iq d-q ic

Fig. 8 Typical block-diagram of Vector Control for PMSM drives.

 

Phase
*
ia  Current va* INVERTER

Torque current  Controller

command 1 I* distributor i*
b  Current vb* BLDC
PWM Load
T *
kT
*
 Controller
*
motor
i 
c Current vc Hall
 Controller sensors

ia
ib  (ia  ic )
Hall-signals
ic decoder
Measured currents circuit
Commutation positions
Fig. 9 Typical block-diagram of Phase Current Control for BLDCM drives.

method that adjusts the power, the most essential Vector control method cannot however be utilized
factor of the motor drives. for BLDCMs, due to the fact that terminal variables
(currents, voltages) and back-EMFs wave-form are
3. Pseudo Vector-Control of Brushless DC not sinusoidal. Therefore, the phase current control
Motor Drives technique is normally employed for this kind of motor
3.1. Conventional control for PM SM motors (Fig. 9). The control technique is relatively simple
The PM SM motors can be divided into 2 because the square-wave reference currents can be
categories depending on its current wave-form: generated in a step manner, every 360/(m*p) electrical
degrees, where m is the number of phases, p is the
 Sine-wave PM motor, which is also called
pole-pair number. Hence, low cost Hall-effect sensors
PM synchronous motor (PMSM), is fed by
served as position sensor are enough for the control
sine-wave current supply;
purpose. Simplicity in control, BLDCMs suffer
 Square-wave PM motor that is fed by square-
however from a big drawback: because of phase
wave current and it is often called Brushless
commutation, the torque is not as smooth as that
DC Motor (BLDCM).
produced by their counterpart, sine-wave PM motors.
The main difference between two kinds of motors
A BLDCM is, moreover, recognized as having the
from the control viewpoint resides on current control
highest torque and power capability for a given size
techniques and on the torque quality. The torque
and weight due to its (quasi) square-wave current and
produced in a sine-wave PM motor is smooth as a
trapezoidal form of back-EMF. In addition to that, a
result of the interaction between the sinusoidal stator
BLDCM also presents the cost advantage over the
current and the sinusoidal rotor flux. High-
sine-wave PM motor, due to its construction and
performance PM synchronous motor drives are
winding. Therefore, it seems to be evident that if the
regulated by the well-known Vector Control method,
torque ripple in BLDCM can be overcome, this kind
in which motor currents are controlled in
of motor would become a very attractive solution for
synchronously rotating d-q frame (Fig. 8). Rotor
many industrial and house-appliances applications.
position at any instant (measured by a high-resolution
Torque ripple is the main concern of the BLDCM
position sensor, or estimated by an observer) is the
because it limits this kind of motor from many
mandatory requirement in the high-performance
applications. There are three main sources of torque
vector control method.
production (and therefore of the torque ripple) in

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 

ia*  va* INVERTER

id* Current
Torque Reference d-q  Controller
command ib*  Current vb* BLDC
currents * to PWM Load
T * i  Controller motor
generation q a-b-c ic*  Current v*
c Hall
 Controller sensors

ia
Measured currents ib  (ia  ic )
ic
Position Hall-signals
e processing
Position  e circuit

ea
ed
a-b-c
eb Look-up
to
eq Table
d-q ec

Speed m

Fig. 10 Block-diagram of the proposed Pseudo Vector-Control for BLDCM drives

BLDCMs: cogging torque, reluctance torque, and The electromagnetic power of motor is expressed
mutual torque. The torque ripple can be reduced by as:
(a) motor design; (b) control means; (c) or both of Pe  (ia .ea  ib .eb  ic .ec ) (1)
them. If in a BLDCM, either stator slots or rotor
where Pe is the electromagnetic power;
magnets are skewed by one slot pitch, the effect of the
ia, ib, ic is the motor current of the phase a, b, c,
first two torque components is greatly reduced.
respectively;
Therefore, if the waveforms of phase back-EMFs and
ea, eb, ec is the back-EMF of the phase a, b, c,
the phase currents are perfectly matched, torque ripple
respectively.
is minimized. However, perfect matching phase back-
By neglecting the motor friction loss, (1) can be
EMF and phase current is very difficult, considering
rewritten:
unbalanced magnetization and/or imperfect windings.
Moreover, due to the finite cut-off frequency of the Pe  (ia .ea  ib .eb  ic .ec )  Te .m (2)
current control loop, the transient error of the where Te is the electromagnetic torque and ωm is the
controlled currents always occurs, especially in motor mechanical angular speed.
commutation instants, when the current profile Therefore, the torque can be expressed as:
changes drastically and also, the turn-on and turn-off (ia .ea  ib .eb  ic .ec )
characteristics of the power devices are not identical. Te  (3)
This is one of the most critical problems in control of
m
BLDCM drives. Equation (3) shows the basic equation of the
In the conventional square-wave phase current electromechanical torque, which is a result of the
control (Fig. 9), for a given torque command, the interaction between the motor currents and the back-
reference currents depend only on Hall-sensor signal EMF produced in the motor by the permanent
showing the communication instants. The torque magnets (PM). It also explains the fact that if the
ripple is therefore inevitable. currents and EMF do not match each other, torque
We can find in literature a lot of efforts to reduce ripple occurs. This is therefore interesting to note that:
the torque ripple. However, the problem has been not in the control configuration, if the reference currents
completely resolved. are chosen in the manner that equation (3) is
respected, there would be no torque ripple.
(ia .ea  ib .eb  ic .ec )
* * *
3.2. Pseudo Vector-Control for BLDC motors
 Te
*
(4)
The new concept (Pseudo Vector-Control) that we m
proposed for controlling BLDCM has been for the
where the * denotes the reference and desired values.
purpose of dealing with the torque ripple problem.
This is now to discuss how to calculate the
If we can incorporate other information of the
reference currents from (4). The back-EMF can easily
drive into calculation of the reference currents ia*, ib*,
be estimated from the motor terminal variables, so
ic*, the performance of the system should be
they are considered to be known for a given speed.
improved. The basic idea of the proposed “Pseudo-
Let’s work in the synchronously rotating d-q frame
vector control” for BLDCM is to take the back-EMFs
instead of stationary a-b-c frame. The power equation
into account in calculation of reference currents (Fig.
(1) can be rewritten in d-q frame:
10). It can be derived from the power balance of the
control system as follows.

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3
3

2
2

1
1
is c (A)

is c (A)
0
0

-1 -1

-2 -2

-3
-3
0.4 0.405 0.41 0.415 0.42 0.425
t(s) 0.4 0.405 0.41 0.415 0.42 0.425
(a) t(s)
Torque respond (a)
Torque respond
0.52
0.52

0.5
0.5

0.48
0.48
Torque [N.m]

Torque [N.m]
0.46
0.46

0.44
0.44

0.42
0.42

0.4
0.4

0.21 0.215 0.22 0.225 0.23 0.235 0.24

Time [s] 0.21 0.215 0.22 0.225 0.23 0.235 0.24
Time [s]

(b) (b)
Flux trajectory Flux trajectory
0.03 0.03

0.02 0.02

0.01 0.01
Flux beta

Flux beta

0 0

-0.01 -0.01

-0.02 -0.02

-0.03 -0.03
-0.03 -0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 -0.03 -0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03
Flux alpha Flux alpha

(c) (c)
Fig. 11 Wave-forms of the conventional Phase Current Fig. 12 Wave-forms of the PVC for BLDCM drives
Control for BLDCM drives
The back-EMF in d-q frame ed, eq, e0 in (5) and (6)
Pe  (ia .ea  ib .eb  ic .ec ) are obtained from 3 phase EMF ea, eb, ec by Park’s
3 (5) transformation. As previously mentioned, the zero-
 .(id .ed  iq .eq  i0 .e0 )
2 sequence current i0 is forced to be zero in our system,
where the indexes d, q, 0 represent the variables in d- so only ed and eq need to be calculated using
axis, q-axis and zero-sequence, respectively. simplified Park’s transformation.
For a balance system it is desirable that the zero- 2  cos(e )  cos(e  23 )  cos(e  23 )
M   (8)
sequence current i0 is zero. Combining (4) and (5) 3  sin(e ) sin(e  23 ) sin(e  23 ) 
gives for reference and desired values:
3 *
where  e is the rotor position: e  e .t , with ωe is
Te . m  .(id .ed  iq .eq )
* *
(6) the electrical angular speed (ωe = ωm.p), ωm is the
2
Equation (6) means that if we can a priori select motor (mechanical) angular speed and p is the pole-
the reference current id*, we can calculate the pair number.
reference current iq*, for a given speed and desired Having calculated id*, iq*, the 3 phase reference
torque Te*. currents ia*, ib*, ic* are obtained by inverse Park
transformation M -1.
2 *
.Te . m  ed .id
*
  cos  e sin  e 
iq  3
* (7)  
M   cos(e  3 ) sin( e  23 ) 
1 2
(9)
eq
 cos( e  23 ) sin( e  23 )
As the desired torque contains no torque ripple,
the obtained torque is theoretically free of ripple if the It is worth to emphasis again here that by using the
current controllers work properly to yield currents reference currents ia*, ib*, ic* to control the system,
perfectly equal to the reference ones. there would be theoretically no torque ripple, because
the reference currents ia*, ib*, ic* was optimally

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2000
Rotor speed hand, the current wave-form of the PVC technique
1800 becomes trapezoidal in Fig. 12 (a), and no torque
1600 ripple is observed in Fig. 12 (b). It is noted that high-
1400
frequency noise in the current and the torque wave
1200
forms is the natural consequence of the hysteresis
Rotor speed (rmp)

1000
band in bang-bang current control, but it does not
800

600
harm the quality of produced torque.
400
To further evaluate the performance of the system,
200 the flux trajectory (ψα - ψβ) in the α-β frame is
0
speed ref
speed
examined. Fig. 11 (c) clearly shows the “cogs”, which
-200
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 have origin from the commutation at every 60 degree
Time (s)

(a) with id* = 0 in case of Phase Current Control. The sharp change of
Rotor speed current wave-form in commutation instants is
2000

1800
reflected in the flux. Again, the torque produced in the
1600
machine can also be considered as an interaction
1400 between rotor and stator flux. The torque ripple is
Rotor speed (rmp)

1200 therefore evident in this case, Fig. 11 (b).

1000
In contrast, the flux trajectory of the PVC method
800
in Fig. 12 (c) is nearly round, which can be explained
600

400
that the current wave-form of PVC is smooth, as
200
speed ref
speed
previously shown in Fig. 12 (a). This interesting
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
feature gives another explanation on the superiority of
Time (s) the proposed PVC over the conventional Phase
(b) with id* < 0 Current Control method [4], [5].
Flux trajectory
0.03 Note that the results in Figs. 11 and 12 were
carried out in the based-speed region with id* = 0 in
0.02 (7). The flux weakening for constant-power high-
speed mode can be achieved by injecting a negative d-
0.01
flux beta (Wb)

0
-0.01
-0.02
-0.03
-0.03
(c)
Fig. 13 Operation of the PVC in high-speed region
designed taking back-EMFs into account. The d-q
frame is utilized only for calculating these reference
currents, while the phase current control principle is
normally used in a-b-c frame.
3.3. Performance evaluation
In order to compare the performance of the
conventional Phase Current Control and of the
proposed PVC, let’s have a closer look to the system
with the wave-forms as depicted in Figs. 11 and 12.
The peaks at every 60 degree on the current wave
form, Fig. 11 (a), are due to phase commutation and
they correspond to the torque ripple. On the other
Base-speed axis current (id* < 0) into the control system, just like
High-speed
for the case of PMSMs (sine type machines) as shown
in Fig. 13: (a) with id* = 0 and (b) with id* < 0.
The proposed PVC has therefore 2 major
advantages: i) the torque ripple is greatly reduced, and
ii) the flux weakening for high-speed operation can be
achieved by injecting a negative d-axis current.
-0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03
flux alpha (Wb)
3.4. Applications
The PVC was designed for the next generation of
EPS using BLDCM of Nidec Co., Ltd. Although the
PVC has a lot of advantages, there were several
difficulties in realization. First, the rotor position
should be known, just like the case of traditional
vector control, because that information is required
for referential transformation (from a-b-c to d-q and
inversely from d-q to a-b-c). Second, the wave-form
of phase current is now trapezoidal, but no longer
quasi-square. The control system should yield the
actual phase currents as close the references one as
possible.
We have proposed different techniques to
overcome above 2 problems:

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Hội nghị - Triển lãm quốc tế lần thứ 4 về Điều khiển và Tự động hoá
Fig. 14 EPS system in cars (source: NSK Website)
 Estimation of angular velocity and rotation
angle using just available Hall-effect sensors
[6].
 Introduction of an advanced angle to the
current control loop in order to compensate
for the delay due to the natural feature of the
limit bandwidth of the control loop,
especially in high speed operation [7].
 Compensation for the EMF effect in control
loop to minimize the tracking and steady
error in order to realize a control drive with
less control error, stable controllability, small
motor output torque ripple, good wheel
steering feeling, and less motor noise [8].
 Compensation for dead-band effect of the
power converter, thus to improve the current
and torque response of the system [9].
The control system consists of PVC and
supporting techniques has already been developed for
the next generation of Automotive Electric Power
Steering systems (EPS) of NSK Steering Systems Co.
Ltd, as depicted in Fig. 14.
A car power steering reduces the amount of effort
needed to park or make tight turns. However, since
most conventional power steering systems use
hydraulic power assistance, their pump is in
continuous operation, thereby lead to substantial
energy loss. We can reduce such losses and improve
steering effectiveness by using electric power instead:
as the drive turns the wheel, a sensor judges the
resistance, and an electric motor is activated to give
the necessary amount of assistance. There’s no wasted
energy since the electric motor is only activated when
needed, so you save fuel and space too by eliminating
the hydraulic pump. And, since the arrangement is
controlled by electronic software, adding functions
such as vibration suppression to the steering wheel is
easy.
4. Discussion and Conclusion
"If you want to find the secrets of the Universe,
think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration",
said Nikola Tesla (1856-1943).
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VCCA-2017
The first alternating-current commutatorless
induction motors have been independently invented
by Galileo Ferraris and Nikola Tesla, a working motor
model having been demonstrated by the former in
1885 and by the latter in 1887. Tesla applied for U.S.
patents in October and November 1887 and was
granted some of these patents in May 1888 [source:
Wikipedia].
Three-phase squirrel-cage induction motors are
widely used in industrial drives because they are
rugged, reliable and economical. Single-phase
induction motors are used extensively for smaller
loads, such as household appliances like fans. IMs
have been used traditionally in fixed-speed service,
because variable-speed control is very difficult for
this kind of machine.
The invention of vector control in the1970s (Hasse
1969, Blaschke 1972), and the demonstration that an
induction motor can be controlled like a separately
excited DC motor, brought a renaissance in the high-
performance control of AC motor drives. Vector
Control has been really a breakthrough technology!
In the conventional Vector Control, the flux
producing current Id is always kept constant at its
rated value in the base speed region. In EOC,
however, it is adjusted in function of load, in the way
that the energy consumption is minimal.
The conventional Vector Control cannot be
normally applied to BLDCMs, due to the fact that
terminal variables (currents, voltages) and back-EMFs
wave-form are not sinusoidal. We have used the
Vector Control principle in calculating the reference
currents for BLDCM drives. PVC makes current
wave-form trapezoidal, minimizes torque ripples and
makes flux-weakening operation possible.
Our planet is facing a global warming problem
due to the greenhouse effect, originating from
industrial and living emissions. Raw materials and
especially natural fuels are gradually depleted. The
quality of life, even the existence of humanity, is
threatened. More than ever, science and technology
are the effective means by which humans can exploit
and preserve nature.
Our proposed techniques have been widely used in
industry, so we can say that the work has contributed
a little to maintaining our affluent life and to
conserving the global environment perpetually, the
major challenges of the scientists and electrical
engineers today.
Reference
[1] Minh Ta-Cao, Hoang Le-Huy, "Model
Reference Adaptive Fuzzy Controller and Fuzzy
Estimator for High Performance Induction
Motor Drives", Conference Record of the 1996
IEEE Industry Applications Society, San Diego,
USA, Oct. 1996, Vol. 1, pp. 380-387.
[2] Cao-Minh Ta and Yoichi Hori, "Convergence
Improvement of Efficiency-optimization
Control of Induction Motor Drives", IEEE
Hội nghị - Triển lãm quốc tế lần thứ 4 về Điều khiển và Tự động hoá VCCA-2017

Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 37,

No. 6, Nov./Dec. 2001, pp. 1746-1753.
[3] Cao-Minh Ta, Toshiyuki Uchida, Yoichi Hori,
“MRAS-based Speed Sensorless Control for
Induction Motor Drives using Instantaneous
Reactive Power”, Annual Conference on IEEE
Industrial Electronics Society (IEEE-
IECON'01), Denver, USA, Nov. 28 – Dec.7,
2001, pp. 1417-1422.
[4] Cao-Minh Ta, “Pseudo-vector Control - An
Alternative Approach for Brushless DC Motor
Drives”, IEEE International Electric Machines
and Drives Conference (IEEE-IEMDC 2011),
Niagara Falls, Canada, May 2011, pp. 1543-
1548.
[5] CaoMinh Ta, Shuji Endo, “Motor and drive
control device therefor”, Patent number: US
7339346 B2, Filed: November 27, 2003,
Issued: March 4, 2008, Assignee: NSK Ltd.
[6] CaoMinh Ta, Shuji Endo, Hideyuki Kobayashi,
Masahide Saito, “Motor drive apparatus and
electric power steering apparatus”, Patent
number: US 7187154 B2, Filed: April 27, 2005,
Issued: March 6, 2007, Assignees: NSK Ltd.,
NSK Steering Systems Co., Ltd.
[7] CaoMinh Ta, Hideyuki Kobayashi, Shuji Endo,
“Control device for electric power steering Minh C. Ta graduated with Red
apparatus”, Patent number: US 7443131 B2, Diploma (First Class Honors) from
Filed: December 12, 2004, Issued: October 28, Institute of Technology in Pilsen
2008, Assignees: NSK Ltd., NSK Steering (Univ. of West Bohemia now),
Systems Co., Ltd. Czech Republic in 1986 and
[8] CaoMinh Ta, ChunHao Jiang, Shuji Endo, received Ph.D. degree in Electrical
“Controller for electric power steering device” Engineering at Laval University,
Patent number: US 7499780 B2, Filed: May 14, Canada in 1998. He spent 6 years
2004, Issued: March 3, 2009, Assignees: NSK working in Japan (1998 – 2004), at Kyushu
Ltd., NSK Steering Systems Co., Ltd. University, The University of Tokyo and at NSK
[9] CaoMinh Ta, Hiroaki Takase, Hideyuki Steering Systems Ltd. Co. He became Associate
Kobayashi, “Device for controlling electric- Professor at the Department of Industrial Automation,
motor power steering device”, Patent Hanoi University of Science and Technology
number: US 7345442 B2, Filed: September 1, (HUST), Vietnam in 2009. Besides, he has been the
2004, Issued: March 18, 2008, Assignees: NSK Founder and Director of the Center for Technology
Ltd., NSK Steering Systems Co., Ltd. Innovation, HUST since 2009. He has been
[10] http://www.nsk.com/products/automotive/chassi appointed several visiting professorship positions: in
s/electricsteering/ Taiwan (2010), Australia (2012), France (2015, 2016)
[11] Bimal K. Bose, Modern Power Electronics and and Germany (2017). His research interest is focused
AC Drives, Prentice Hall, 2001, on Advanced Control of Electric Motor Drives,
[12] Isao Takahashi, "Toshihiko Noguchi, A New Control of Electric Vehicles, Power Electronics
Quick-Response and High-Efficiency Control Converters for Renewable Energy/Smart Grid
Strategy of an Induction Motor", IEEE Trans. applications.
on Industry Applications, Vol. 5, Sep/Oct 1986, Dr. Minh is the author/co-author of 14 Japanese
pp. 820-827. patents (12 of which also granted in US/EP), 37
[13] M. Depenbrock, Direct Self-Control of The flux international peer-reviewed journal/conference papers
and Rotary Moment of A Rotary-Field Machine, and 24 national peer-reviewed journal/conference
4,678,248 (US patent), Jul. 1987. papers. He was recipient of the Second Prize Paper
Award of the IEEE Industrial Drives Committee in
2000, the 2012 Patent Business Contribution Reward
of NSK Ltd. Co., Japan, and the Third Nagamori
Awards, 2017. Dr. Minh has been IEEE Senior
Member since 2004 and served as IEEE Vietnam
Section Chair during 2008 – 2011. He is presently the

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Hội nghị - Triển lãm quốc tế lần thứ 4 về Điều khiển và Tự động hoá VCCA-2017

General Secretary of the Vietnam Automation

Association.

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