Pulse width modulation control circuit for a multimode electrical machine, and a multimode electrical machine equipped with such a control circuit

• US 20070200531A1
• Filed: 06/01/2004
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valeo Equipements Electriques Moteur (Valeo SE)
• Original Assignee: Valeo Equpements Electriques Moteur
• Inventors: Plasse, Cedric, Armiroli, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,391,180 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 318/811
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 6/485 Motor-assist type
• CPC Class Codes: F02N 11/04 the motors being associated with current generators
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 9/102 for limiting effects of transients
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/62 Hybrid vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 903/904 Component specially adapted for hev

Abstract

Pulse width modulation control circuit for a multimode electrical machine, and a multimode electrical machine equipped with such a control circuit The present invention relates to a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control circuit for a multimode electrical machine, and a multimode electrical machine equipped with such a control circuit.

A configuration circuit (11, 13) detects the operation mode of the electrical machine (1) and produces a pulse width modulation to control a reversible current inverter circuit (4) in such a way that the electrical machine operates optimally in torque in engine modes and in current in generator modes. Application to vehicle alternators-starters.

Claims

1. A pulse width modulation PWM control circuit for a polyphase electrical machine (1) comprising:

a reversible current inverter circuit (4) connected between two continuous supply terminals (29P, 29N) and wherein each controlled terminal (23-25) is designed to be connected to at least one phase of the stator (2) of the electrical machine (1);

a plurality of sensors (6, 7) designed to measure the current and/or the voltage in each phase of said electrical machine;

a means (9, 10) to produce instantaneous information on the position and the speed of rotation of the rotor (3) of the electrical machine;

a pilot circuit (14) of the branches of the current inverter circuit (4) according to the electrical measurements in the phases and the position and speed of the rotor;

characterized in that said circuit also comprises a configuration signal generator circuit (11, 13) for the pilot circuit of branches of the current inverter circuit (4) according to the desired operation mode of the electrical machine taken from among the operation modes such as starter, electrical drive motor, electrical booster motor, alternator or braking energy recovery alternator.

2. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotation detection circuit (10) produces a first signal (6) representative of the instantaneous angle of rotation of the rotor with relation to a reference position and a second signal (ω

) representative of the angular speed of rotation of the rotor.

3. The circuit according to claim 2, characterized in that the rotation detection circuit (10) is connected to the inputs of a circuit (11) that produces, first, a switching control signal by a line (28) bound for a chopper circuit (5) connected to the excitation of the rotor (3) and second, a plurality of reference signals bound for a pilot signal generator circuit (13) bound for a supply bridge (4) of the stator (2) of the electrical machine (1).

4. The circuit according to claim 3, characterized in that the circuit also comprises a base wave generator circuit (15) connected to an input terminal of the pilot signal generator circuit (13).

5. The circuit according to claim 4, characterized in that the base wave is comprised of a wave in triangular form, that presents a first increasing front at a first speed and a second decreasing front at a second speed.

6. The circuit according to claim 5, characterized in that the pilot signal generator circuit (13) produces a plurality of pilot signals (C1, C2 and C3) that are connected to the inputs of a circuit translator (14) to produce conduction establishment signals (P1 to P6) of grids of different semiconductor interrupters of the bridge (4).

7. The circuit according to claim 6, characterized in that the circuit (13) comprises for at least one part of the phases of the stator in a subtractor (31, 34) wherein a first positive input terminal is connected to the input terminal of one of said reference signals (S1, S2) and wherein a second negative input terminal is connected to the input terminal of one said measuring signals (M1, M2), and wherein the output terminal is connected to an input terminal of a correction circuit (32, 35) that applies a correction function F1( ) that is presented at the output of the correction circuit (32) in the form:

A1=F1(S1−

M1).

8. The circuit according to claim 7, characterized in that the output signal (A1) issued from the correction circuit (35) is applied to a first input terminal of a comparator (33, 36) wherein a second input terminal of comparison is connected to the output of the pilot signal generator circuit (16) and that allows the state of conduction of the controlled interrupter (16, 17) at the grid electrode to which the output of the comparator (33, 36) is connected to be changed.

9. The circuit according to claim 7, characterized in that the output terminals of the two correction circuits (32, 35) are also connected to the respective input terminals of an adder (37) wherein the output terminal is applied to a first input terminal for a comparator (38) wherein a second input terminal for comparison is connected to the output of the pilot signal generator circuit (15), and in that the output terminal of the comparator (38) delivers a signal to change the state of conduction of the controlled interrupter (18) at the grid electrode to which the output terminal of the comparator (38) is connected.

10. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the circuit cooperates with a means for detecting an operation mode as a means for decoding a control applied to the electrical machine at an on-board computer deciding on the operation from among one of the following modes:

an operation mode as a starter for the thermal engine;

an operation mode as an alternator to recharge the electrical battery connected to the direct voltage on-board power supply network;

an operation mode as a drive motor working directly on the vehicle wheels or indirectly by mixing its mechanical power with the mechanical power provided by the rest of the drive train;

an operation mode as a generator working on the braking energy recovery required by the drive train.

11. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the engine modes, to increase the torque available on the rotor it comprises a means to increase the current in the stator for a number ns of coil turns to the given stator and a means to reinforce the current in the stator when the speed of rotation of the rotor is higher.

12. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that, in the alternator operation modes:

a. to be able to draw a current at the network by creating an electromotor force e greater than the voltage of the battery for low speeds up to a speed sufficient for passing into diode rectification mode;

b. beyond a determined speed of rotation, the circuit comprises a means to limit the current required at the battery.

13. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the reference signal generator circuit 11 comprises a program for its engine mode operation according to two zones (zone A and zone B) determined by a speed limit (Ω

L).

14. The circuit according to claim 13, characterized in that, in DEM starter mode, the circuit comprises means for determining a pulse width modulation that presents a constant output torque for a rotation speed W varying from the null speed to a speed limit, then that presents a constant power decrease up to a maximum speed.

15. The circuit according to claim 13, characterized in that, in ASS help mode, the circuit comprises a means to determine a pulse width modulation that presents linearly decreasing output torque from a determined speed of separation (Ω

L) between the zones (A and B) advantageously corresponding to the idling speed of the thermal engine up to approximately 7,000 revolutions per minute.

16. The circuit according to claim 13, characterized in that when the machine starts to operate in engine mode, it comprises a supplementary circuit (53) to detect when the voltage generated by the battery (50) is greater than the moiety of a nominal value U0 of battery (50) operation with a predetermined ground voltage AU.

17. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the means to produce the reference signals for the control of the stator also comprises a means to receive a load configuration control, that may be provided by a control computer of the drive train and/or by the entire vehicle to determine if the machine must work at full load or at reduced load.

18. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the means to produce reference signals for the control of the stator also comprises a means to place the control circuit 13 in a state such that the bridge 4 produces a sinusoidal wave presenting a phase advance between 90 and 180 angle degrees in alternator mode.

19. The circuit according to claim 1 characterized in that, in alternator mode, the circuit comprises a means to determine by a recording means a value limit Ω

D for the rotation speed of the rotor in two speed operation zones;

a zone C for speeds under the speed limit Ω

D and a zone D for speeds over Ω

D, the speed limit being determined by the common system when the machine works in pulse width modulation (part of curve 60) and when the machine works in passive rectification with intrinsic diodes only (part of curve 62).

20. The circuit according to claim 1 characterized in that, in alternator mode, the circuit comprises a means for making the conversion circuit work in a pulse width modulation system for the systems under Ω

D or only by rectification by diodes for systems over Ω

D.

21. The circuit according to claim 1 characterized in that the means (11) for generating reference signals (S1 and S2) for the control of the stator and/or the control signal (lf) of the rotor current comprises a circuit (27) that comprises a data memory equipped with a means to generate data sequences according to a feature based on the instantaneous rotation speed of the rotor and of the chosen operation mode of the electrical machine.

22. The circuit according to claim 21, characterized in that the memory circuit (27) is programmed according to the Clarke and Park transformation to determine the triplet of parameters (ls, lR, Ψ

) that describes the electrical state of the stator and of the rotor in various turning marks with the instantaneous rotation speed of the rotor developed by the corresponding output terminal of circuit (10).

23. The circuit according to claim 22, characterized in that the signals representing the stator current and the electrical angle (ls and Ψ

) are transmitted to two first input ports of a circuit (26) wherein a third port is connected to the corresponding output of the circuit 10 that develops a signal representing the instantaneous angle of rotation of the rotor (8) and in that the circuit (26) comprises a means to produce a plurality of reference signals (S1, S2 . . . ) to determine the pulse width modulation by using the chopping wave produced by the circuit 15.

24. The circuit according to claim 23, characterized in that the circuit (26) to produce reference signals comprises means for generating reference signals according to the current relationship defined by:

Si=Si(ls,Ψ

,IR)

Where SI( ) is a predetermined function.

25. The circuit according to claim 23, characterized in that the circuit (26) for producing reference signals comprises means achieved in the form of a program executed by a DSP (Harvard type Digital Signal Processing) type signal processing.

26. The circuit according to claim 23, characterized in that the circuit (26) for producing reference signals comprises means for generating the current reference signal Si( ) by a sequencer that addresses, according to the triplet of features (ls, Ψ

, lR), a table of digital values representing a cartography determined in advance during the loading of the control circuit.

27. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the electrical machine may be a Lundel type claw-pole rotor of salient-pole rotor machine, a machine with permanent magnets at the rotor, an induction or variable reluctance machine, an interpolar magnet claw-pole machine or a hybrid rotor machine made of laminated iron and smooth poles with motor field and permanent magnets.

28. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the machine comprises means to control the electrical machine in the entire range of rotation speeds of the rotor.

29. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the circuit cooperates separately or in combination with:

a means to prevent jamming of the thermal engine;

a means for regulating the speed of the vehicle in start-up mode;

a means for regulating the electrical power available on the on-board network of the vehicle on which the electrical machine and the control circuit of the invention are mounted;

a means for regulating the mechanical power of the drive train of the vehicle on which the electrical machine and the control circuit of the invention are mounted;

a means for smoothing the deceleration and stopping variations of the vehicle on which the electrical machine and the control circuit of the invention are mounted;

a means for smoothing torque variations required at the drive train of the vehicle on which the electrical machine and the control circuit of the invention are mounted;

a means to adapt the current in the phases of the electrical machine according to at least the state of load of the battery of the vehicle, the level of thermal energy and any other parameter for measuring the environment of the vehicle.

30. The circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the wave form generator circuit (15) produces a wave in sawtooth form (FIG. 4, (a) and (b)), in triangle form (FIG. 3, (c) and (d)) or in trapezoidal form (FIG. 3, (e) and (f)) or even with a FOC type vectorial control, or in that the wave form is combined with a means to produce a hysteresis effect on the wave fronts.

31. An electrical machine for a vehicle, that may operate as a starter, electrical drive motor, electrical booster motor, alternator or braking energy recovery alternator and adapted to operate with a control circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the machine comprises a wound stator wherein the number of coils is calculated on the basis of the lowest magnetization energy and in that for the operation modes requiring a higher magnetization energy, a current control is applied by means of the control circuit.

32. The rotating electrical machine for a vehicle characterized in that the machine comprises a control circuit according to claim 1.