Analysis of a Large Power PMSM Using Different Control Methods

Institute of Electrical Engineering Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100080, China Automation Research and Design Institute of Metallurgical Industry, Beijing, 100071, China Three types of current control schemes are usually used to the PMSM. These control methods are i) the i sd = 0 control method, ii) unity power factor control method, iii) constant air-gap flux linkage control method. The performance, such as the characteristics of voltage, current, power factor, load angle, capacity factor, etc., of the controlled motor is often used to evaluate a control method. Using phasor diagrams, this paper analyzes the characteristics of a surface magnet PMSM with sinusoidal windings used in a marine propulsion system. Moreover, these characteristics are simulated using MATLAB. The analysis and simulation are done for the three different types of control methods mentioned above. Finally, conclusions are made for these control methods. The parameters of the PMSM and the normal SM analyzed in this paper are shown in Table I. II. MODEL OF PMSM The commonly used model for analyzing the PMSM is formed under dq synchronously rotating reference frame ( dq reference frame). In order to facilitate the derivation of the model, the following assumptions are made. i) The saturation of iron core is neglected. ii) Eddy current loss and magnetic hysteresis loss are negligible. iii) Symmetrically three-phase sinusoidal currents are applied to the PMSM. iv) There are no damper windings. Under these assumptions, the dq reference frame model of the PMSM is as follows.
TABLE I MOTOR PARAMETERS Parameters Normal SM PMSM Rated Power (MW) 5 3.8 Rated Stator Voltage 1650 2900 (V) Rated Stator Current 1800 920 (A) Rated Frequency 6.67 11.25 (Hz) Power Factor 1.0 0.85 Stator Leakage Reac0.0823 0.08 tance d-axis Armature 1.59 0.605 Reaction Reactance q-axis Armature 0.89 0.551 Reaction Reactance Stator Resistance 0.0233 0.0217
1

Zhao Xiaotan1, Li Chongjian2, Li Yaohua1, Wang Chengsheng1

AbstractThis paper analyzes the characteristics of a large power surface magnet PMSM with sinusoidal windings used in a marine propulsion system using phasor diagrams. Also, these characteristics are simulated using MATLAB. The analysis and simulation are done for three different types of current control schemes, that is, the

i sd = 0

con-

trol method, unity power factor control method, and constant air-gap flux linkage control method. Based on the performance of the PMSM under these different control methods, a conclusion is drawn that the

i sd = 0

control method

is superior to the other two control methods in marine propulsion systems when the armature reaction reactance is low.

I. INTRODUCTION Electrically driven propulsion systems offer the prospect of improved maneuverability, greater efficiency, reduced acoustic noise and greater flexibility of equipment layout. So they are widely used in both surface and submersible marine crafts. Over the last decade, a new propulsion named podded propulsion is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to conventional diesel-mechanical or dieselelectrical propulsion especially in cruise ships. Podded propulsion is an electric drive propulsion unit, azimuthing through 360 degrees around its vertical axis. The azimuthing unit incorporates an electric AC motor, which directly drives a fixed pitch propeller. The electric motor is speed controlled by a frequency converter, with full torque available in either direction from zero to nominal speed. The main important features for podded propulsion are less noise, improved maneuverability, additional space for extra payload, energy saving and more speed. Due to the above-mentioned key benefits along with some other associated advantages, pods are receiving increased attention for other types of ships like tankers, ice going vessels, supply vessels and semi-submersibles. Marine propulsion system needs large power motor. The large power electric AC motor is placed in the waterproof pod for podded propulsion. So problems caused by the volume, weight, ventilation, etc. of the motor arise. Using new magnet materials for field excitation, the PMSM allows a considerable reduction in motor volume, weight and inertia with attendant increases in specific power and torque. Another advantage of the PMSM is that the PMSM doesnt need cooling systems for the rotor due to no heat generated from it. These advantages, coupled with the development of power electronics and control techniques, make the large power PMSM popular in the application of marine propulsion systems.

416

u sd =

d sd r sq + R s i sd dt d sq u sq = + r sd + R s i sq dt sd = L d i sd + L ad i f sq = L q i sq
M e = sd i sq sq i sd
(1) are d -axis and q -axis stator volt-

2 2 u s = u sd + u sq = ( r f + R s i s ) 2 + ( r L q i s ) 2

(4) And the load angle and the power factor angle can be computed from

tan =
tan =

(L aq + L sl )i sq f

Lqis f

, (5)

where u sd and u sq

r Lqis u sd = . u sq r f + R s i s

ages respectively, i sd and i sq are d -axis and

q -axis

where L sl is the stator leakage inductance. The load angle is equal to stator resistance R s . Fig.2 shows the phasor diagram, neglecting stator resistance, for the i sd = 0 control method while load current varying. When the PMSM runs without load, i 0 , noload magnetizing current which is the vector sum of all no-load currents, equals to i f . The stator voltage u s equals to e 0 , no-load induced emf. And the vector u s locates on q -axis. When the PMSM runs with load, i s appears on q -axis. Thus the load angle and the power factor angle are formed. If the stator current increases, from i s to i s , vector i , load magnetizing current, shifts along the line MM . The amplitude value of i is computed as follows.
2 i = i f2 + i s
'

stator currents respectively, sd and sq are d -axis and

when neglecting the

q -axis stator flux linkages respectively, i f is the equivalent field current of permanent magnet, M e is the electromagnetic torque, r is the rotor angular frequency, R s is the stator resistance, L ad and L aq are d -axis and q -axis armature reaction inductances respectively, L d and L q are d -axis and q -axis synchronous inductances
respectively. III. ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT CONTROL SCHEMES FOR THE PMSM Because the rotor magnetic field of the PMSM is uncontrollable, the control schemes for it are different from that for the synchronous motor with excitation winding. The torque control comes down to the control of i sd and i sq if the system parameters remain constant, which can be known from the PMSM model under dq reference frame. There are many kinds of combination modes for i sd and i sq . Therefore, different control schemes for the PMSM are formed. (1) The i sd = 0 control method. It is the simplest method for the PMSM to adopt the rotor flux linkage orientation control under dq reference frame and let i sd equals to zero. Using this control method, the torque is proportional to the q -axis stator current. That is

'

(6)

During this period, the vector u s shifts along the line NN . The amplitude value of u s increases as the effect of armature reaction enhances. The power factor angle becomes bigger and cos decreases.
'

r L q i sq

us

R sis
r f is

M e = f i sq
where f is the field flux linkage.

(2)

Fig.1 shows the phasor diagram for the i sd = 0 control method. The following equations can be obtained from Fig.1.

if

(L aq + L sl )i sq

r
f
d
control method

u sd = r L q i sq = r L q i s u sq = r f + R s i sq = r f + R s i s
(3) Thus, the amplitude value of the stator voltage can be derived as follows.

Fig.1. Phasor diagram for the i sd

=0

417

i N r L q i s r L q i s s N e0 = r f us u'
s

is

2
u s2

r L d i s2

1 q e0

is

i
is
3
u s3

r L d i s3

3 4
i s4
i 3 i s3

i 0 = i f

d
r L d i s4

Fig.2. Phasor diagram for the i sd = 0 control method while load current varying

i 4

i 2

2 i s2

u s4

1
2 3 4 if
d

(2) Unity power factor control method. The power factor is fixed to 1 for this method. Fig.3 shows the phasor diagram for unity power factor control method. The following equation can be obtained from Fig.3.

Fig.4. Phasor diagram for unity power factor control method while load current varying

tan =

u sd u sq

When the PMSM runs without load, no-load magnetizing current i 0 equals to i f and locates at point 1 on d -axis. The stator voltage u s locates on q -axis and its equation is u s = e 0 = r f . When the load current appears, vectors i s and i must be in quadrature to ensure unity power factor, that is, vectors i s and u s are in the same phase. Thus, currents

(7)

where is the angle between the vector i s and q -axis. Substituting (1) into (7), then

= arcsin

f + ( f ) + 4(L q L d )L i
2

2 q s

4(L q L d )i s

(8)

Substituting (8) into (9) and (10), the equations of u s and M e can be obtained.

i , i f and i s form a right triangle, satisfying

2 i = i f2 i s .

(11)

u s = ( r L q i s cos + R s i s sin )

2 2 1/2

In this triangle, i is smaller than i f . Therefore, s

+ ( r L d i s sin + r f + R s i s cos )
2 M e = f i s cos + 1/2(L q L d )i s sin2

(9) (10)

is smaller than f . The stator voltage u s , no-load induced emf e 0 and voltage drop r L d i s caused by armature reaction also form a right triangle.
2 u s = e0 ( r L d i s ) 2

Fig.4 shows the phasor diagram, neglecting R s and the salient effect, for PMSM using unity power factor control method while load current varying. The following aspects are obtained from this figure.

(12)

That is, u s is smaller than e 0 . And the electromagnetic torque is

2 M e = s i s = L d i i s = L d i s i f2 i s

us R s i s r L q i sq

r f r L d i sd

(13)

Vectors i and u s move along two different circular arcs as i s increases. The diameters of these arcs are equal to the values of i f and e 0 respectively. At point 3 in Fig.4, the product of i and i s is the maximum. The maximum value deviates from this point for salient motors. At this moment, the load angle can be computed by

is

i sq
r

i sd

tan 3 =

i s3 = 1. i 3

(14)

Fig.3. Phasor diagram for unity power factor control method

Therefore,

418

3 =

. 4

(15)

Then, i 3 and i s3 can be derived from

i 3 = i f cos i s3 = i 3 =

if = , 4 2 if 2
.

(16)

Thus the maximum torque is

M emax = L d i 3i s3 =

1 L d i f2 . (17) 2 If the stator current i s increases continuously, vector

Fig.5. Phasor diagram of currents for constant air-gap flux linkage control method

i moves to point 4 along the arc. At this point, the load and i s is far greater than that 4 of i . The stator voltage u s decreases further as i s inangle is far greater than creases and the voltage drop caused by armature reaction is greater than u s . The torque also decreases. (3) Constant air- gap flux linkage control method. Fig.5 shows the current phasor diagram for this control method. For the PMSM, the equivalent field current i f is a constant. The magnetizing current i should be also a constant to ensure constant . From

Fig.6 shows the voltage phasor diagram for this control method. The current component i sm is needed to generate assist-magnetizing component to maintain constant i f . But this assist-magnetizing component causes an angle between vectors u s and i s . Thus, the power factor is no longer 1. The angle

ut

between the vector u s and

T -axis is

ut = arctan
T -axis is

i st R s + r L sl i st . r + r L sl i sm

(22)

Similarly, the angle (18)

it

between the vector i s and

i = i sm + i f cos
derived

and i sm = 0 at = 0 , the following equation can be

it = arctan

i sm . i st

(23)

i = i sm + i cos
flux linkage direction, which is M -axis. That is,

(19)

where i sm is the current component along the air-gap

= ut + it .

Therefore, the power factor angle is (24) The air-gap flux linkage maintains constant for

i sm = i (1 cos ) =
where

(1 cos ) L ad

(20)

this control method, satisfying = f . Then, the torque is

(25) (26)

M e = i st = f i st

2 i st 1 2 2 i f i st cos = 1 sin = 1 2 = if if 2

and i st is the current component along the direction in quadrature to the air-gap flux linkage, which is T -axis. Because i equals to i f , Equation (20) becomes
2 2 i sm = i (1 cos ) = i i i st .

(21)

The flux component i sm of stator current increases with i st , making the vector i moves along the circular arc NN with constant amplitude value i f .
'

Fig.6. Phasor diagram of voltage for constant air-gap flux linkage control method

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IV. SIMULATION The characteristics of this PMSM under control of different methods are simulated using MATALAB. (1) The i sd = 0 control method. The simulation results of the PMSM and the normal SM are shown in Fig.7 and Fig.8 respectively. Table II lists the comparison of the characteristics. Obviously, the performance of the PMSM is superior to that of the normal SM due to its lower armature reaction resistance value. To sum up, the advantages of i sd = 0 control method are as follows. i) The torque is proportional to the amplitude value of the stator current, which is similar to that of the DC motor. ii) This control method is simple and has no demagnetization effect. But this method causes low power factor. (2) Unity power factor control method. Fig.9 shows the characteristics of the PMSM using cos = 1 control method. Torque M e increases with

stator voltage maintains constant approximately and the torque is linearly controllable. But this method needs greater current component i sm to assist magnetizing.

Fig.7. Characteristics of

i sd = 0

control method for PMSM

i s at the beginning. It arrives to its peak value M emax when i s comes to a certain value i sMemax . After that, M e decreases though i s increases. The curve M e is divided into two areas A and B by i sMemax , as shown in Fig.9. The stator voltage u s is descending. This trend becomes seriously as i s increases. The stator voltage u s is approximately above 0.8 in area A . When the PMSM runs in area A , M e increases with i s , i s is less than i sMemax and u s is greater than that in area B . Torque M e decreases as i s increases and i s is greater than i sMemax after the PMSM runs in area B .
When using this control method in practice, the characteristics of both area A and area B should be considered. The capacity of the motor is taken full advantage of in unity power factor control method. But the maximum torque available in this method is smaller than that in other control methods. (3) Constant air-gap flux linkage control method Fig.10 shows the characteristics for the same PMSM as mentioned above using constant air-gap flux linkage control method. The stator voltage u s maintains constant approximately. The current component i sm increases with i st . When the current component i st arrives at its rated value, the current component i sm is approximately equal to i st , the load angle becomes 90 degrees and the power factor is 0.68. In sum, when using constant air-gap flux linkage control method to PMSM, the power factor is acceptable, the

Fig.8. Characteristics of

i sd = 0

control method for normal SM

TABLE II COMPARISON BETWEEN PMSM AND NORMAL SM PMSM Normal SM

i s =1[p.u.] u s ([p.u.]) cos

1.207 31.8 degrees 0.85

i s =2[p.u.]
1.5 45 degrees 0.707

i s =1[p.u.]
1.49 46.3 degrees 0.69

i s =2[p.u.]
2.4 64.5 degrees 0.43

Fig.9. Characteristics of

cos = 1 control method for PMSM

Fig.10. Characteristics of constant air-gap flux linkage control method for PMSM

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V. CONCLUSION Large power PMSMs are widely used in podded propulsion systems. In this paper, the performance of the large power PMSM are used to evaluate three different control methods. From the simulation results and phasor diagrams analysis, the following conclusions can be made i) For the i sd = 0 control method, the torque is proportional to the amplitude value of the stator current. This control method is simple and has no demagnetization effect. It is superior to the other two control methods when the value of the armature reaction reactance is low. Though the capacity of the motor is taken full advantage of in unity power factor control method, the

maximum torque available in this method is smaller than that in other control methods. iii) The power factor is acceptable for the constant airgap flux linkage control method. But this method needs greater current component i sm to assist magnetizing. REFERENCES
[1] Li Chongjian, Research on Field-Oriented Control of Synchronous Motors, Ph.D. dissertation, Tsinghua University, China, 1993. [2] Bimal K. Bose, Modern Power Electronics and AC Drives. China Machine Press, 2003.1. [3] Li Fahai, Zhu Dongqi, Electromechanics. Science Press, 2001

ii)

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