Bearingless rotary machine

• US 6,078,119 A
• Filed: 11/25/1998
• Issued: 06/20/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ebara Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ebara Corporation
• Inventors: Satoh, Tadashi, Mori, Satoshi, Ohsawa, Masaru
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramirez, Nestor
• Assistant Examiner(s): MULLINS, BURTON S
• Application Number:
  US09/199,338
• Time in Patent Office: 573 Days
• Field of Search: 310/184, 310/162, 310/166, 310/179, 310/90.5, 310/68 C, 318/803, 318/811, 318/805, 318/808, 318/798
• US Class Current: 310/90.5
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 32/0444 Details of devices to control the actuation of the electromagnets
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 32/0497 generating torque and radial force
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 11/33 Drive circuits, e.g. power electronics H02K11/38 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 7/09 with magnetic bearings

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a bearingless rotary machine which is capable of stably controlling the levitated position of a rotor of an induction motor even if the rotor comprises a squirrel-cage type rotor that is simple in structure and can easily be manufactured.

A bearingless rotary machine has a rotor having secondary current paths and a stator spaced from the rotor by a gap. The stator has two kinds of windings for imparting a rotating and a levitating and supporting force to the rotor. The rotary machine has a magnetic field command calculator, magnetic flux distribution detecting means and correcting means for adjusting the detected control magnetic flux distribution to coincide with the magnetic field distribution command.

Claims

1. A bearingless rotary machine comprising:

a rotor having secondary current paths;

a stator spaced from said rotor by a gap, said stator having two kinds of windings for imparting a rotating force to said rotor with a rotating M pole drive magnetic field and a levitating and supporting force to said rotor with a rotating N pole control magnetic field added in synchronism with said rotating M pole drive magnetic field, where N=M±

2;

displacement detecting sensors for detecting a displacement of said rotor;

magnetic flux distribution detecting means for detecting an N pole magnetic flux distribution which is generated in the gap between said stator and said rotor; and

correcting means for adjusting said detected control magnetic flux distribution to equal a N pole magnetic field distribution command.

2. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 1, wherein said N pole magnetic field distribution command is calculated by a magnetic field command calculator from a position control force command to be imparted to said rotor which derives from said detected displacement of said rotor, and detected M pole magnetic flux distribution.

3. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 1, wherein said correcting means includes means for determining the polarity of a voltage to be applied to said windings on said stator for generating said N pole control magnetic field, in accordance with a sign of a difference between said N pole magnetic field distribution command and said detected N pole magnetic flux distribution.

4. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 1, wherein said magnetic flux distribution detecting means comprises windings on said stator, and an integrator for integrating a counter-electromotive voltage induced across said windings on said stator to detect the magnetic flux distribution which is generated in the gap between said stator and said rotor.

5. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 4, wherein said winding comprises a winding for generating the drive magnetic field or the control magnetic field in the gap between said stator and said rotor.

6. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 4, wherein said winding comprises k (1, 2, . . . , j, . . . , k) windings equally spaced circumferentially around said stator and angularly displaced at respective positions represented by (2 π

/k)×

j, and wherein said N pole magnetic flux distribution is calculated as magnetic flux densities Bα

, Bβ

converted to orthogonal two-phase coordinates (α

, β

), represented by;

##EQU21## said magnetic flux densities Bα

, Bβ

being applied to calculate said command for the N pole magnetic flux distribution.

7. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 4, further comprising;

a correcting circuit for compensating for a low-frequency component of the detected N pole magnetic flux distribution with a low-frequency component of a current flowing in said windings on said stator.

8. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 7, wherein said magnetic flux detecting means comprises an integrator for integrating the counter-electromotive voltage induced across the windings on said stator, said integrator output having a frequency characteristic represented by:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">[the magnetic flux distribution detected by the winding]/[the actually generated magnetic flux distribution]=s/(s+2 π

fc),

where fc is the cutoff frequency of the integrator, and wherein said correcting circuit compensates for the low-frequency component of the current flowing in the windings on said stator, expressed by;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">{2 π

fc/(s+2 π

fc)}×

[the current in the winding on said stator which generates the magnetic flux distribution],

as the low-frequency component of the detected magnetic flux distribution.

9. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 4, wherein said magnetic flux detecting means comprises:

an integrator for integrating the counter-electromotive voltage induced across the windings on said stator; and

a calculator for realizing a transfer function represented by;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">G(s)=(s+2 π

fc)/(s+2 π

fc'"'"')

where fc is a lower limit frequency for detecting a magnetic flux distribution before being corrected and fc'"'"' is a lower limit frequency for detecting a magnetic flux distribution after being corrected, and wherein said transfer function is supplied with an integrated output signal from said integrator and outputs a corrected integrated value in order to correct frequency characteristics of the integrated output signal from said integrator so as to be able to detect the magnetic flux distribution in a low-frequency range.

10. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 9, wherein said calculator comprises a digital calculator.

11. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 4, further comprising:

means for rotating said drive magnetic field at a speed higher than a predetermined speed at which detecting frequency characteristics of said magnetic flux detecting means will not be affected, regardless of a rotational speed of said rotor and a generated drive force for the rotor, so that said magnetic flux detecting means will not be affected by the detecting frequency characteristics there of.

12. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 11, further comprising:

a main shaft;

said rotor comprising a plurality of rotors fixedly mounted on said main shaft;

said stator comprising a plurality of stators for magnetically levitating and supporting said rotors, respectively and applying rotating forces to said rotors, respectively, each of said stators being capable of generating said drive magnetic field and said control magnetic field, respectively; and

a control circuit for controlling said stators, said control circuit having rotating-coordinate-to-fixed-coordinate converters associated with said stators, respectively, and amplitude modulators and frequency modulators for modulating torque-related currents It* and angles ω

t in a rotating coordinate system, to be supplied to said rotating-coordinate-to-fixed-coordinate converters, thereby to individually control an amplitude and a rotational speed of the drive magnetic field acting on each of said rotors.

13. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 12, further comprising:

means for, if an overall rotational speed of drive magnetic fields on said rotors drops below said rotational speed, generating an M pole drive magnetic field having a rotational speed whose absolute value is greater than said rotational speed, on each of said stators, with the sum of combined frequencies being a frequency corresponding to the overall rotational speed of drive magnetic field on said rotors.

14. A bearingless rotary machine according to claim 13, wherein the generated drive force on each of said rotors has a magnitude corresponding to the frequency of said M pole drive magnetic field, and the sum of the combined drive forces on said rotors serves as an overall generated drive force for the rotors.