A Vector Controlled MCT Matrix Converter Induction Motor Drive with Minimized Commutation Times and Enhanced Waveform

Quality
P. W. Wheeler, J. C. Clare, and L. Empringham School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK Pat.Wheeler@Nottingham.ac.uk
Abstract This paper describes the design, construction and testing of a 10kVA three-phase to three-phase Matrix Converter induction motor drive. The converter has been built using discrete 65Amp MOS Controlled Thyristors (MCTs). The commutation time has been minimized to avoid any unnecessary waveform distortion, particularly at low demanded output voltages. This minimization gives the Matrix Converter superior waveform quality in comparison to a conventional inverter and maximizes the available converter output voltage before overmodulation is required. The converter is vector controlled and has been tested using a 12HP induction motor. Full results of these tests are presented. Keywordsmatrix converters, vector control, motor drives, current commutation.

SAa

3-phase input

bi-directional switch

I. INTRODUCTION Recently there has been considerable interest in the potential benefits of Matrix Converter technology, especially for applications where size, weight and long term reliability are important factors [1]. For a three-phase to three-phase implementation the Matrix Converter circuit consists of nine bi-directional switches so that any input line can be connected to any output line for any given length of time, see fig. 1. The switches are then controlled to give the desired output waveforms The primary objective of this research effort is to evaluate the utility of the Matrix Converter in electric vehicle applications, primarily for motor control. In electric vehicles, especially military vehicles, weight and volume reduction are critical. Further, high-temperature operation is desirable to ease the problem of thermal management and allow the use of liquids that are already present on the vehicles for the purpose of converter cooling. It is believed that the Matrix Converter can have significant advantages over the traditional DC link converter in all of these areas since it is possible to eliminate the DC link capacitor. The elimination of the DC capacitor may become even more critical when Silicon Carbide power devices become available. Previously published work on Matrix Converters [1-4] has been almost entirely concerned

motor

Fig. 1. The Basic Matrix Converter Circuit with insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) switches. In this study, MOS-controlled thyristor (MCT) based bi-directional switches are used, but the all the techniques described are applicable to any Matrix Converter which is constructed from other power semiconductor switching devices, such as IGBTs, IGCTs, GTOs and MOSFETs. In this paper the design and control of a snubberless 10kVA Matrix Converter built using 65Amp, 1200Volt discrete MOS Controlled Thyristors (MCTs) is described. A diagram showing the basic functional circuits of this converter is given in fig. 2. The paper also considers the minimization of the commutation time in order to achieve the optimum output waveform quality; this is particularly useful in applications where the controller may demand very low output voltages. For example, in order to demonstrate these advantages the matrix converter has been incorporated in a closed loop vector controlled drive for a 12HP induction motor.

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Controller Board D/A Gate Drivers

(6)

PWM

FPGA
Current Commutation

MicroController

(6)

Bi-directional Switch
Current Direction (3)

(6)

Current Direction Sensor

Fiber Optic Links (27)

Desired voltage, freq.

Serial Link

Induction Motor Load

Speed Encoder

PC

Fig. 2. A Functional Diagram for the Matrix Converter Circuit and Controller II. CURRENT COMMUTATION Proper current commutation in Matrix Converters requires that one, and only one, bi-directional switch on each output leg be on at any given time. If two switches are on at the same time, a phase-to-phase short circuit is produced, resulting in catastrophic over currents. If, on the other hand, both switches are open simultaneously, large L*di/dt transients are produced, possibly resulting in device breakdown [5]. A. Four Step Current Commutation In order to achieve safe commutation a number of methods have been proposed. These methods rely on a knowledge of either the output current direction or the relative magnitude of the input voltages. Probably the most popular is the four-step current commutation strategy, which relies on output current direction. In order to consider the current commutation in Matrix Converters it is only necessary to look at a two-phase to single-phase converter, as shown in fig. 3. All the possible commutation scenarios of a three-phase to three-phase converter can be seen in this circuit [4]. If this simple twoswitch converter is considered then the four step commutation strategy proceeds as follows: Assume that switches SA and SA are on, SB and SB are off, and that we want to reverse this condition. Further assume that the load current is flowing into the load, as shown in fig. 2. In this case we gate switch SA off (because it is carrying no current), followed by switch SB gated on (this produces no phase-to-phase short, since SA and SB both conduct current in the same direction), followed by switch SA gated off (the current conduction path now has to be through SB), and finally, we gate switch SB on. If the current direction was in opposite direction, then the correct sequence would be SA off, SB on, SA off, and SB on. This commutation sequence is shown in the timing diagram in fig. 4. An alternative method of Matrix Converter current commutation is the two-step current commutation strategy. In this method only the device carrying the current is gated at any given time, and the first and last events in the above

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Output Current Direction: SA SA SB SB tc tp SA SA SB SB

Output Current Direction:

tc tp

Fig. 4. The Four Step Current Commutation Strategy for a 2 Switch Matrix Converter

VA SA SA SAa VB SB SB SBa ia Va Fig. 3. A Two-phase to Single-phase Matrix Converter description are not required. If this commutation strategy is adopted then provision has to be made to pass the current path between the two devices in the bi-directional switch when the output current changes direction [3]. B. Minimization of the Critical Commutation Time The following comments on commutation time reduction can be applied to both the four-step and the two-step commutation strategies.

For the two-phase to single-phase Matrix Converter shown in fig. 3 it is important to note that the output voltage will change from the VA to VB either when SB is gated on or when SA is gated off, depending on the relative magnitudes of the two supply voltages. If the time interval between these two events, the commutation time (tc), is relatively long in comparison to the switching period then considerable distortion will be seen in the converter output waveforms. This distortion is very similar to that of uncompensated dead-time distortion seen with inverter circuits. In the case of an inverter the dead-time, td, has to be long enough for the outgoing device to turn off before the incoming device is gated in order to prevent shoot-through between the devices in one output leg. The commutation can take place at either of these two instants in time, depending on the direction of the output current, leading to waveform distortion. However, in the Matrix Converter with current based commutation, the commutation time only has to be long enough for the incoming device to turn on before the outgoing device is turned off. It is possible to reduce this time in the Matrix Converter because the incoming MCT will always
Output Current Direction: SA SA SB SB

Fig. 5. The Three Step Current Commutation Strategy for a Two Switch Matrix Converter

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Output Current Direction: SA SA SB SB tp Fig. 6. The Single Step Current Commutation Strategy for a Two Switch Matrix Converter

Laminated Input Power Planes

3-phase Input 3-phase Output Load Voltage Clamp

Current Sensors
Current Sensors

Fig. 8. The 10kW MCT Based Matrix Converter

described above, is not possible with voltage based methods. C. Three-Step and Single-Step Current Commutation If the turn-off delay time of the device used for the bidirectional switch is greater than the turn-on delay under all possible operating conditions then the commutation time can be reduced to zero. This property is true of nearly all the power semiconductor devices currently used for power electronic applications. Therefore, the critical commutation time, tc, can be reduced to zero. This means that the four-step current commutation strategy reduces to a three-step commutation strategy, as shown in fig. 5.
3-Phase Supply

turn-on very quickly in comparison to the turn-off of the outgoing device. Therefore the required Matrix Converter commutation time, tc, is always a lot lower than the corresponding dead-time, td, in an inverter. It is important to note that this is a significant advantage of current direction based commutation strategies. With the alternative voltage based methods [6], it is necessary to wait for an outgoing device to block before gating the incoming device to avoid short circuits of the input lines. Therefore minimization of the critical commutation time, in the way
Speed Demand Flux Current Demand

ref

id*
Id Current Control

Compensation terms

MICRO-CONTROLLER Infineon SAB80C167 input voltages

vAB vBC
Voltage A to D Input Filter

vd*

ej
Speed Control

iq*

Iq Current Control

vq*

2/3

va vb vc
Matrix Converter Control Algorithm

Gate Drives

Matrix Converter Power Circuit

r
* iq * id

sl

dt

PWM

FPGA

id iq

-j

i i 3/2

ia ib ic

Current A to D

Rotor Speed

AB Timers Up/Down FPGA

motor
Encode

Fig. 7. Matrix Converter Closed Loop Vector Control Scheme

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Input Current [Amps]

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Fig. 9. Input Current, Output Voltage and Output Current Waveforms for the Matrix Converter with a 12HP Induction Motor Load Switching Frequency =4kHz, Input Frequency = 60Hz, Output frequency = 40Hz

The corresponding two-step current commutation strategy would reduce to a single-step current commutation strategy, as shown in fig. 6. At this point the commutation time is obviously at a minimum, and the output waveform distortion due to the uncertainty in the commutation process has been effectively eliminated.
D. Minimum Safe Pulse Width When the current commutation in a Matrix Converter is accomplished with four-step strategy the minimum pulse width that the controller can ask for has to be set to tp, shown in fig. 4. This time has to be long enough for the complete commutation sequence as well as enough time for the conduction path in the final device to turn-on to be

established. This all has to happen before the next commutation sequence can begin. If a typical commutation time (for MCTs) of 6secs is set for all three commutation intervals then a typical value for the minimum pulse time, tp, would be about 20secs. This minimum pulse width would be set for each of the three input phases, and would therefore lead to a total time of 60secs of effectively zero output voltage per switching period. For a Matrix Converter operating with a switching frequency of 4kHz this would represent 24% of the total switching period. This would therefore reduce the theoretical maximum voltage ratio (qmax) of the converter, before over-modulation or pulse dropping, to give a real maximum voltage ratio (qr). In the case of the typical MCT values this would be reduction from 0.866 to 0.658 before any allowance is made for the MCT and diode voltage drops.

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10

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Output Current [Amps]

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-1 00 . E+ 0 1 0 .0 0 E + 0 0 1 .0 0 E+ 0 0 2 0 E+ 0 0 . 0 3 00 . E+ 0 0 4 .0 0 E + 0 0 5 .0 0 E+ 0 0 6 0 E+ 0 0 . 0 7 0 E+ 0 0 . 0 8 .0 0 E + 0 0 9 .0 0 E+ 0 0

10

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Fig. 10. An Output Current Waveform for the Matrix Converter with an Induction Motor Load Switching Frequency =4kHz, Motor Shaft Speed = 3rpm

qr = qmax (1 3t p f s )

(1)

The two-step current commutation strategy has the advantage of further reducing the minimum required safe pulse width that the controller can demand. The minimum pulse width will be equal to the total time of the commutation sequence (which is now just tc) plus enough time for the last device to have established a conduction path. For the example given above this would reduce the minimum pulse width time, tp, to about 7secs. If single-step current commutation strategy is used the minimum safe pulse width that the controller can be allowed to request is further minimized, as shown in fig. 6. For the MCT converter minimum pulse widths of <1secs are easily realizable. This minimization allows the maximum possible use of the Matrix Converters output voltage range before over-modulation or pulse dropping is required. This is obviously an important advantage of the single-step current commutation strategy. III. CLOSED LOOP VECTOR CONTROL To demonstrate the advantages of this minimized commutation time at low output demand voltages a 3-phase to 3-phase Matrix Converter has been used as a vector controlled induction motor drive.
A. Practical Implementation This 10kW Matrix Converter has been built using discrete 65Amp MOS Controlled Thyristors (MCTs), see fig 8. The converter is controlled using the Venturini Control Algorithm [8]; the modulation index calculation for each bidirectional switch is summarized in equation 2. The vector control scheme gives the three target output voltages for the Venturini Control Algorithm (va, vb and vc), as shown in fig. 7. This complete control system is implemented on a 16-bit, integer micro-controller, the Infineon SAB80C167.
1 2v K v j 4q m Kj = 1 + sin( i t + K ) sin(3 i t ) + 2 3 Vim 3 3 for K = A, B, C and j = a, b, c K = 0,2/3,4/3 for K = A,B,C respectively

commutation intervals for the four-step commutation strategy to be set by the user, with a minimum time of 100nsces [7]. This allows the critical commutation time, tc, to be set to 100nsecs, which is significantly lower than the switching times of the MCTs, so the resulting commutation sequence is effectively the three-step current commutation strategy. The input filter for this Matrix Converter is formed with the inductance of the paralleling inductors of the variac that supplies converter and the 10F capacitors attached to the input power planes. This filter has not been optimized for the Matrix Converter operating conditions and hence the input current waveform quality is lower than expected.
B. Results using the Three-Step Commutation Strategy Fig. 9 shows the waveforms from this Matrix Converter operating with an output frequency of 40Hz into a 12HP induction motor load. It can be seen that the three-step current commutation strategy is working perfectly. There are no output voltage spikes and no input current spikes, one of which would be seen during a commutation error or failure. It is also noted that the output voltage waveform is very clean; the laminated bus bar structure of the input voltage power planes, as shown in fig. 8, has led to a very small voltage overshoot during the voltage transients.

If the commutation time is increased to 6secs with a fourstep commutation strategy, then at low frequencies the output current has a DC bias much larger than the AC current. This DC current is due to the commutation strategy deciding a current direction for each output leg of the converter. This decision then forces the voltage seen by each leg in the direction decided by the current direction sensor, because of the effect of the voltage distortion due to the commutation time. This undesirable condition is not seen when the critical commutation time has been minimized and the three-step strategy has been adopted. The quality of the output current waveforms obtained with the three-step commutation strategy can be seen in the output current shown in figure 10. This result was obtained with the MCT Matrix Converter operating under closed loop vector control with a demand shaft speed of 3rpm. It clearly shows the high quality of waveform that may be obtained from the converter even with a very low output voltage demand, vd and vq are in the order of a couple of volts.

(2)

An Actel FPGA controls the current commutation process. This hardware control platform allows each of the

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30

3 0

ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to thank the United States Army Research Laboratories for their support for this work via European Research Office in London. We would also like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of Klaus Kerris (now retired), formerly with the United States Army Research Laboratories, to this work.
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REFERENCES
[1] Wheeler, P.W., Rodriguez J., Clare J.C. and Empringham L., Matrix Converter, A technology Review, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Vol. 49, No. 2, April 2002. Wheeler, P.W. and Grant, D.A.:, A Low Loss Matrix Converter for Variable-Speed Drives, European Power Electronics Conference, Brighton, September 1993. Empringham, L., Wheeler, P.W. and Clare, J.C., Intelligent Commutation of Matrix Converter Bi-directional Switch Cells Using Novel Gate Drive Techniques, IEEE Power Electronic Specialists Conference, Japan, May 1998. . Bland M., Empringham L., Wheeler P.W. and Clare J.C. Comparison of Calculated and Measured Switching Losses in Direct AC-AC Converters, IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, Vancouver, June 2001. Burny N. "Safe Control of Four-Quadrant-Switches". IEEE Industrial Applications Society Annual Meeting, 1989. pp.1190-1194. M. Ziegler and W. Hofmann, Semi natural two steps commutation strategy for Matrix Converters, IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 1998, pp727-731. Kerris, K.G., Wheeler, P.W., Empringham, L., and Clare, J.C., Implementation of a Matrix Converter Using p-Channel MOSControlled Thyristors, IEE Conference on Power Electronics and Variable Speed Drives, London, September 2000. Alesina A. and Venturini M.G.B., "Analysis and Design of OptimumAmplitude Nine-Switch Direct AC-AC Converters", IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 4 .No.1., January 1989, pp101-112. . Sunter S. and Clare J.C., A True Four Quadrant Matrix Converter Induction Motor Drive with Servo Performance, IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, May 1996.

Time [secs]

Fig.11. Output Current Waveforms for a Speed Reversal at 300rpm Fig. 11 shows the current waveforms for a speed reversal from 300rpm to 300rpm, demonstrating that the Matrix Converter operates in a regenerative mode even when a large inertia (the DC loading machine in this case) is reversed rapidly. IV. CONCLUSIONS In applications, such as vector controlled induction motor drives, where output current distortion can cause control problems under low speed operating conditions, it is important that the actual output waveform of the converter is very close to the target waveform. In this paper it has been demonstrated that the commutation time for an MCT Matrix Converter can be minimized to zero and hence the output waveform quality can be substantially enhance, particularly under conditions of low converter output voltage demand. These benefits are only possible with current direction based commutation strategies. The resulting switch timings lead to a three-step or single-step current commutation strategy instead of the traditional fourstep or two-step commutation techniques. The use of a single step commutation strategy also maximizes the available output voltage before over-modulation or pulse dropping is required for a given input voltage. These new commutation techniques represent another important advantage for Matrix Converter technology in motor drive applications.

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5] [6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

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