Motor Control Applications Research Articles

Stepper Motor Controlled by Pic 16F84 Microcontroller

Background: Most times in engineering and other fields, engines need to be transformed from one form to another, in circuits and most components we are familiar with, electrical engines, impulses, digital information and etc needs to be changed from one level to another, this is done by a motor, be it in any kind, pending on the desired function. This literature review examines various research that has been done using the PIC 16F84 microcontroller for the control of stepper motors. The PIC 16F84 is a popular choice for stepper motor control applications due to its simplicity, low cost, and ease of programmability.

Design and Analysis of Receiver Coils with Multiple In-Series Windings for Inductive Eddy Current Angle Position Sensors Based on Coupling of Coils on Printed Circuit Boards.

We present a method for improving the amplitude and angular error of inductive position sensors, by advancing the design of receiver coil systems with multiple windings on two layers of a printed circuit board. Multiple phase-shifted windings are connected in series, resulting in an increased amplitude of the induced voltage while decreasing the angular error of the sensor. The amplitude increase for a specific number of windings can be predicted in closed form. Windings are placed electrically in series by means of a differential connection structure, without adversely affecting the signal quality while requiring a minimal amount of space in the layout. Further, we introduce a receiver coil centerline function which specifically enables dense, space-constrained designs. It allows for maximization of the number of possible coil windings while minimizing the impact on angular error. This compromise can be fine-tuned freely with a shape parameter. The application to a typical rotary encoder design for motor control applications with five periods is presented as an example and analyzed in detail by 3D finite-element simulation of 18 different variants, varying both the number of windings and the type of centerline functions. The best peak-to-peak angular error achieved in the examples is smaller than 0.1° electrically (0.02° mechanically, periodicity 5) under nominal tolerance conditions, in addition to an amplitude increase of more than 170% compared to a conventional design which exhibits more than twice the angular error. Amplitude gains of more than 270% are achieved at the expense of increased angular error.

An Experimental Investigation on VSI-fed Induction Motor using Xilinx ZYNQ-7000 SoC Controller

In medium voltage and high-power drive applications, pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques are widely used to achieve effective speed control of AC motors. In real-time, an industrial drive system requires reduced hardware complexity and low computation time. The reliability of the AC drive can be improved with the FPGA (field programmable gate array) hardware equipped with digital controllers. To improve the performance of AC drives, a new FPGA-based Wavect real-time prototype controller (Xilinx ZYNQ-7000 SoC) is used to verify the effectiveness of the controller. These advanced controllers are capable of reducing computation time and enhancing the drive performance in real-time applications. The comparative performance analysis is carried out for the most commonly used voltage source inverter (VSI)-based PWM techniques such as sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) and space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) for three-phase, two-level inverters. The comparative study shows the SVPWM technique utilizes DC bus voltage more effectively and produces less harmonic distortion in terms of higher output voltage, flexible control of output frequency, and reduced harmonic distortion at output voltage for motor control applications. The simulation and hardware results are verified and validated by using MATLAB/Simulink software and FPGA-based Wavect real-time controller respectively.

Single-Phase Induction Motor Control Panel

Abstract: This research paper presents the design and implementation of a Single Phase Induction Motor Control Panel using Arduino technology. The control panel integrates various components such as connecting wire, DP Pole MCB, connector, AC voltage sensor, current sensor, power supply sensor, Arduino Uno, temperature sensor, and float sensor. The Arduino serves as the central control unit of the panel, enabling precise measurement and control of voltage, current, and temperature. The panel is designed for portability and ease of use, making it suitable for educational purposes and practical experiments in motor control applications.

Hexagonal zoning deadbeat model predictive control of induction motor

AbstractDeadbeat model predictive control is known as a precise control method in motor control applications. Recently, finite set deadbeat control is applied to power electronics applications. A voltage‐based cost function is used to select the closest voltage vector to the reference vector by examining all possible states in the cost function. This method needs a high amount of computation when it is applied to multilevel inverters or virtual voltage vectors due to a considerable increase in the number of candidates. Some studies have been done to reduce the number of candidate voltage vectors and computation burden. The methodology in these methods is based on finding the adjacent area and applying the vertex vectors to the cost function. So, these strategies are multi‐step and complex. The hexagonal zoning deadbeat model predictive control is proposed and introduced. The basic idea of the proposed method is that each zone should contain only one vector. In this way, the area identification is equal to finding the optimum voltage selection. Hexagonal zoning is used, which simplifies the process of identifying the area. A simple area identification method is developed based on the reference voltage phase angle. The proposed method can be applied to different inverters with different spatial vector diagrams. Furthermore, the synthesis of the virtual vector is manipulated to reduce the torque and flux ripple. The proposed method is experimentally evaluated by applications to the virtual voltage switching of a two‐level inverter for the induction motor drive in this research.

A Unified User-Generic Framework for Myoelectric Pattern Recognition: Mix-up and Adversarial Training for Domain Generalization and Adaptation.

To address cross-user variability problem in the myoelectric pattern recognition, a novel method for domain generalization and adaptation using both mix-up and adversarial training strategies, termed MAT-DGA, is proposed in this paper. This method enables integration of domain generalization (DG) with unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) into a unified framework. The DG process highlights user-generic information in the source domain for training a model expected to be suitable for a new user in a target domain, where the UDA process further improves the model performance with a few unlabeled testing data from the new user. In this framework, both mix-up and adversarial training strategies were also applied to each of both the DG and UDA processes by exploiting their complementary advantages towards enhanced integration of both processes. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated via experiments of classifying seven hand gestures using high-density myoelectric data recorded from extensor digitorum muscles of eight intact-limbed subjects. It yielded a high accuracy of 95.71±4.17% and outperformed other UDA methods significantly (p<0.05) under cross-user testing scenarios. Moreover, it reduced the number of calibration samples required in the UDA process (p<0.05) after its initial performance had already been lifted by the DG process. The proposed method provides an effective and promising way of establishing cross-user myoelectric pattern recognition control systems. Our work helps to promote development of user-generic myoelectric interfaces, with wide applications in motor control and health.

Developed an Improved Fractional Ordered Darwinian Particle Swarm Optimization Using Fuzzy Logic Controller to Improve the Performance Measures on E-Vehicle

This study introduces the improved fractional ordered Darwinian particle swarm optimization (IFODPSO) method combined with fuzzy logic controllers to optimize motor performance. By utilizing direct torque control (DTC) techniques controlled by IFODPSO, the system achieves quick response times and instantaneous torque generation. The research addresses the optimization of motor performance using the IFODPSO approach for combination with fuzzy logic controllers. The specific problem being addressed is the control of torque in motor applications. The scope of the research includes comparing the performance of the IFODPSO-FLC approach with common field-oriented control (FOC) as well as DTC approaches. The significance of the results attained is noteworthy as the IFODPSO-FLC approach demonstrates promising outcomes in terms of torque control compared to traditional FOC and DTC techniques. Additionally, the proposed PI-fuzzy opposition estimation helps improve system efficiency at low speeds by compensating for variations in stator resistance. The combination of fuzzy logic controllers and Darwinian particle swarm optimization of fractional order approaches presents a novel and efficient solution. The results are evaluated using MATLAB-Simulink, and the obtained performance demonstrates the potential for successful motor control applications.

Research on Sensorless Control of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Based on Novel Sliding Mode Observer

In this paper, an improved SMO system is proposed to solve the problems of jitter and poor interference immunity of the conventional SMO system, the system is improved by replacing and adding three new simulation modules. Starting from the ideas of the “quasi-sliding module” and “boundary layer” of sliding mode control theory, by replacing the symbolic function in the conventional observer with an exponential segmentation function, which can effectively suppress the jitter phenomenon. And for different speed motor control application scenarios, a variable sliding mode gain coefficient that can be dynamically changed with the motor speed is used. For the system’s anti-jitter performance to be improved, a variable sliding mode gain coefficient that can be dynamically changed with the motor speed is introduced, which has stronger self-adaptability in different speed scenarios. An improved SMO system is formed by adding three new and improved modules, and this basis is tested experimentally on the MATLAB/Simulink simulation platform. The SMO with the addition of three new modules can be tested by simulation experiments to know that it has stronger anti-disturbance and self-adaptive capabilities under change scenarios such as sudden changes in load torque and sudden changes in speed.

Wireless power transfer system with dual‐frequency operation in transmitter side for motor control application

AbstractIn this paper, a transmitter‐side control method is proposed in inductive wireless power transfer (I‐WPT) model for the speed and power control of a single‐phase induction motor (SPIM). Resonant tanks with an electronic driving mechanism are used in the proposed configuration. The receiver side employs two resonant circuits with two full wave rectifiers, comparator, and two gate drivers for the management of the motor speed and power. The resonant circuits and electronic motor drive are presented through detailing the mathematical model and system design. In addition, a comparative section of the proposed model with the previous art is introduced to address the contributions of the paper. Moreover, a prototype model of the proposed topology has been created in simulation environment and tested in a variety of scenarios. The proposed I‐WPT model has a power rating of 140 W, whereas the SPIM has a power rating of 120 W. At full power operation, a 130 W power is supplied from the source during 118 W power consumption of SPIM, indicating that the system's efficiency is over 90%. The motor speed control has been tested by lowering the operation frequency of the motor terminal voltage from 60 to 40 Hz and from 40 to 20 Hz. The dynamic motor power has been also analyzed by reducing the load power from 100% to 70%. The findings reveal that the proposed transmitter‐side controlled I‐WPT system operates in a wide range of circumstances.

Current Collapse Conduction Losses Minimization in GaN Based PMSM Drive

The ever-increasing demands on the efficiency and power density of power electronics converters lead to the replacement of traditional silicon-based components with new structures. One of the promising technologies represents devices based on Gallium-Nitride (GaN). Compared to silicon transistors, GaN semiconductor switches offer superior performance in high-frequency converters, since their fast switching process significantly decreases the switching losses. However, when used in hard-switched converters such as voltage-source inverters (VSI) for motor control applications, GaN transistors increase the power dissipated due to the current conduction. The loss increase is caused by the current-collapse phenomenon, which increases the dynamic drain-source resistance of the device shortly after the turn-on. This disadvantage makes it hard for GaN converters to compete with other technologies in electric drives. Therefore, this paper offers a purely software-based solution to mitigate the negative consequences of the current-collapse phenomenon. The proposed method is based on the minimum pulse length optimization of the classical 7-segment space-vector modulation (SVM) and is verified within a field-oriented control (FOC) of a three-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) supplied by a two-level GaN VSI. The compensation in the control algorithm utilizes an offline measured look-up table dependent on the machine input power.

On the Existence and Computation of Minimum Attention Optimal Control Laws

One means of capturing the cost of control implementation of a general nonlinear control system is via Brockett's minimum attention criterion, defined as a multidimensional integral of the rate of change of the control with respect to state and time. Although shown to be important in human motor control and robotics applications, a practical difficulty with this criterion is that the existence of solutions is not always assured; even when they exist, obtaining local solutions numerically is difficult. In this paper we prove that, for the class of controls consisting of the sum of a time-varying feedforward term and a time-varying feedback term linear in the state, existence of a suboptimal solution can be guaranteed. We also derive a provably convergent gradient descent algorithm for obtaining a local solution, by appealing to the Liouville equation representation of a nonlinear control system and adapting iterative methods originally developed for boundary flow control. Our methodology is illustrated with a two degree-of-freedom planar robot example.

Adaptive wind-evoked power devices for autonomous motor control applications

Wind-evoked power devices based on cantilever-structured GaN HEMTs are demonstrated with large output power modulation of 1.68 × 103 W cm−2 and ultrahigh strain sensitivity of 1472, showing great potential in autonomous motor control applications.

Low-Voltage GaN FETs in Motor Control Application; Issues and Advantages: A Review

The efficiency and power density improvement of power switching converters play a crucial role in energy conversion. In the field of motor control, this requires an increase in the converter switching frequency together with a reduction in the switching legs’ dead time. This target turns out to be complex when using pure silicon switch technologies. Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices have appeared in the switching device arena in recent years and feature much more favorable static and dynamic characteristics compared to pure silicon devices. In the field of motion control, there is a growing use of GaN devices, especially in low voltage applications. This paper provides guidelines for designers on the optimal use of GaN FETs in motor control applications, identifying the advantages and discussing the main issues. In this work, primarily an experimental evaluation of GaN FETs in a low voltage electrical drive is carried out. The experimental investigation is obtained through two different experimental boards to highlight the switching legs’ behavior in several operative conditions and different implementations. In this evaluative approach, the main GaN FETs’ technological aspects and issues are recalled and consequently linked to motion control requirements. The device’s fast switching transients combined with reduced direct resistance contribute to decreased power losses. Thus, in GaN FETs, a high switching frequency with a strong decrease in dead time is achievable. The reduced dead time impact on power loss management and improvement of output waveforms quality is analyzed and discussed in this paper. Furthermore, input filter capacitor design matters correlated with increasing switching frequency are pointed out. Finally, the voltage transients slope effect (dv/dt) is considered and correlated with low voltage motor drives requirements.

Comparative Study and Overview of Field-Oriented Control Techniques for Six-Phase PMSMs

This paper targets the main current trend in automotive motor control applications, i.e., six-phase permanent−magnet synchronous machines. Multiphase machines have been studied for more than one decade, but they are currently becoming more and more important for automotive technology. Increased safety and improved reliability are the two main reasons why six-phase machines conquer safety-critical motor control applications. The paper provides a detailed description, analysis, and comparison of two field-oriented control strategies for six-phase machines. The article consists of four main parts: (1) a general introduction of the application field of six-phase machines; (2) a description of two different field-oriented control techniques; (3) a presentation of the experimental results, e.g., frequency and step response analysis, as well as a comparison between a mathematical model and a real system; (4) a detailed comparison of strategies including pros and cons, with a strong focus on the main advantages.

Inverse Optimal Control in State Derivative Space System with Applications in Motor Control

This paper mathematically explains how state derivative space (SDS) system form with state derivative related feedback can supplement standard state space system with state related feedback in control designs. Practically, inverse optimal control is attractive because it can construct a stable closed-loop system while optimal control may not have exact solution. Unlike the previous algorithms which mainly applied state feedback, in this paper inverse optimal control are carried out utilizing state derivative alone in SDS system. The effectiveness of proposed algorithms are verified by design examples of DC motor tracking control without tachometer and very challenging control problem of singular system with impulse mode. Feedback of direct measurement of state derivatives without integrations can simplify implementation and reduce cost. In addition, the proposed design methods in SDS system with state derivative feedback are analogous to those in state space system with state feedback. Furthermore, with state derivative feedback control in SDS system, wider range of problems such as singular system control can be handled effectively. These are main advantages of carrying out control designs in SDS system.

Development of PIC18F4431 microcontroller controlled air conditioning system

The aspiration for high performance industrial applications increases owing to advance in the field of power electronics. This contributed to swift developments in digital motor control technology. High energy consumption and poor efficiency are major challenges of motor driven appliances. These appliances need cost-effective solutions controlled drive that improves process precision, cuts operating costs and facilitates less energy. The goal of this research is to develop feasible motor control air conditioning system. The developed system describes the optimization and designing of a microcontroller controlled drive with speed sensing. It is PIC18F4431 based microcontroller primarily for motor control applications. This study focuses on speed control of induction motor using PIC microcontroller through PWM technique. The result of the research indicates that at the 5% air flow rate, the air conditioner without the drive consumed about 87% energy whereas the microcontroller based drive only consumed 20% energy at the same flow rate. This indicated the energy saving of about 67% by the air conditioner with the adoption of PIC18F4431 microcontroller controlled drive.

EtherCAT slave controller for AC servo motor

The EtherCAT network was developed by Beckhoff Automation and it is considered the fastest technology among industrial Ethernet networks. Thanks to high data transmission rates, flexible connectivity and nanosecond synchronization, EtherCAT networks are becoming more and more popular in industrial applications. AC Servo motors are becoming more and more popular in industrial applications due to their high efficiency, fast dynamic response, low noise and high precision. Servo motor control technology is constantly being developed, one of the trends is integrating real-time network into the motor controller to improve efficiency and reduce hardware costs. This paper presents the design of an AC Servo motor controller with integrated EtherCAT network. The system architecture of the EtherCAT Slave as well as the communication method between the application microcontroller and the EtherCAT Slave device are presented. Peripheral components, processing tasks of EtherCAT network-integrated motor controllers for industrial applications are analyzed in detail. Then, we propose the optimal EtherCAT controller hardware architecture both in terms of motor control and EtherCAT. The controller architecture is a combination of EtherCAT chip, high performance microcontroller and FPGA, optimized for motor control application. In addition, a prototype controller has been designed based on the proposed structure with compact size, integrated Sigma Delta ADC, USB interface, Digital I/O and support for a variety of position feedback sensors. Some important points of the CIA-402 Driver profile standard such as operating structure, state machine management, Cyclic synchronous position control mode are analyzed and applied to closed-loop control of AC servo motor. The controller is connected to the EtherCAT master and operates in a real-time environment. Test results and measurements have been checked to demonstrate the controller's operability in the EtherCAT network as well as AC Servo motor controller responsiveness.

Muscle Force Estimation Based on Neural Drive Information From Individual Motor Units.

Estimation of muscle contraction force based on the macroscopic feature of surface electromyography (SEMG) has been widely reported, but the use of microscopic neural drive information has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, a novel method is proposed to process individual motor unit (MU) activities (firing sequences and action potential waveforms) derived from the decomposition of high density SEMG (HD-SEMG), and it is applied to muscle force estimation. In the proposed method, a supervised machine learning approach was conducted to determine the twitch force of each MU according to its action potential waveforms, which enables separate calculation of every MU's contribution to force. Thus, the muscle force was predicted through a physiologically meaningful muscle force model. In the experiment, HD-SEMG data were recorded from the abductor pollicis brevis muscles of eight healthy subjects during their performance of thumb abduction with the force increasing gradually from zero to four force levels (10%, 20%, 30%, 40% of the maximal voluntary contraction), while the true muscle force was measured simultaneously. When the proposed method was used, the root mean square difference (RMSD) of the error of the estimated force with respect to the measured force was reported to be 8.3% ± 2.8%. The proposed method also significantly outperformed the other four common methods for force estimation (RMSD: from 11.7% to 20%, ), demonstrating its effectiveness. This study offers a useful tool for exploiting the neural drive information towards muscle force estimation with improved precision. The proposed method has wide applications in precise motor control, sport and rehabilitation medicine.

Software Based Programmable IGBT IPM Dead-Time Insertion Module Using 16-bit Micro Controller for BLDC Motor Control Application with 3-Phase Sinusoidal and Trapezoidal Drive

Motor control application, especially for medium to high power implementation, will benefit the most with the compactness and robustness of an Integrated Power Module of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor also known as IGBT IPM. Nevertheless, implementation motor control with a general purpose micro-processor without any advance timer functionality with IGBT IPM will be challenged by the Dead-Time switching requirement in its power switching implementation. &#x0D; &#x0D; Further, a combined sinusoidal and trapezoidal drive of a motor control is also believed will provides a better control performance in term of lower torque ripple and higher motor top speed. This paper proposed a low-cost alternative to address the requirement by implementing a software based dead time functionality using the low cost 16-bit micro controller board with capability of serving up sinusoidal drive as well as trapezoidal drive for motor control application.

Predictive control of a permanent magnet synchronous generator connected to an MMC converter in an oscillating water column based power plant

Modular Multilevel Converters (MMC) are traditionally used in high-power applications although their field of application has lately widened to lower powers. In medium and low-power applications such as electric drives, a fast control system is usually required and model-based predictive control approaches (MPC) are highly suitable to obtain superior performance. Unfortunately, although MPC is widely used with two-level three-phase power converters, typically in motor and generator control applications, it has been barely developed for MMC. Recent studies discuss MPC approaches for MMC but they are primarily focused on improving the internal operation of MMC. In contrast, this paper presents an MPC which is designed to control the torque and the magnetic field of a surface permanent magnet synchronous generator (SPMSG) by means of an MMC. The proposed approach features a new and fast method to find the location of the reference voltage vector among the large number of multilevel vectors present in typical MMCs. The performance of the new control system has been demonstrated for an oscillating water column (OWC) based power plant simulation. The control system stands out for its fast response, low THD currents and reasonably low computing time which enables its easy implementation in microcontrollers (MCU).