User Guide 08092
IRMCS3043 System Overview/Guide
By
International Rectifier’s iMOTION Team
Table of Contents
IRMCS3043 System Overview/Guide................................................................................ 1
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1
IRMCF343 Application Circuit .......................................................................................... 2
Power Factor Correction Algorithm ................................................................................... 4
Sensorless Control Algorithm............................................................................................. 5
Velocity and Current Control.......................................................................................... 5
Field Weakening and IPM control.................................................................................. 6
Position and velocity estimation ..................................................................................... 8
Start up sequencing ......................................................................................................... 9
Phase Current Measurement ......................................................................................... 10
Control Algorithm Implementation and tuning ............................................................ 11
IRMCS3043 Reference Design Tools and Application Development ............................. 12
Next Steps ......................................................................................................................... 13
Introduction
The IRMCS3043 reference design platform supports development of dual motor drive
applications in the 1200W – 1700W power range using the IRMCF343 digital control IC
and the IRAMX16UP60A IRAM power module. The design kit includes a permanent
magnet synchronous motor, a drive control board, a PFC inductor and the motor control
development tools. The inclusion of the motor allows immediate use of the kit, while the
motor control commissioning tools support rapid evaluation of the drive board running
the target motor.
www.irf.com UG08092 1
This document provides a high level description of the PFC and motor drive control
algorithms, the hardware components and design tools. The IRMCS3043 Quick Start
Guide provides instructions on how to set up the hardware and to start running the
included motors. The IRMCx300 Application Developers Guide describes the various
steps to configure and customize the design to match your motor and application
requirements. The IRMCx300 Software Developers Guide describes application software
development and the tools to generate code for the one time programmable version of the
digital control IC. The IRMCx300 Reference Manual provides detailed descriptions of the
digital control IC hardware, registers and control blocks.
IRMCF343 Application Circuit
In a typical IRMCF343 application such as an air conditioner compressor control circuit,
shown in
Figure 1,the drive circuit includes an input converter, two three-phase power inverters and
the digital motor control IC. The input converter consists of an inrush current limiter, an
EMI filter, a bridge rectifier, a PFC boost converter circuit and a dc bus capacitor. The
three-phase power inverter uses a single IR appliance module (IRAM) and some passive
components. The IRAMX16UP60A module integrates six IGBT transistors and diodes
and the analog gate drive circuit. The IRAM module also includes inverter protection
functions include over current trips, over temperature trips and the detection of gate drive
voltage. The module requires external current sensing resistors. The IRMCF312 digital
IC controls both ac motors and the PFC boost converter. It also manages application
functions such as the motor speed profiles, load switching and communication with an
external processor that handles the user interface. The IC integrates an 8-bit
microcontroller (8051 MCU), a 16-bit Motion Control Engine (MCETM) and an Analog
Signal Engine (ASE). This IC structure allows easy partitioning of the appliance
application and motor control functions as shown in Figure 2.
www.irf.com UG08092 2
Figure 1 IRMCF343 Application Hardware
The 8051 microcontroller includes the timers, digital I/O and ports to communicate with
the indoor unit controller. The 8051 is the master processor and has dedicated data and
program memory space that loads automatically after power up from an external serial
ROM. It communicates with the MCE via a shared memory interface that allows it to set
control algorithm parameters and track variables. There is a version of the digital control
IC, the IRMCK343, which integrates OTP ROM in place of the 8051 instruction RAM.
The Motion Control Engine controls both the compressor motor and the input PFC
converter. The MCE implement a sensorless field oriented control algorithm that
generates the inverter PWM signals based on dc bus voltage and dc link current samples.
The MCE implements a digital power factor correction algorithm with feed forward
control to minimize the converter switching frequency and maximize efficiency. The
Analog Signal Engine integrates the 12-bit A/D converter, timing circuits and buffer
amplifiers needed to determine the motor voltages and currents from the dc link shunt
resistor. It includes the buffer amplifiers and timing circuits to sample the ac line voltage,
the input converter current and the dc bus voltage. The only external components
required for the ASE are the passive components needed to set the amplifier gains.
Figure 2 IRMCF343 Application Partitioning
www.irf.com UG08092 3
The MCETM implements the sensorless motor control algorithm using a hardware library
of motor control modules such as vector transformations and proportional plus integral
feedback compensators. The motion control sequencer schedules the execution of the
library components required to implement the sensorless control and PFC algorithms.
The MCE implements the algorithm in 16-bit fixed point arithmetic using a selection of
macro control functions from the MCE library. The use of dedicated hardware macro
functions enables a single fixed point control IC to simultaneously control two motors
and the input PFC. A number of these block such as the PI compensator or the vector
rotation (ejθ) are common motor control functions. Other blocks such as the rotor angle
and speed estimator, are macro blocks that combine a number of motor control functions.
There are also hardware interface functions that combine computational elements, timing
functions and analog circuits. Each block includes control registers for parameters such
as proportional loop gain or the PWM switching frequency. Control variables, gains and
set points are stored in the shared RAM to allow the 8051 to change target speed and
control system gains on the fly. The 8051 can also log control variables without
interrupting the MCE operation. The 8051 initializes the MCE by loading the sequencer
code and control parameters into the shared memory. The MCE operates almost
completely independent of the 8051 reacting only to changes in the control set point or
parameters.
Power Factor Correction Algorithm
The power factor controller forces the input line current waveform to follow that of the
input line voltage. This ensures that the input power factor is unity and eliminates the
higher order harmonic components usually present in the input current of a bridge
rectifier. The minimization of current harmonics is a requirement in many regions and
active control of power factor is typically used once the input power exceeds about 1kW.
The power factor correction (PFC) loop structure is described in Figure 3 below. The
input signals are the dc bus voltage vdc , the input current ipfc and the rectified ac voltage
|vac|. The control loop adjusts the duty cycle of the boost converter transistor so that the
boost converter input current ipf follows the wave shape of the rectified ac voltage |vac|.
There are three major blocks in the controller: the voltage loop, the current loop and the
voltage feed forward loop. The voltage loop calculates the input current magnitude I*
needed to maintain the dc bus voltage vdc at the reference value Vdc*. There is a rate
limiter on the dc bus reference input to limit the peak input power after the PFC
controller is initialized. The product of the input current magnitude I* and the input ac
voltage |vac| provides a half wave sinusoidal reference input ipfc* for the current loop. The
rectifier input current must follow this half wave sinusoidal waveform for the input line
current to follow the input waveform of the ac line. However, a half wave rectified sine
waveform is rich in harmonics and the current controller requires a high bandwidth to
track them. The voltage feed forward loop minimizes the current loop bandwidth
requirements by calculating the boost converter duty cycle needed to track the input
voltage waveform. Therefore, the current loop only needs to respond to dynamic
conditions allowing the A/D sample rate and PFC switching frequency to be minimized.
In this reference design, the PFC switching frequency is 30 KHz, which is 3 or 4 times
lower than would be required without feed forward control. The lower frequency lowers
www.irf.com UG08092 4
the MCE processor calculation requirements and lowers the boost converter switching
losses.
Figure 3 PFC Control Schematic
Sensorless Control Algorithm
The PMSM control algorithm structure is described in Figure 4 below. The main control
loops are the velocity and current control loops that vary the motor winding voltages to
drive the motor at the target speed. The current controller has a field oriented control
(FOC) structure that maximizes motor efficiency. The field weakening and IPM control
blocks extend the torque and speed range of the drive. The feedback signal processing
functions determine rotor position, velocity, and stator winding currents all from the
current flowing in the power inverter dc link. The start-up sequencer controls the
transition from the zero and low speed control range to sensorless operation.
Velocity and Current Control
The controller has a cascaded structure with inner current control loops and an outer
velocity control loop. The velocity controller calculates the motor torque (T*) required to
follow the target velocity (ω*) while the current loops drive the motor currents needed to
generate this torque. The proportional plus integral (PI) velocity loop compensator acts
on the error between the target velocity (ω*) and the actual (estimated) velocity. The
integral term forces the steady state error to zero while the proportional term improves
the high frequency response. The PI compensator gains are adjusted depending on the
motor and load characteristics to meet the target dynamic performance. The limiting
function on the output of the PI compensator prevents integral windup and maintains the
motor currents within the motor and drive capability. There is also a minimum speed
setting and rate limiter on the target velocity to stay within the system mechanical limits.
The current loops calculate the inverter voltages to drive the motor currents needed to
generate the desired torque. As in the case of the dc motor, the current magnitude
determines the motor torque. However, in an ac machine the torque is also a function of
the phase alignment between the stator currents and rotor flux. A field oriented control
structure correctly aligns the ac motor winding currents with the rotor flux position to
maximize torque production. Field oriented control (FOC) uses the Clarke transform and
www.irf.com UG08092 5
a vector rotation (e-jθ) to transform the motor winding currents into two quasi dc
components, an Id component that reinforces or weakens the rotor field and an Iq
component that generates motor torque. Two separate regulators control the Id and Iq
currents and a forward vector rotation (e+jθ) transforms the current loop Vd and Vq output
voltages into the two phase ac components. The Space Vector Pulse Width Modulator
(SVPWM) generates the three phase power inverter switching signals based on the α and
β voltage inputs. Space vector modulation automatically inserts a third harmonic into the
line to line voltage that maximizes bus voltage utilization using sinusoidal modulation.
This FOC structure simplifies current control loop tuning by eliminating dependency on
the motor electrical frequency and reducing the current loop tuning to a first order
problem.
Figure 4 Sensorless Field Oriented Control Algorithm
Field Weakening and IPM control
Typically, the Iq controller input is the torque reference from the velocity controller and
the Id reference current is set to zero. However, above a certain speed, known as the base
speed, the inverter output voltage becomes limited by the dc bus voltage. In this
situation, the field weakening controller generates a negative Id to oppose the rotor
magnet field that reduces the winding back EMF. This enables operation at higher speeds
but at a lower torque output. The controller includes a compensator that adjusts the Id
current to maintain the motor voltage magnitude within the bus voltage limit. The
compensator operates on the square of the voltage magnitude since this is easy to
calculate from the sum of (Vd)2 and (Vq)2.
When driving an interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor the rotor saliency can generate
a reluctance torque component to augment the torque produced by the rotor magnet. The
motor torque function, in equation below, has a cylindrical torque term that is a function
of Iq and a reluctance torque term that is a function of both Id and Iq.
www.irf.com UG08092 6
Torque =
p
(Ψ magnet .Iq + (Ld − Lq ).Id .Iq ) Equation 1
2
where,
p is the number of poles
ψmagnet is the permanent magnet linked flux
Ld and Lq are the direct and quadrature axis inductances
When driving a surface magnet motor, there is zero saliency (Ld=Lq) and Id is set to zero
for maximum efficiency. In the case of IPM motor which has saliency (Ld< Lq) a negative
Id will produce positive reluctance torque. The most efficient operating point is when the
total torque is maximized for a given current magnitude. This is found by transforming
Equation 1 into a form with current magnitude (Im) and phase advance (β) terms by
substituting Iq with Im.cos(β) and Id with Im.sin(β).
Torque =
p
2
( ( ) )
Ψ magnet .I m . cos( β ) + 12 Ld − Lq .(I m )2 . sin (2β ) Equation 2
The significance of the reluctance torque increases and so the phase advance is increased
with increasing current. The plot of the total torque as a function of angle and current in
Figure 5, shows that the optimum angle advance can be approximated by a linear
function. The IPM control block uses the optimum phase advance at rated current to
define the linear approximation.
Figure 5 Motor torque as a function of current and angle advance
www.irf.com UG08092 7
Position and velocity estimation
In a PMSM, the rotor flux is locked to the rotor position and so it can be measured
directly using a shaft mounted sensors. It can also be measured indirectly from the motor
back EMF since this is a function of the rotor position and speed. The position estimation
algorithm, described in Figure 6, has two stages. The rotor flux function is first derived
from a circuit model and then a phase locked loop estimates the flux angle and frequency.
The two-phase stator circuit model described by Equation 3 forms the basis for the flux
estimation. The two phase stator voltages are inputs to the SVPWM function and the two
phase current measurements are in the current feedback path. Integration of the equation
followed by simple manipulation yields the terms that are sine and cosine functions of the
rotor flux angle. In the hardware implementation, the voltage integrator includes has a
low frequency cut off to prevent dc saturation.
+ (− ψ r . cos(θ r ))
diα d
v α = RS .iα + LS .
dt dt
diβ d Equation 3
v β = RS .i β + LS . + (− ψ r . sin(θ r ))
dt dt
The angle and frequency phase locked loop (PLL) estimates the flux angle and speed
from the rotor sine and cosine flux functions. The vector rotation calculates the error (ε)
between the rotor flux angle (θr) and the estimated angle (θest). The PI compensator and
integrator in the closed loop path force angle and frequency estimate (ωest) to track the
angle and frequency of the rotor flux. This second order feedback loop has zero error
when the rotor flux is changing at a constant frequency. The motor velocity is derived
from the rotor frequency according to the number of number of rotor poles. The PLL
startup function supports the motor startup sequencer. At low speeds, the back EMF
signal is unreliable and so the PLL is driven in open loop at fixed frequency ramp (αstart).
Once the frequency reaches a minimum threshold (ωthr), the PLL takes its inputs from the
flux estimator.
Figure 6 Rotor flux estimator and rotor angle and speed PLL.
www.irf.com UG08092 8
Start up sequencing
A special mode of operation is required for starting because the motor back EMF is
swamped by circuit noise when the speed is close to zero. There are two modes in the
start up sequence as described in Figure 7 below. In the first mode, known as parking, the
controller applies dc current to the motor coils to align the rotor at a known rotor
electrical angle. In the startup mode, the controller drives the motor at a constant current
magnitude (Istart) and the rotor angle and frequency PLL runs in open loop with a fixed
frequency ramp. The controller switches over to full closed loop control when the PLL
reaches the switch over frequency threshold. In the closed loop mode, the motor current
is driven by the velocity and current loops and reacts to changes in the command velocity
input.
Figure 7 Starting sequence
In the ideal setup, the PLL frequency ramp matches the motor starting acceleration,
which is determined from the starting torque and the mechanical system inertia.
However, when there is load friction the starting acceleration will be less than the ideal
value. Setting the PLL frequency ramp lower than the ideal value compensates for the
load friction. This system is self correcting since if the actual starting acceleration is
higher than the frequency ramp then the rotor will advance in phase causing the generated
torque to drop until the acceleration rates match.
The parking process is described in Figure 8. The controller drives the stator windings at
a constant current to set the stator field at a fixed angle. Any arbitrary parking angle can
be selected by driving the appropriate combination of u,v and w winding currents. The
rotor tends to align itself with stator field regardless of the initial position. This defines
the initial values for the angle and frequency PLL to maximize the starting torque. When
driving a static load, the rotor will not be correctly aligned after parking. However, the
system can tolerate static loads of up to 50% of the rated torque. For example, if the static
load is 50% of the parking torque then the alignment error will be 30o electrical
(cos(30o)=0.5). In this case, the starting torque will be 87% (cos(60o)=0.866) of the
maximum value. There is a possibility of a start failure when driving static loads if the
www.irf.com UG08092 9
initial rotor position is almost completely misaligned with the parking angle. In this case,
the initial alignment torque can be lower than the static load and the rotor will not move.
This problem is overcome by adding a second parking stage with a parking angle shifted
by approximately 60o to move away from the misaligned position.
Figure 8 Parking
Phase Current Measurement
Direct measurement of the motor winding current requires isolation circuits to handle the
high common mode voltage and switching frequency at the motor windings. The phase
current reconstruction circuit avoids the isolation requirement by measuring current in the
dc link. The motor winding currents are measured by synchronizing the sampling of the
current in the dc link shunt with the power inverter switching. In every PWM cycle, there
are two active states where the motor windings are connected between the two dc bus
rails. In each active state, one dc bus rail connects to a single motor winding and the other
bus rail connects to the other two motor windings. The motor flowing from the dc bus rail
flows through one winding and returns from the remaining two windings via the dc link
shunt. The current sampled in the dc link shunt during this period is equal to the current
in the single motor winding. A second winding current is sampled during the second
active PWM state. The third winding current is calculated from the sum of the first two
currents since they all must sum to zero.
This can be seen by examining the current flow in the power circuit in Figure 9 as it
relates to the state of the power inverter switches. The first inverter state is a zero vector
state where all windings are shorted to the lower dc bus rail. The second state is an active
state where the U phase is connected to the positive rail and the V and W phases are
connected to the negative rail. The third inverter state is also an active state but now only
the W phase is connected to the negative rail. The fourth inverter state is a zero vector
state where the windings are shorted to the positive rail. The second half of the PWM
cycle is a mirror image of the first half of the cycle. In this complete PWM cycle, there
are two states when the dc link current equals the U phase current and two states when
the dc link current equals the negative W phase current.
www.irf.com UG08092 10
Figure 9 Phase current reconstruction
The Space vector modulator generates the PWM switching signals and the dc link current
sample timing signals. The current reconstruction circuits include the A/D converter and
the analog amplifier to bring the current shunt signal within the range of the converter.
Successful implementation requires careful circuit board layout and fine tuning of the
sample timing to avoid the significant circuit noise generated by the power device
switching. This topic is covered in detail in the IRMCx300 Application Developers
Guide.
Control Algorithm Implementation and tuning
The PMSM control algorithm described in Figure 4 is implemented by the MCE with the
control variables scaled within the 16 bit fixed point data range. The control schematic in
Figure 10 provides further details on the PMSM controller implementation and some of
the important control parameters. A key feature of the design is the scaling of variables to
avoid data overflow or excessive rounding. Hardware limitations such as the A/D
converter resolution and SVPWM resolution set the data range for current samples and
voltage outputs. All frequency dependant parameters such as integral gain and filter time
constants need to be defined as a function of the PWM frequency that sets the sample
rate. Some control blocks modify the scaling between different parts of the algorithm to
maximize dynamic range. For example, the current and velocity loop controllers scale
current so that 4095 represents rated drive current while the current sampling and vector
rotation block must scale current where 2047 represents the maximum controllable drive
current. Control registers on each of the blocks allow gain setting or feature selection for
each of the blocks. Registers and input variables can be modified at any time but
typically, only the target speed, drive limits and compensator gains are adjusted while the
motor is running. A full description of each control block is in the IRMCx300 Reference
Manual.
Drive system commissioning involves the calculation of controller parameters to match
the hardware configuration, motor characteristics and drive performance specifications.
Control loop gain is a function of the compensator gain and the gain of all elements in the
www.irf.com UG08092 11
loop such the power inverter gain and the current feedback gain. Control loop tuning and
drive commissioning is supported by the MCEWizard and MCEDesigner. MCEWizard is
an interactive design tool that calculates control IC parameters in digital counts based on
the system specifications expressed in engineering units. It also embeds pole-zero
cancellation design rules for PI loop tuning. MCEDesigner is the drive evaluation
software that communicates with the digital IC and allows on the fly tuning of drive
parameters. The MCEWizard and MCEDesigner software supports both motor control
loop tuning and configuration of the PFC controller. Further details on controller
implementation and tuning are described in detail in the IRMCx300 Application
Developers Guide.
Figure 10 Control Algorithm Implementation
IRMCS3043 Reference Design Tools
and Application Development
The IRMCS3043 reference design kit includes a permanent magnet synchronous motor, a
PFC inductor, a drive control board, the motor control development tools and the full set
of design documentation. The supplied motor control development tools enable drive
commissioning, performance evaluation and algorithm customization. The supplied
design files include 8051 firmware, drive configuration files, algorithm schematics and
circuit board design files. The recommended 8051 application software tools need to be
purchased from third party vendors.
Figure 11 describes the major tools components needed to develop the complete drive
application. This process includes demonstrating the technology, evaluating the drive
performance in the end application, developing appliance control software and designing
of the final hardware. The reference design board serves as the initial evaluation platform
and drive development tool. The MCE installation software loads the motor control
design tools, design files and user documentation on to your PC. The boot EEPROM on
the board is loaded with the MCEDesigner agent so the control IC is able to communicate
www.irf.com UG08092 12
with the MCEDesigner software running on the PC when the board is first powered up.
The serial connection between the PC and the control IC is isolated so the drive control
board can be connected directly to the ac line. Configuration files are included for the
motor supplied with the reference design so the motor can be run right away. Details on
the set up and safe use of the hardware are described in the IRMCS3043 Quick Start
Guide.
The MCEWizard drive commissioning tool enables customization of motor drive
parameters to match motor and system specifications. It asks a series of questions,
supported by explanation and graphics, to determine the motor characteristics and system
specifications. The tool checks the data for consistency and generates the full set of
digital control parameters. The MCEDesigner tool imports the control parameters and
downloads them to the control IC over the serial link. This tool also allows the generation
of user defined speed and application control profiles to exercise the drive in the end
application. The MCEDesigner plotting function allows tracing of control system
variables to support system performance evaluation.
The MCEWizard supports customization of the drive circuit board including changes to
the input voltage, power stage, current feedback and gate drive circuits. Circuit board
layout can have a significant effect on current feedback circuit performance so
recommendations in the IRMCx300 Application Developers Guide should be carefully
followed.
Customizing the drive algorithm requires the MatlabTM Simulink tool to edit the control
algorithm schematic. A web based MCECompiler tool generates the MCE algorithm
executable files that define the user algorithm along with a register map. The
MCEDesigner tool downloads this file to the boot EEPROM on the reference design kit.
The register map enables the generation of MCEDesigner user functions to access any
new control registers. Changes to the reference design blocks supplied may invalidate
parameters calculated by the MCEWizard.
Application software development requires the KeilTM μVision3 C and assembly tools
and the FS2TM JTAG interface to download the code to the control IC. The JTAG
interface to the control IC is also isolated so the FS2TM pod can be safely connected to the
board when powered from the ac line. The IRMCx300 Software Developers Guide
describes how to configure these tools for use with the controller along with the sample
application code supplied with the design kit. When the user 8051 application code is
complete, the MCEProgrammer tool generates binary files to program the boot EEPROM
or internal OTP for the final application board.
Next Steps
At this stage, you should have some idea on how the digital control IC operates and how
the reference design kit can help you develop your own drive system. The next step is to
go to the IRMCS3043 Quick Start Guide to start running the motor supplied with your kit
and become familiar with the MCEDesigner drive evaluation software. Run MCEWizard
to see how you customize control parameters to match your own motor. The IRMCx300
www.irf.com UG08092 13
Application Developers Guide describes the commissioning steps in detail including tips
on how to test motor parameters. MCEDesigner allows you to create your own speed
profiles so you can test your motor in your target application. You can use the
MCEDesigner plotting tool to evaluate the performance of the drive and to help you tune
control parameters. Once you are ready to develop your own drive, you will need to
purchase third party 8051 tools. The IRMCx300 Software Developers Guide describes the
sample code supplied and explains how to configure the tools to work with control IC.
The reference design schematics and PCB layout are supplied to support your hardware
development but also refer to the hardware design section of the IRMCx300 Application
Developers Guide. You may need to refer to the IRMCx300 Reference Manual from time
to time as this is the source of all information on the control IC but for most of the time,
the Developers guides will lead you through your design. Good luck with your project!
Figure 11 IRMCS3043 Reference Design Kit
www.irf.com UG08092 14
