RESEARCH OF ELECTRIC DRIVE SYSTEMS WITH REAL TIME SOFTWARE CONFIGURABLE CONTROL

Subject of Research.The paper discusses design principles of educational laboratory bench for practical research of electric drive control systems. The laboratory bench provides training opportunities for students in “Control of Electrical Drives” course and is used to increase the efficiency of material acquisition. Method. The proposed solution was based on the method of mutual loading of electric machines powered by the power converters with a common direct current link. At that, one electric machine can be used as a tested one, and the other as a load one, and vice versa. The flow of power from a machine operating in generator mode to a machine operating in motor mode was ensured, which provides an energy-saving mode of operation when power is consumed only from the network to cover losses in power converters and the machine unit. To study the various structures of control systems for direct and alternating current motors, a method for software creation with a freely configurable structure was proposed. Main Results.The paper describes laboratory stands that contain a two-machine unit, where each electric motor receives power from its power semiconductor converter controlled by a real-time microcontroller control system. The software has been implemented for the synthesis of the control researched structure using the control system settings. The system setting is performed by a number of freely configurable control elements, which are then compiled into a control algorithm for the microcontroller. To ensure the safe execution of the experiment, the control algorithm works in conjunction with the main on-line software. Thus, protection for electric motors and power converters is provided. Thanks to the built-in protection software, it has become possible to achieve reliable operation of electric drives with the power of 1.5 kW, as well as to realize characteristics close to industrial ones. The paper describes in detail the features of laboratory equipment and software for the system of an induction motor field-oriented control. This example demonstrates the setting of control systems, compiling of executable code, an experiment procedure and evaluation of results. Practical Relevance.The considered approaches to the educational equipment creation can be used in the design of similar educational equipment in related disciplines. The results are applicable for scientific and research-pedagogical staff during the course of specialist training in the field of electric drive control systems. The presented equipment has been actively used for more than 5 years and can be of practical value in the educational process.