Showing papers in "IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics in 2000"

A nonlinear disturbance observer for robotic manipulators

Abstract: A new nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) for robotic manipulators is derived in this paper. The global exponential stability of the proposed disturbance observer (DO) is guaranteed by selecting design parameters, which depend on the maximum velocity and physical parameters of robotic manipulators. This new observer overcomes the disadvantages of existing DOs, which are designed or analyzed by linear system techniques. It can be applied in robotic manipulators for various purposes such as friction compensation, independent joint control, sensorless torque control and fault diagnosis. The performance of the proposed observer is demonstrated by the friction estimation and compensation for a two-link robotic manipulator. Both simulation and experimental results show the NDO works well.

A review of induction motors signature analysis as a medium for faults detection

Abstract: This paper is intended as a tutorial overview of induction motors signature analysis as a medium for fault detection. The purpose is to introduce in a concise manner the fundamental theory, main results, and practical applications of motor signature analysis for the detection and the localization of abnormal electrical and mechanical conditions that indicate, or may lead to, a failure of induction motors. The paper is focused on the so-called motor current signature analysis which utilizes the results of spectral analysis of the stator current. The paper is purposefully written without "state-of-the-art" terminology for the benefit of practising engineers in facilities today who may not be familiar with signal processing.

Neural-network-based motor rolling bearing fault diagnosis

Abstract: Motor systems are very important in modern society. They convert almost 60% of the electricity produced in the US into other forms of energy to provide power to other equipment. In the performance of all motor systems, bearings play an important role. Many problems arising in motor operations are linked to bearing faults. In many cases, the accuracy of the instruments and devices used to monitor and control the motor system is highly dependent on the dynamic performance of the motor bearings. Thus, fault diagnosis of a motor system is inseparably related to the diagnosis of the bearing assembly. In this paper, bearing vibration frequency features are discussed for motor bearing fault diagnosis. This paper then presents an approach for motor rolling bearing fault diagnosis using neural networks and time/frequency-domain bearing vibration analysis. Vibration simulation is used to assist in the design of various motor rolling bearing fault diagnosis strategies. Both simulation and real-world testing results obtained indicate that neural networks can be effective agents in the diagnosis of various motor bearing faults through the measurement and interpretation of motor bearing vibration signatures.

Steady-state analysis of an interleaved boost converter with coupled inductors

Abstract: Boost converters are widely used as power-factor corrected preregulators In high-power applications, interleaved operation of two or more boost converters has been proposed to increase the output power and to reduce the output ripple A major design criterion then is to ensure equal current sharing among the parallel converters In this paper, a converter consisting of two interleaved and intercoupled boost converter cells is proposed and investigated The boost converter cells have very good current sharing characteristics even in the presence of relatively large duty cycle mismatch In addition, it can be designed to have small input current ripple and zero boost-rectifier reverse-recovery loss The operating principle, steady-state analysis, and comparison with the conventional boost converter are presented Simulation and experimental results are also given

Wavelet packet feature extraction for vibration monitoring

Abstract: Condition monitoring of dynamic systems based on vibration signatures has generally relied upon Fourier-based analysis as a means of translating vibration signals in the time domain into the frequency domain. However, Fourier analysis provided a poor representation of signals well localized in time. In this case, it is difficult to detect and identify the signal pattern from the expansion coefficients because the information is diluted across the whole basis. The wavelet packet transform (WPT) is introduced as an alternative means of extracting time-frequency information from vibration signatures. The resulting WPT coefficients provide one with arbitrary time-frequency resolution of a signal. With the aid of statistical-based feature selection criteria, many of the feature components containing little discriminant information could be discarded, resulting in a feature subset having a reduced number of parameters without compromising the classification performance. The extracted reduced dimensional feature vector is then used as input to a neural network classifier. This significantly reduces the long training time that is often associated with the neural network classifier and improves its generalization capability.

Recent developments of induction motor drives fault diagnosis using AI techniques

Abstract: This paper presents a review of the developments in the field of diagnosis of electrical machines and drives based on artificial intelligence (AI). It covers the application of expert systems, artificial neural networks (ANNs), and fuzzy logic systems that can be integrated into each other and also with more traditional techniques. The application of genetic algorithms is considered as well. In general, a diagnostic procedure starts from a fault tree developed on the basis of the physical behavior of the electrical system under consideration. In this phase, the knowledge of well-tested models able to simulate the electrical machine in different fault conditions is fundamental to obtain the patterns characterizing the faults. The fault tree navigation performed by an expert system inference engine leads to the choice of suitable diagnostic indexes, referred to a particular fault, and relevant to build an input data set for specific AI (NNs, fuzzy logic, or neuro-fuzzy) systems. The discussed methodologies, that play a general role in the diagnostic field, are applied to an induction machine, utilizing as input signals the instantaneous voltages and currents. In addition, the supply converter is also considered to incorporate in the diagnostic procedure the most typical failures of power electronic components. A brief description of the various AI techniques is also given; this highlights the advantages and the limitations of using AI techniques. Some applications examples are also discussed and areas for future research are also indicated.

The detection of inter-turn short circuits in the stator windings of operating motors

Abstract: This paper develops a winding-function-based method for modeling polyphase cage induction motors with inter-turn short circuits in the machine stator winding. Analytical consideration which sheds light on some components of the stator current spectra of both healthy and faulty machines is developed. It is shown that, as a result of the nature of the cage rotor, no new frequency components of the line current spectra can appear as a consequence of the fault. Only a rise in some of the frequency components which already exist in the line current spectra of a healthy machine can be observed. An experimental setup comprising a 3 kW delta-connected motor loaded by a generator was used to validate this approach. The experimental results obtained clearly validate the analytical and simulation results.

Experimental fault-tolerant control of a PMSM drive

Abstract: The paper describes a study and an experimental verification of remedial strategies against failures occurring in the inverter power devices of a permanent-magnet synchronous motor drive. The basic idea of this design consists of incorporating a fourth inverter pole, with the same topology and capabilities of the other conventional three poles. This minimal redundant hardware, appropriately connected and controlled, allows the drive to face a variety of power device fault conditions while maintaining a smooth torque production. The achieved results also show the industrial feasibility of the proposed fault-tolerant control, that could fit many practical applications.

Global minimum-jerk trajectory planning of robot manipulators

Abstract: A new approach based on interval analysis is developed to find the global minimum-jerk (MJ) trajectory of a robot manipulator within a joint space scheme using cubic splines. MJ trajectories are desirable for their similarity to human joint movements and for their amenability to path tracking and to limit robot vibrations. This makes them attractive choices for robotic applications, in spite of the fact that the manipulator dynamics are not taken into account. Cubic splines are used in a framework that assures overall continuity of velocities and accelerations in the robot movement. The resulting MJ trajectory planning is shown to be a global constrained minimax optimization problem. This is solved by a newly devised algorithm based on interval analysis and proof of convergence with certainty to an arbitrarily good global solution is provided. The proposed planning method is applied to an example regarding a six-joint manipulator and comparisons with an alternative MJ planner are exposed.

A general algorithm for speed and position estimation of AC motors

Abstract: A computationally efficient speed and position estimation algorithm, generally applicable to AC motor drives, is designed and analyzed. Applications include: (a) sensorless permanent-magnet and reluctance synchronous motor drives using the fundamental excitation as information source; (b) sensorless drives using saliency and signal injection; and (c) sensored drives using resolvers. Particular attention is given for case (a). Low parameter sensitivity in the entire speed range (except at low speeds for the reluctance motor)-implying a small position estimation error-and good dynamic properties at nominal speeds are verified.

Sensorless sliding-mode control of induction motors

Abstract: This paper develops the ideas of speed- and flux-sensorless sliding-mode control for an induction motor illustrated in previous work by one of the authors. A sliding-mode observer/controller is proposed in this paper. The convergence of the nonlinear time-varying observer along with the asymptotic stability of the controller is analyzed. Pulsewidth modulation implementation using sliding-mode concepts is also discussed. Major attention is paid to torque control, and then the developed approach is utilized for speed control. Computer simulations and experiments have been carried out to test the proposed estimation and control algorithm. The experimental results demonstrated high efficiency of the proposed estimation and control method.

Speed control of two-inertia system by PI/PID control

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to develop systematic analysis and design methods for a two-inertia system. A conventional proportional-integral speed control system with a torsional load is redesigned, and the damping characteristic of the system is derived and analyzed. It is shown that the dynamic characteristic of the system strongly depends on the inertia ratio of load to motor. Three kinds of typical pole assignments with identical radius/damping coefficient/real part are applied and compared, and the merits of each pole-assignment design are concluded. Furthermore, for small inertia ratio, we present how to improve the damping of the system by a derivative feedback of motor speed.

Electrical stress and failure mechanism of the winding insulation in PWM-inverter-fed low-voltage induction motors

Abstract: The winding insulation of low-voltage induction motors in adjustable-speed drive systems with voltage-fed inverters is substantially more stressed than in line-powered motors. Consequently, this operation is subject to limitations depending on the electrical stress and on the failure behavior of the winding insulation. Actual recommendations do not consider sufficiently the physics behind these phenomena and contain large utilizable reserves.

3C strategy for inverters in parallel operation achieving an equal current distribution

Abstract: A circular chain control (3C) strategy for inverters in parallel operation is presented in the paper. In the proposed inverter system, all the modules have the same circuit configuration, and each module includes an inner current loop and an outer voltage loop control. A proportional-integral controller is adopted as the inner current loop controller to expedite the dynamic response, while an H/sup /spl infin// robust controller is adopted to reach the robustness of the multimodule inverter system and to reduce possible interactive effects among inverters. With the 3C strategy, the modules are in circular chain connection and each module has an inner current loop control to track the inductor current of its previous module, achieving an equal current distribution. Simulation results of two-module and a three-module inverter systems with different kinds of loads and with modular discrepancy have demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed control scheme. Hardware measurements are also presented to verify the theoretical discussion.

A new approach for minimum-torque-ripple maximum-efficiency control of BLDC motor

Abstract: Torque-ripple control of the brushless DC motor has been the main issue of the servo drive systems in which the speed fluctuation, vibration, and acoustic noise should be minimized. Most methods for suppressing the torque ripples require Fourier series analysis and either iterative or least-mean-square minimization. In this paper, a novel approach to achieve ripple-free torque control with maximum efficiency based on the d-q-0 reference frame is presented. The proposed method optimizes the reference phase current waveforms which include the case of three-phase unbalanced conditions. As a result, the proposed approach provides a simple way to obtain optimal motor excitation currents. The validity and practical applications of the proposed control scheme are verified through the simulations and experimental results.

Application of model-based fault detection to a brushless DC motor

Abstract: In comparison to classical DC motors, brushless DC motors are very reliable, Nevertheless, they can also fail, caused by, e.g., overheating or mechanical wear. This paper proposes a parameter estimation technique for fault detection on this type of motor. Simply by measuring the motor's input and output signals, its parameters can be estimated. This method is based on a mathematical model of the process. In the presented work, a square-wave motor is considered. An appropriate model is derived. To be able to implement the method also on low-cost microcontroller-based control units, only the power inverter supply voltage, DC current, and the motor's angular velocity have to be measured. The parameter estimation technique provides information about the electrical resistance and the back-EMF constant as well as about the mechanical parameters. Comparing the nominal with the computed parameters, faults can be detected. The approach might be applied to both end-of-line and online fault detection. Results for simulated data demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed procedure. Finally, a real-world application-an actuation system with a brushless DC motor mounted to a gearbox-is given.

A simple direct-torque neuro-fuzzy control of PWM-inverter-fed induction motor drive

Abstract: In this paper, the concept and implementation of a new simple direct-torque neuro-fuzzy control (DTNFC) scheme for pulsewidth-modulation-inverter-fed induction motor drive are presented. An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system is applied to achieve high-performance decoupled flux and torque control. The theoretical principle and tuning procedure of this method are discussed. A 3 kW induction motor experimental system with digital signal processor TMS 320C31-based controller has been built to verify this approach. The simulation and laboratory experimental results, which illustrate the performance of the proposed scheme, are presented. Also, nomograms for controller design are given. It has been shown that the simple DTNFC is characterized by very fast torque and flux response, very-low-speed operation, and simple tuning capability.

A fuzzy-logic-controlled single-stage converter for PV-powered lighting system applications

Abstract: This paper presents a fuzzy-logic-controlled single-stage power converter (SSC) for photovoltaic (PV)-powered lighting system applications. The SSC is the integration of a bidirectional buck-boost charger/discharger and a class-D series resonant parallel loaded inverter. The designed fuzzy logic controller (FLC) can control both the charging and discharging current, and can improve its dynamic and steady-state performance. Furthermore, a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) based on a perturb-and-observe method is also realized to effectively draw power from PV arrays. Both the FLC and the MPPT are implemented on a single-chip microprocessor. Simulated and experimental results obtained from the proposed circuit with an FLC have verified the adaptivity, robustness and feasibility.

Induction machine condition monitoring with higher order spectra

Abstract: This paper describes a novel method of detecting and unambiguously diagnosing the type and magnitude of three induction machine fault conditions from the single sensor measurement of the radial electromagnetic machine vibration. The detection mechanism is based on the hypothesis that the induction machine can be considered as a simple system, and that the action of the fault conditions are to alter the output of the system in a characteristic and predictable fashion. Further, the change in output and fault condition can be correlated allowing explicit fault identification. Using this technique, there is no requirement for a priori data describing machine fault conditions, the method is equally applicable to both sinusoidally and inverter-fed induction machines and is generally invariant of both the induction machine load and speed. The detection mechanisms are rigorously examined theoretically and experimentally, and it is shown that a robust and reliable induction machine condition-monitoring system has been produced. Further, this technique is developed into a software-based automated commercially applicable system.

Actively clamped bidirectional flyback converter

Abstract: An actively clamped bidirectional flyback converter is proposed. The converter's operation is examined in detail. All switches in the converter have zero-voltage-switching characteristics. A low-frequency behavior model and small-signal transfer functions are derived. It is found that the flow of current is directly under the control of the duty cycle, and that the transformer's leakage inductance has a significant effect on the control characteristic of the converter. It is expected that such bidirectional converters will find wide applications in the interconnection of multiple sources of DC power to a common bus (e.g., in a DC uninterruptible power supply). Simulation and experiment results are also presented.

An implementation of fuzzy logic controller on the reconfigurable FPGA system

Abstract: This paper concerns an implementation of a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) on a reconfigurable field-programmable gate array (FPGA) system. In the proposed implementation method, the FLC is partitioned into many temporally independent functional modules, and each module is implemented individually on the FLC automatic design and implementation system, which is an integrated development environment for performing many subtasks such as automatic VHSIC hardware description language description, FPGA synthesis, optimization, placement and routing, and downloading. Each implemented module forms a downloadable hardware object that is ready to configure the FPGA chip. Then, the FPGA chip is consequently reconfigured with one module at a time by using the run-time reconfiguration method. This implementation method is effective when a single FPGA chip cannot fit the FLC due to the limited size of its constituent cells. We test the proposed implementation method by building the FLC for the truck backer-upper control on VCC Corporation's EVC-1 reconfigurable FPGA board directly.

Design of a nonlinear disturbance observer

Abstract: This paper presents a new disturbance observer based on the variable structure system theory for minimum-phase (with respect to the relationship between the disturbance and output) dynamical systems with arbitrary relative degrees. The model uncertainties and the nonlinear parts of the system are merged into the disturbance term and are regarded as a part of the disturbances. The upper and lower bounds of the disturbance are assumed to be known as a priori information. Simulation results are presented to show the robustness and effectiveness of the new disturbance observer. Experimental results show the practicality of the new observer.

Fault detection and diagnosis of permanent-magnet DC motor based on parameter estimation and neural network

Abstract: In this paper, fault detection and diagnosis of a permanent-magnet DC motor is discussed. Parameter estimation based on block-pulse function series is used to estimate the continuous-time model of the motor. The electromechanical parameters of the motor can be obtained from the estimated model parameters. The relative changes of electromechanical parameters are used to detect motor faults. A multilayer perceptron neural network is used to isolate faults based on the patterns of parameter changes. Experiments with a real motor validate the feasibility of the combined use of parameter estimation and neural network classification for fault detection and isolation of the motor.

Lossless current sensing in low-voltage high-current DC/DC modular supplies

Abstract: New data processing ICs require low-voltage high-current supplies together with high reliability and efficiency. The use of a modular power supply would be the ideal solution, but it requires detecting the current in each module, and resistive shunts are usually used. In this paper, a new lossless current-sensing circuit is presented. This lossless current transducer is obtained by applying the technique used to compensate the parasitic inductance in resistive shunts to the filter inductor of the DC/DC power supply. The causes that can influence transducer response are investigated. The current sensing was implemented in a modular DC/DC power supply and experimental results are reported.

Control of redundant manipulators considering order of disturbance observer

Abstract: A manipulator control method using a disturbance observer with no inverse dynamics has been proposed. The order of the disturbance observer affects the performance of control system, because nominalization of plant is dependent on the control object and the order of the disturbance observer. This paper proposes a unique choice of disturbance observers of different order in joint and task space to improve system performance of hybrid position/force control of redundant manipulators. Also, it has been shown that a proper selection of a coefficient of the disturbance observer is capable to improve robust stability, while not influencing basic performance. The proposed strategy can realize acceleration control and second derivative of force control in the task space, which realizes robust and precise control of manipulators. Experimental results using a redundant manipulator show the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.

Speed tracking control of a permanent-magnet synchronous motor with state and load torque observer

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the speed tracking control problem for a permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) in the presence of an unknown load torque disturbance. After a brief review of the mathematical model of the PMSM, a speed tracking control law using the exact linearization methodology is introduced. The tracking control algorithm is completed by adding an extended observer which provides, on the one hand, the motor speed and acceleration and, on the other hand, estimates the unknown load torque. The stability of the closed-loop system composed of a nonlinear speed tracking controller and an observer is studied by the way of Lyapunov theory. Furthermore, the decoupling of the state observer and the load torque observer is discussed. Finally, a real-time implementation and the experimental results of the proposed control strategy are presented.

Acoustic noise radiated by PWM-controllel induction machine drives

Abstract: This paper investigates the acoustic noise radiated from two nominally identical induction motors when fed from sinusoidal, and asymmetric regular sampling subharmonic and space-vector pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converters. The theory for analyzing the noise spectrum is developed further to account for the interaction between the motor and the drive. It is shown that manufacturing tolerances can result in significant differences in the noise level emitted from nominally identical motors, and that mechanical resonances can result in extremely high noise emissions. Such resonances can be induced by stator and rotor slot air-gap field harmonics due to the fundamental component of current, and by the interaction between the airgap field harmonics produced by the fundamental and the PWM harmonic currents. The significance of the effect of PWM strategy on the noise is closely related to the mechanical resonance with vibration mode order zero, while the PWM strategy will be critical only if the dominant cause of the emitted noise is the interaction of the fundamental air-gap field and PWM harmonics.

Comparative investigation of diagnostic media for induction motors: a case of rotor cage faults

Abstract: Results of a comparative experimental investigation of various media for noninvasive diagnosis of rotor faults in induction motors are presented. Stator voltages and currents in an induction motor were measured, recorded, and employed for computation of the partial and total input powers and of the estimated torque. Waveforms of the current, partial powers p/sub AB/ and p/sub CB/, total power, and estimated torque were subsequently analyzed using the fast Fourier transform. Several rotor cage faults of increasing severity were studied with various load levels. The partial input power p/sub CB/ was observed to exhibit the highest sensitivity to rotor faults. This medium is also the most reliable, as it includes a multiplicity of fault-induced spectral components.

Vector quantization for license-plate location and image coding

Abstract: License-plate location in sensor images plays an important role in vehicle identification for automated transport systems (ATS). This paper presents a novel method based on vector quantization (VQ) to process vehicle images. The proposed method makes it possible to perform superior picture compression for archival purposes and to support effective location at the same time. As compared with classical approaches, VQ encoding can give some hints about the contents of image regions; such additional information can be exploited to boost location performance. The VQ system can be trained by way of examples; this gives the advantages of adaptiveness and on-field tuning. The approach has been tested in a real industrial application and included satisfactorily in a complete ATS for vehicle identification.

Fuzzy logic applied to speed control of a stepping motor drive

Abstract: Nowadays, thanks to the development of microprocessors, stepping motors are widely used in robotics and in the numerical control of machine tools where they have to perform high-precision positioning operations. Nevertheless, the variations of the mechanical configuration of the drive, which are common to these two applications, can lead to a loss of synchronism for high stepping rates. Moreover, the classical open-loop speed control is weak and a closed-loop control becomes necessary. In this paper, the fuzzy logic principle is applied to control the speed of a stepping motor drive with feedback. An advanced test bed is used in order to evaluate the tracking properties and the robustness capacities of the fuzzy logic controller when variations of the mechanical configuration occur. The experiment has been performed using a low-cost 16 bit microcontroller in order to verify the design performance.