131
MEASUREMENT OF FLUX LINKAGE IN THE HYBRID STEPPING MOTOR DRIVE
P. W. LEE, C. POLLOCK and C. M. JOLLIFFE
University of Warwick, UK
ABSTRACT
In its most common form, an electricalmachine converts
energy from electrical to mechanical or vice versa via a
coupling magnetic field. Flux linkage is a parameter
which describes this coupling characteristic.
Measurement of flux linkage in an electrical machine is
useful for validation of the design model as well as for
control purposes. In a singly excited system, the
measurement of tlux linkage is often obtained by
integrating the terminal measurements of the phase
winding circuit. In a doubly excited system, the
measurement of flux linkage is complicated by the
presence of another mmf source. In this paper, the
theory of tlux linkage measurement in a doubly excited
system is presented and a method is described which
allows measurement of the flux linkage in a hybrid
stepping motor in which one of the mmf sources is the
permanent magnet on the rotor.
INTRODUCTION
A hybrid stepping motor is an electromechanical,
incremenlal motion device usually used in positioning
applications. In its simplest operation mode, this motor
i s designed to provide precise positioning control to
within an integer number of steps without using position
sensors. However, the step response exhibits overshoot
and a relatively long settling t i e . In industrial
applications the open-loop hybrid stepping motor drive
is usually oversized to give extra torque in response to
load demand. Closed loop control of these motors offers
significant perfomance advantages but the addition of
sensors complicates the drive design and its control
system. As an altemative, the motor can be controlled
in a closed loop manner without using position sensors
[l]. Some of the techniques described in the literature
refer to singly excited system such as switched
'Power Electromcs and Variable-Speed Drives: 26 - 28 October 1994, Conference Publication No. 399, g? IEE. 1994
reluctance motors. The implementation of the control
techniques often rely on a detailed model of the motor.
Furthermore, the knowledge of the magnetic energy
stored in the coupling field is useful for optimising
machine design. The relationshipbetween phase current,
flux linkage and mechanical output is representative of
the whole energy conversion process in the motor.
Although modelling of such relationshipcan he achieved
by modem computer aided design tools, secondary
effects are difficult to model and accurate measurements
of flux linkage are sull essential to validate the model.
The stator and rotor of a single stack two phase hybrid
stepping motor are shown in Figures 1 and 2
respectively. These pictures were produced during the
modelling of the motor in finite element analysis. This
work is still at an early stage and results will be reported
in a future paper. Four coils are shown in the stator in
Figure 1. These coils comprise one phase of the motor
excited simultaneously by the power electronic drive so
as to create four current generated magnetic poles. The
rotor comprises an axially magnetised permanent magnet
sandwiched between two laminated rotor stacks. The
rotor stacks each have 50 teeth and are angularly
displaced from each other by half a rotor pole pitch.
This gives rise IO a very unusual magnetic flux pattem
with significant radial and axial components. The
magnetic !lux LTOSSCS the air gap radially from two
stator north poles to the south end of the rotor, uavels
axially along the rotor, crosses the air gap radially into
two stator south poles and r e m s via the stator back
iron with both tangential and amal components.
Whilst phase current and mechanical output can be
easily measured using extemal sensors, the measurement
of the magnetic field inside the motor is not readily
obtainable. Additional sensing coils or probing magnetic
sensors are possible ways to obtain magnetic properties.
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However, these methods involve modification to the Integrating and rearranging equation (l),
motor hence complicating the ma tor design and making
it impossible to apply to motors which have already
ho(8,ia) = I'
"I
[ va(t) - i,(r)ro ] dr + ha(0) (2)
where,
been built. Furthermore, the uneven distribution of flux
h,(O) = flux h k a g e at time t = 0.
in the air gap would complicate the collection of data to
predict stator flux linkages accur,ately.
Thus, the flux liinkage at any instant can be obtained
from the terminal measurements of the winding voltage
One possible way to obtain the magnetic characteristics
and current if the phase windmg resistance is known.
of the motor is to calculate the stator llux linkage
Initial conditions have to be chosen carefully with a
indirectly from measurements on the phase winding
known initial f h x linkage a(0) at the time the
circuit [2-61. However, such calciilations are susceptible
integration proce,ss starts. In a singly excited system
to errors in the measured data, particularly during any
which the current in the phase winding is the only
integration. Analogue integrator:: usually suffer from a
source of flux in1 the whole system and provided the
drift problem and require accurate gain setting while the
remanent flux c m he neglected, the initial condition
sampling rate and resolution are just two problems in a
ha(0)(integration constant) is conveniently chosen to he
digital integrator. Initial conhticins need to be selected
zero when the current in the phase winding is zero
carefully and accurate measurement of the phase
regardless of rotor position 8, i.e. &(O) = ha@,i,=O)=O.
winding resistance is essential [2]. This paper presents
a detailed discussion and analysiii on the theory of flux
In a doubly excited machine system with two
l i g e measurement in a doubly excited system and the
independent current sources, the flux linkage associated
choice of initial conditions is discussed in detail. An
with phase A is now a function of the two current
experimental measurement method is described and
sources and posilion. The circuit equation of phase A
results are shown for a frame size 1100 (4.2 inch
can be written as :
hameter) single stack hybrid stepping motor.
va(t) = i,(t)ra + d a ( O , io> l b )
(3)
dt
THEORY OF MEASUREMENT
where
One of the most common methods for the measurement 11. = current in phase winding B.
of flux linkage is to apply a step voltage to a phase
winding and record the resulting current. This has been Integrating equation (3),
demonstrated successfully for singly excited system [2-
61. The measurement is based on the following
instantaneous circuit equation for the phase winding of
where
the motor :
ha@) = %(0=0,, i,=i,,,, ih=ihO),
IdJ = initial current in phase A,
'h0 = initial current in phase B.
where,
v,(t) = phase A winding terminal voltage, In a doubly excited system, the initial condition is
i,(t) = current in the phase winding A, complicated by the fact that three independent variables
ra = phase A winding resistance, are involved. A known integration constant has to he
8 = rotor position, chosen as the initial condition. At the rotor position Bo,
ka(8,iJ = flux linkage due to current in the phase with the current ia=iaoin phase winding A and the
winding A, current i,,=ih0in phase winding B, the flux linkage %,CO)
t = time. is the initial flux linkage at which the integration process
starts. In theory, the initial condition h,(O) can he
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chosen at any instant provided the value is known.
Illustrating the concept with an example, at a rotor
position 0 and with a constant current i, = I,, the current
in phase winding A starts to rise from zero to the value
of interest when a voltage is applied to phase A. The
initml flux linkage h(0)of phase winding A is chosen
at i,=O i.e. h,(e,a=o,i,=r,). If the two phase windings
are magnetically coupled this initial flux linkage in
phase A will he non-zero. However, it can be calculated
by integrating the voltage induced in phase A over the
time while the current in phase B is increasing from zero
to I,, and is given by the following equation :
The initial condition, h,(e=e,,.i,=O.i,=O),is the flux
linkage associated with phase A at iern current in the
two phase windings and is zero. This initial condition
is independentof position as the two current sources are
the only mmf sources in the system. Thus, using
equation (5) to obtain the initial condition for the
definite integral in equation (4), the flux linkage of
phase A can be established at different rotor positions
and with currents in both phases.
A special case can exist in a doubly excited system
where the two mmf sources are not magnetically coupled
but parts of the magnetic circuit iue common to both.
The initial condition ~(O,i=O,ih=lhiis therefore zero and
the definite integral in equation (4) can he applied
directly with h,(O)=O.
The hybrid stepping motor is a douhly excited system
even under conditions when only one phase is excited.
The second mmf source is the rotor permanent magnet.
Equation (4)can be written as :
where the integration constant,
h,(O) = k,,@=e,,<=O) at time t=O,
&(e,i,) = the tlux linkage with phase winding A
caused by the permanent magnet associated
with a phase winding.
In such a system, the meawrcnicnt of flux linkage
associated with the phase winding is complicated hy the
fact that the permanent magnet flux source cannot he
freely controlled. The initial flux linkage with zero
current in the phase winding cannot be measured directly
using the theory described in the two current source
system because the flux generated by the permanent
magnet links the phase winding regardless of current and
position. Furthermore, the assumption that the flux
linking the phqe winding due to the permanent magnet
is a single valued function of position (3 and current i,;
has to be validated. Therefore the hybrid stepping motor
does not have a measurable initial flux linkage even
though prior knowledge on the characteristics of the
permanent magnet is available. However. it is possible
to determine the perturbation in flux linkage due to the
permanent magnet by integration of the back emf while
the rotor is rotating. This means that although an actual
value cannot be given as the integration constant
hJ€I=€I,,i=W.the variation between the flux linkage
and rotor position can be determined with reference to
an arbitrary initial condition.
EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENT METHOD ON
THE HYBRID STEPPING MOTOR
The whole experimental method included two separate
tests. Firstly, the motor under test was driven by
another motor to obtain the motional emf induced in a
phase winding hy the permanent magnet. This wa5
recorded on a digital oscilloscope. This motional emf
was then integrated to obtain the perturbation in flux
linkage generated by the magnet with respect to position
according to the following formula :
x,(B,~,=o) = $' e,(r) df + am(e=eo,io=o)(7)
where
a&e,,$=O) = initial condition at which the integration
starts (arbitrary initial condition),
kJ3,i,=O) = flux linkage associated with stator phase
A due to the permanent magnet with
reference to the permanent magnet,
e,(t) = motional emf induced in phase A by the
permanent magnet rotor,
t = time.
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The arbitrary initial condition, &&3=OO,&,=O), was
chosen to be zero when 0=Ow It represented the
position of minimum flux linkage in stator phase A. All
integration results were therefore relative to tbis initial
value.
The second part of the test involved locking the rotor at
known rotor positions. A short voltage pulse was then
applied to the phase winding and ihe current waveform
was captured using a digital oscilloscope. The current
waveform was then used in conjunction with the
terminal voltage and winding resistance to calculate the
flux linkage using equation (6) using the initial condition
obtained from the first test. This test was repeated for
the maximum and minimum flux linkage rotor positions
with positive phase current.
RESULTS
Figure 3 shows the results of the ea.periment to measure
the flux linkage in the motor. The two curves represent
two different rotor positions which produce maximum
change in flux linkage between the top curve and the
bottom curve. The curves have ba:n referenced so that
a nominal value of zero flux linkage is attributed to the
minimum flux linkage position at zero current in that
phase.
CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented the theory of measuring the
ilux linkage in a singly excited motor system. The
method of measuring flux linkage in a doubly excited
system with both a current source and a permanent
magnet source has been described. The choice of initial
condition for the integration has be discussed in detail.
Further work is taking place both involving additional
experiments and finite element analysis. The results
described using this measurement method in conjunction
with finite element analysis are being applied for motor
dynamic simulation to predict the motor performance.
REFERENCES
P.W. Lee and C. Pollock, ’Rotor Position
Detection Techniques for Brushless Permanent-
Magnet and Reluctance Motor h v e s ’ ,
Conference Record of the 1992 IEEE Industry
Applications Society Annual Meeting, 1992,
pp.448-455.
P.W. Lee and C. Pollock, ‘Flux linkage
estimation in electricalmachines’, submitted for
International Conference on Electrical
Machines, 1994.
T. Williams and R. Carter, ’Measurement of
Machine Inductances using an Operational
Amplifier Integrator’, International Joumal of
Electrical Engineering Education, Vol. 10,
pp.177-181, 1972/73.
R. Krishnan and P. Materu, ’Measurementand
Instrumenlation of a Switched Reluctance
Motor’, Conference Record of the IEEE
Industrial .4pplication Society Annual Meeting,
pp. 116-12!1, 1989.
C. Cossar and T. J. E. Miller, ’Electromagnetic
Testing of Switched Reluctance Motors’,
International Conference on Electrical
Machines, ICEM 92, Vol. 2, pp.470-474, 1992.
F. T. DeWolf, ’Measurement of Inductance of
DC Machines’, IEEE Transactions on Power
Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-98, No.5,
pp. 1636-1 Cd4, Sept/Oct 1979.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the help of
Stehon Ltd., who have provided support on the
evaluation of the techniques described in this paper.
This collaborative research project forms part of the
DTIlSERC LINK Programme on Power Electronic
Devices and Derived Systems.
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Figure 1 Stator

.o
.
' 340.0

Figure 2 Rotor
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I I
0
0
Current (A)
Figure 3. Flux linkage Mea.surements of the Hybrid Stepping Motor