Ch-3,Control Of Electrical Drives

Drives where the driving motor runs at a nearly fixed speed are
known as constant speed or single speed drives, drives
needing stepless change in speed and multispeed drives are
called variable speed drives.Speed range of a variable speed
drive depends on the application.

A variable speed drive is called constant torque drive if the

drive’s maximum torque capability does not change with
change in speed setting, the corresponding mode of operation
is called constant torque mode., note that term constant
torque term refers to maximum torque capability of the drive and
not to the actual output torque which may vary from no load to
full load.

It is required that the motor speed should remain constant as

load torque is changed from no load to full load, but actually
speed drops with increase of load, quality of speed control is
measured in terms of speed regulation

Speed regulation =(No load speed-Full load Speed) x

100%

Full load speed

Electrical drives have become the most essential equipment now
days in the electrical motors and other rotating machines. We
know that electrical drives mainly accomplishes three kinds of
work,
1. Starting
2. Speed control
3. Braking
It can be said that the electrical drives enable us to control the
motor in every aspect. But control of electrical drives is also
necessary because all the functions accomplished by the drives
are mainly transient operations i.e the change in terminal
voltage, current, etc are huge which may damage the motor
temporarily or permanently. That’s why the need of controlling
the drives rises and there are various methods and equipment’s
to control different parameters of the drives which are discussed
later.

Closed Loop Control of Drives

In a control system, there are two types of systems, one is open
loop and the other is closed loop control system. In open loop
control system the output has no effect on the input, i.e the
controlling phenomenon is independent of the output, on the
other hand closed loop control system is much more advanced
and scientific, here the output is fed back to the input terminal
which determines the amount of input to the system, for example
if the output is more than predetermined value the input is
reduced and vice-versa. In electrical drives feedback loops or
closed loop control satisfy the following requirements.
1. Protection
2. Enhancement of speed of response
3. To improve steady-state accuracy
In the following discussions, we will see through different closed
loop configurations which are used in electrical drives
irrespective of the type of supply they are fed, i.e DC or AC.

Current Limit Control

During the starting, we know if precautionary measures are not
taken there is a chance of huge current flow through the motor
circuit. To limit the current and sense the current fed to the
motor, current limit controller is installed. The feedback loop
does not effect the normal operation of the drive but if the
current exceeds the predetermined safe limit, the feedback loop
activates and the current is brought down below the safe limit.
Once the current is brought down below the safe limit the
feedback loop again deactivates and in this way the control of
current takes place.

During the starting, we know if precautionary measures are not

taken there is a chance of huge current flow through the motor
circuit. To limit the current and sense the current fed to the
motor, current limit controller is installed. The feedback loop
does not effect the normal operation of the drive but if the
current exceeds the predetermined safe limit, the feedback loop
activates and the current is brought down below the safe limit.
Once the current is brought down below the safe limit the
feedback loop again deactivates and in this way the control of
current takes place.

Closed Loop Torque Control

This type of torque controller is seen mainly in battery operated
vehicles like cars, trains etc. the accelerator present in the
vehicles is pressed by the driver to set the reference torque T.
The actual torque T follows the T* which is controlled by the
driver via accelerator.

Closed Loop Speed Control

Speed control loops are perhaps the most widely used feedback
loops for drives. If we first see the block diagram of this loop
then it will be a lot easier for us to understand.

We can see from the diagram that there are two control loops,
which can be said as an inner loop and outer loop. The inner
current control loop limits the converter and motor current or
motor torque below the safe limit. Now we can understand the
function of the control loop and drive by practical examples.

An increase in the reference speed ωm* produces a positive error

Δωm, speed error is processed through a speed controller and
applied to a current limiter which saturates even for a small
speed error. Consequently, limiter sets current reference for
inner current control loop at a value corresponding to the
maximum allowable current, Drive accelerates at the maximum
allowable current ( and in some cases at the maximum torque),
When close to the desired speed, limiter desaturates. Steady
state is reached at the desired speed(with some steady state
error) and at current for which motor torque is equal to the load
torque.

A decrease in reference speed ωm* produces a negative speed

error, current limiter saturates and sets current reference for
ineercurrent loop at a value corresponding to the maximum
allowable current. Consequently , drive decelerates in braking
mode at the maximum allowable current. When close to the
required speed, current limiter desaturates. The operation is
transferred from braking to motoring. Drive then settles at a
desired speed and at current for which motor torque equals the
load torque.

In those drives where the current I does not have to reverse for
braking operation, current limiterwill have the input-output
characteristic as shown in figure above.In those drive
applicationswhere the load torque is able to provide enough
decelerating torque, electric braking need not bt used.Then also
the current limiter has the characteristic as shown above.

Suppose the reference speed Wm* increases and there is a

positive error ΔWm, which indicates that the speed is needed to
be increased.
Now the inner loop increases the current keeping it under
maximum allowable current. And then the driver accelerates,
when the speed reaches the desired speed then the motor torque
is equal to the load torque and there is a decrease in the
reference speed Wm which indicates that there is no need of any
more acceleration but there must be deceleration, and braking is
done by the speed controller at maximum allowable current. So,
we can say that during speed controlling the function transfers
from motoring to braking and from braking to motoring
continuously for the smooth operation and running of the motor.

Assignment: Speed sensing and Direction Sensing,

Position sensing, Current Sensing
Phase-Locked-Loop(PLL) Control

A PI controller ideally should provide perfect speed

regulation. However, due to imperfections in sensing and control
circuits, the closed-loop schemes described earlier can at best
achieve a speed regulation of 0.2%. The Phase Locked Loop
Control (PLL) can achieve a speed regulation as low as 0.002%
which can be useful in conveyers for material handling, paper
and textile mills, and computer peripherals.

The Phase Locked Loop Control are available as inexpensive

integrated circuits. Their circuit is shown in Fig. 3.11(a). Two
pulse trains reference pulse train of frequency f * and the
feedback pulse train of frequency f are compared in a phase
detector. Output of the phase detector produces a pulse-width
modulated output Vc. Pulse-width of Vc depends on the
phase difference between the two input pulse trains and
polarity depends on the sign of phase difference (i.e. lag or load)
between them.
The output of the phase detector is filtered by the loop filter to
obtain a dc signal and applied as control voltage to a voltage
controlled oscillator (VCO); the output of which is the feedback
signal f. Because of the closed-loop, VCO output frequency
changes in a direction that reduces the phase difference. When
steady state is reached, f becomes exactly equal to f* and the
loop is said to have locked.

Control voltage required by VCO to produce f equal to f* comes

from the phase difference between the two input signals. If now
f* is altered, f will follow the change and control voltage required
by VCO will be obtained by the adjustment of phase difference
between the two input signals.

Closed Loop Position Control

A Closed Loop Position Control scheme is shown in Fig. 3.12. It

consists of a closed-loop speed control system with an inner
current control loop inside an outermost position loop. Current
and speed-loop restrict the current and speed within safe limits,
enhance the speed of response, reduce the effects of
nonlinearities in the converter, motor and load (such as
nonlinear transfer characteristic of converter, coulomb friction,
variation of parameters due to temperature and friction) on the
transient and steady state performance of the position control
system. Position controls are required in a number of drive
applications, e.g. feed drive in machine tools, schrew down
mechanism in rolling mills.

Source of the text: Fundamental of Eletrical Drive – G K Dubey and internet.