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A typical conventional electric drive system for variable speed application employing
multimachine system is shown in Figure 1. The system is obviously bulky, expensive, inflexible
and require regular maintenance. In the past, induction and synchronous machines were used for
constant speed applications – this was mainly because of the unavailability of variable frequency
supply.
With the advancement in power electronics, microprocessors and digital electronics, typical
electric drive systems nowadays are becoming more compact, efficient, cheaper and versatile –
this is shown in Figure 2. The voltage and current applied to the motor can be changed at will by
employing power electronic converters. AC motor is no longer limited to applications where
only AC source is available, however, it can also be used when the power source available is DC
or vice versa
Figure 2 Modern Electric drive system employing power electronic converters
Electric drives is multi-disciplinary field. Various research areas can be sub-divided from
electric drives as shown in Figure 3.
c) Control Unit
The complexity of the control unit depends on the desired drive performance and the type of
motors used. A controller can be as simple as few op-amps and/or a few digital ICs, or it can
be as complex as the combinations of several ASICs and digital signal processors (DSPs).
The types of the main controllers can be:
• Analog circuit - which is noisy, inflexible. However analog circuit ideally has infinite
bandwidth.
• digital circuit – immune to noise, configurable. The bandwidth is obviously smaller than
the analog controller’s – depends on sampling frequency
• DSP/microprocessor – flexible, lower bandwidth compared to the digital circuit. DSPs
perform faster operation than microprocessors (multiplication in a single cycle). With a
DSP/microprocessor, complex estimations and observers can be easily implemented.
The control unit has to be electrically isolated from the power converters for the following
reasons:
• Malfuction in power circuit may damage control circuit if no electrical isolation is
present.
• Safety for the operator – the high voltage and/or high current faulty condition in
the power circuit can be conducted to the control circuit normally maintained by
an operator/user
• Avoid conduction of harmonic to control circuit. Power electronic converters
generate harmonics that can conduct to the control circuit thus interfering with
its operation.
Electrical isolation can be established using opto-coupler or pulse transformers.
d) Source
Electrical sources or power supplies provide the energy to the electrical motors. For high
efficiency operation, the power obtained from the electrical sources need to be regulated
using power electronic converters
Power sources can be of AC or DC in nature and normally are uncontrollable, i.e. their
magnitudes or frequencies are fixed or depend on the sources of energy such as solar or
wind. AC source can be either three-phase or single-phase; 3-phase sources are normally for
high power applications
e) Sensors
Sensors for voltage, current, speed or torque are required for closed-loop operation and
protections in electrical drive systems. Again, the signals from these sensors have to be
isolated from the control unit for the same reasons as explained before. Electrical isolation
in voltage and current sensors are obtained using, for example, hall effect sensors. The
terms ‘sensorless drives’ in electric drive is referred to drive without mechanical speed
sensors installed. The speed in sensorless drive is estimated using motor terminal variables
i.e. voltages and currents.
There can be several factors that affect the selection of different configuration of electrical drive
system such as:
a) Torque and speed profile - determine the ratings of converters and the quadrant of
operation required.
b) Capital and running cost – Drive systems will vary in terms of start-up cost and running
cost, e.g. maintenance.
c) Space and weight restrictions
d) Environment and location
Comparison between DC and AC drives
Motors :
• DC require maintenance, heavy, expensive, speed limited by mechanical construction
• AC less maintenance, light, cheaper, robust, high speed (esp. squirrel–cage type)
Control unit:
• DC drives: Simple control – decoupling torque and flux by mechanical commutator – the
controller can be implemented using simple analog circuit even for high performance
torque control. This means that cheaper cost for the controller.
• AC drives, the types of controllers to be used depend on the required drive performance –
obviously, cost increases with performance. Scalar control drives technique does not
require fast processor/DSP whereas in Field Oriented Control (FOC) or Direct Torque
Control (DTC) drives, DSPs or fast processors are normally employed.
Performance:
• In DC motors, flux and torque components are always perpendicular to one another
thanks to the mechanical commutator and brushes. The torque is controlled via the
armature current while maintaining the field component constant. Fast torque and
decouple control between flux and torque components can be achieved easily.
• In AC machines, in particular the induction machines, magnetic coupling between
phases and between stator and rotor windings makes the modeling and torque control
difficult and complex. Control of the steady state operating conditions is accomplished
by controlling the magnitude and the frequency of the applied voltage; which is known
as the scalar control technique. This is satisfactory in some applications. The transient
states or the dynamics of the machine can only be controlled by applying the vector
control technique whereby the decoupling between the torque and flux components is
achieved through frame transformations. Implementation of this control technique is
complex thus requires fast processors such as DSPs.