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Energy-Based Control of

Electromechanical Systems: A Novel


Passivity-Based Approach Victor
Manuel Hernández-Guzmán
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Advances in Industrial Control

Victor Manuel Hernández-Guzmán


Ramón Silva-Ortigoza
Jorge Alberto Orrante-Sakanassi

Energy-Based
Control
of Electromechanical
Systems
A Novel Passivity-Based Approach
Advances in Industrial Control

Series Editors
Michael J. Grimble, Industrial Control Centre, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow,
UK
Antonella Ferrara, Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical
Engineering, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

Editorial Board
Graham Goodwin, School of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of
Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
Thomas J. Harris, Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University,
Kingston, ON, Canada
Tong Heng Lee, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National
University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Om P. Malik, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB,
Canada
Kim-Fung Man, City University Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Gustaf Olsson, Department of Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation,
Lund Institute of Technology, Lund, Sweden
Asok Ray, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA, USA
Sebastian Engell, Lehrstuhl für Systemdynamik und Prozessführung, Technische
Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
Ikuo Yamamoto, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Nagasaki,
Nagasaki, Japan
Advances in Industrial Control is a series of monographs and contributed titles focusing on
the applications of advanced and novel control methods within applied settings. This series
has worldwide distribution to engineers, researchers and libraries.
The series promotes the exchange of information between academia and industry, to
which end the books all demonstrate some theoretical aspect of an advanced or new control
method and show how it can be applied either in a pilot plant or in some real industrial
situation. The books are distinguished by the combination of the type of theory used and the
type of application exemplified. Note that “industrial” here has a very broad interpretation; it
applies not merely to the processes employed in industrial plants but to systems such as
avionics and automotive brakes and drivetrain. This series complements the theoretical and
more mathematical approach of Communications and Control Engineering.
Indexed by SCOPUS and Engineering Index.
Proposals for this series, composed of a proposal form downloaded from this page, a draft
Contents, at least two sample chapters and an author cv (with a synopsis of the whole project,
if possible) can be submitted to either of the:

Series Editors
Professor Michael J. Grimble
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Royal College Building, 204
George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, United Kingdom
e-mail: m.j.grimble@strath.ac.uk
Professor Antonella Ferrara
Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of
Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy
e-mail: antonella.ferrara@unipv.it
or the
In-house Editor
Mr. Oliver Jackson
Springer London, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United Kingdom
e-mail: oliver.jackson@springer.com
Proposals are peer-reviewed.

Publishing Ethics
Researchers should conduct their research from research proposal to publication in line with
best practices and codes of conduct of relevant professional bodies and/or national and
international regulatory bodies. For more details on individual ethics matters please see:
https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/journal-author-helpdesk/
publishing-ethics/14214

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/1412


Victor Manuel Hernández-Guzmán •

Ramón Silva-Ortigoza•

Jorge Alberto Orrante-Sakanassi

Energy-Based Control
of Electromechanical
Systems
A Novel Passivity-Based Approach

123
Victor Manuel Hernández-Guzmán Ramón Silva-Ortigoza
School of Engineering CIDETEC
Autonomous University of Queretaro Instituto Politécnico Nacional
Querétaro, Mexico Mexico City, Mexico

Jorge Alberto Orrante-Sakanassi


Graduate Studies and Research
Instituto Tecnológico de Matamoros
Matamoros, Mexico

ISSN 1430-9491 ISSN 2193-1577 (electronic)


Advances in Industrial Control
ISBN 978-3-030-58785-7 ISBN 978-3-030-58786-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58786-4
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
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to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Series Editor’s Foreword

A new book on control of electromechanical systems may seem pleonastic in the


literature on industrial control systems. Actually, this is an original book both from
the point of view of the methodological tools introduced, and of the results that the
use of such tools allows to obtain in terms of industrial applications.
Electromechanical systems are of fundamental importance in industrial
automation and process control. The actuators of robotic systems, of
goods-handling systems, of numerical control machines, of servomotors that open
and close the valves and shift the moving surfaces of relevant industrial plants are,
in the majority of the cases, electromechanical systems. The dynamic models of
electromechanical systems are typically formulated by referring to the balance
between the potential energy and the kinetic energy associated with the systems
themselves. For this reason, the use of a control approach based on passivity
concepts appears to be absolutely natural: the most direct and obvious way of
controlling that class of systems.
Passivity is a classical concept in control theory. It is strictly related to the
concept of energy conservation. As a matter of fact, given a dynamical system and a
certain time interval, the energy stored in the system is equal to the energy trans-
ferred to the system minus the energy dissipated. Then, in a physical system, since
the dissipated energy is non-negative, the energy transferred to the system is always
larger than or equal to the energy stored. In other words, a passive system is a
system not able to produce energy. Passivity in linear time-invariant systems
implies stability, as was highlighted in the early sixties with the well-known
Kalman–Yakubovich–Popov Lemma. The extension of passivity concepts to
nonlinear systems and its implications for Lyapunov stability was worked out
through a series of fundamental papers published in the nineteen-seventies and
nineties.
Passivity can be enforced in a system, under certain conditions, by means of an
appropriate control synthesis, and this is often done with the main purpose of
conferring the prescribed stability properties to the controlled system. The appli-
cation of the classical theory of passivity to electromechanical systems can be found
in many works that have appeared in the scientific literature in recent decades. Yet,
what distinguishes this book from the previously published works is the use of the
classical concept of passivity revisited in a new and original way.
Different types of motors are considered in the book: permanent magnet brushed
DC-motors and synchronous motors, induction motors, switched and synchronous
reluctance motors, bipolar permanent magnet stepper motors and brushless
DC-motors. They are all motors widely used in industrial plants. They often con-
stitute the set of actuators upon which most of the process control and industrial
automation systems rely. For every motor the authors describe the dynamic model
formulation, starting from the working principle, and also introduce the standard
control schemes. Then, they discuss and illustrate multi-loop control schemes based
on their novel approach to passivity. The advantage of these schemes is that, by
virtue of their simplicity, they are easily implementable and understandable, even to
non-experts in control theory.
The book also includes a part dedicated to magnetic levitation systems and
micro-electromechanical systems, as well as a final part where robotic systems
driven by permanent magnet motors and by synchronous reluctance motors are
considered. Given the importance that robotic applications are acquiring on the
international industrial scene, this part may be of great interest even to practitioners
wishing to improve the performance of robotic automation systems by adopting
simple control schemes, which do not require complex computations and are
actually compatible with the typical sampling times of the industrial world.
This book is very rich in content. The theoretical part is detailed and treated with
precision. It is however, pleasant to read and understandable to an audience even of
non-engineers, precisely because it focuses on very simple physical concepts, on
which it is possible to have a natural intuition, even if the theoretical bases are
lacking. The part in which electromechanical drives are described can also be useful
to students who do not deal with control, but only with the modeling and design of
electric machines. The robotic part can also be appreciated by readers who are
interested in robot control, without necessarily having an expertise on electrome-
chanical drives. For its richness of theoretical details, its methodological rigor and
its well-defined structure, I think that this book will also be beneficial to researchers
and doctoral students.
For all the reasons mentioned, I am particularly happy to welcome this new
monograph in the series on Advances in Industrial Control, certain that readers will
also be able to appreciate it and get ideas for their application activities in the field
of industrial control.

Antonella Ferrara
University of Pavia
Pavia, Italy
To Judith, my parents and my brothers.
Victor Manuel Hernández-Guzmán.

To my wonderful children—Rhomy, Robert,


Joserhamón, and Alessa—and to my mother.
Ramón Silva-Ortigoza.

To God, Virgin Mary, my parents and my


brother.
Jorge Alberto Orrante-Sakanassi.
Preface

Electromechanical systems were introduced when electricity was employed for the
first time to generate force and torque. At the beginning, electromechanical systems
were controlled in open-loop. Once Automatic Control became a mature discipline,
it was recognized that closed-loop control of electromecanical systems is instru-
mental to improve performance. Since then, much research work has been devoted
to closed-loop control of electromechanical systems and many control techniques
have been applied.
However, since many modern control techniques employ complex mathematical
tools, most works on closed-loop control of electromechanical systems have
resulted in complex mathematical algorithms which are difficult to understand and,
hence, they have not been welcome by practitioners. Moreover, many formally
supported controllers result in control laws that require lots of on-line computations
which, besides requiring powerful and, hence, expensive hardware, deteriorate
performance because they amplify noise, increase numerical errors and produce
actuator saturation.
The above situation has motivated the application, by several authors in the past,
of passivity-based ideas for closed-loop control of electromechanical systems. This
approach takes advantage of the natural structure of the plant to be controlled and,
hence, it has been demonstrated that results in simpler control laws. Thus, the
designed controllers require a fewer number of on-line computations, improve
performance because noise amplification and numerical errors are reduced and
actuator saturation is avoided. Moreover, since passivity-based control is supported
by energy ideas, a fundamental concept in engineering, this approach can be better
understood by practitioners.
However, despite these advancements, passivity-based controllers are not as
simple as controllers that are employed in industrial practice for electromechanical
systems. This is the case of field oriented control (FOC) of alternating current
(AC) motors. It is important to stress at this point that FOC of AC-motors is a
control scheme which is not provided, until now, with a formal global asymptotic
stability proof although presenting such a result has been the aim of several authors

ix
x Preface

in the past. The reason for such a search is to explain why FOC of AC-motors
works well in practice and to provide tuning guide lines.
It must be recognized that presenting a solution for the above described control
problem has not attracted attention of the control community in the recent years.
This, however, is neither because the problem has lost relevance or nothing is
remaining to solve. We believe that the mere reason for such a lack of interest is
that the leading researchers have moved to other subjects. As a matter of fact, one
of the leading researchers that tried in the past to present a global asymptotic
stability proof for FOC of AC-motors has recently presented in [205] a work on
such a subject. He states there the importance of presenting a global asymptotic
stability proof for FOC of AC-motors providing tuning guide lines.
The present book is devoted to introduce recent advancements in the design of
controllers for electromechanical systems. Most of our proposals consist of
multi-loop control schemes possessing an internal proportional-integral (PI) electric
current loop and an external PI velocity loop or proportional-integral-derivative
(PID) position loop. Aside from these simple controllers, some additional simple
terms are included to ensure global asymptotic stability. As we demonstrate along
the book, these proposals are simpler control laws than the passivity-based con-
trollers that have been proposed in the past.
The theoretical key to achieve these results is a novel passivity-based approach
that we have developed during the last 12 years. This approach exploits the fact that
the electrical and the mechanical subsystems exchange energy naturally during their
normal operation. From the stability proof point of view, this allows the natural
cancellation of several high-order terms. This allows to obtain simpler control laws
because these terms must be computed on-line to be exactly cancelled when
employing other control approaches, including the passivity-based approaches
presented in the past.
It is the authors belief that, because of simpler control laws and a simpler
rationale behind their design, our proposals can be welcome by practitioners. At this
point, it is important to stress that simple Lyapunov stability analysis is the main
mathematical tool that is employed to present the complete stability proofs. In this
respect, in order to render attractive the book for both theorists and practitioners, we
include the complete general mathematical modeling of all the electromechanical
systems that we control. We also include, at the end of each chapter, how to obtain
the mathematical model of practical AC-motors: (i) we dismantled the motor to
analyze how the phase windings are distributed on the stator and how the perma-
nent magnet (PM) poles are distributed on the rotor, (ii) based on the previous
analysis, we compute the magnetic flux at the air gap using Ampère’s Law,
(iii) these results were employed to derive the motor mathematical model.
Finally, let us say that most of the complete formal stability proofs are presented
in appendices, for the interested theorist readers. Simple sketches of the proofs are
presented in the corresponding chapters to allow practitioners to understand the
main results using energy interpretations.
Preface xi

We apply our approach to PM bushed-DC motors, PM synchronous motors,


induction motors, switched reluctance motors, synchronous reluctance motors, PM
stepper motors, brushless DC-motors, magnetic levitation systems, microelec-
tromechanical systems, and rigid robot manipulators equipped with PM syn-
chronous motors and switched reluctance motors.

Querétaro, Mexico Victor Manuel Hernández-Guzmán


México City, Mexico Ramón Silva-Ortigoza
Matamoros, Mexico Jorge Alberto Orrante-Sakanassi
Acknowledgments

The first author acknowledges the work of his coauthors. Their collaboration has
been instrumental to accomplish the writing of this book. Thanks to both of them
for the collaborative work that we have performed along the years, with Ramón
since we were Ph.D. students, and with Sakanassi since he pursued postdoctoral
studies. Both of them have been very enthusiastic when collaborating with the first
author. Thanks to Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Facultad de Ingeniería, for
economical support since 1995, and to the Mexican Researchers National System
(CONACYT-SNI) for its economical support since 2005.
The ideas that have resulted in this book arose during the early years when the
first author began his career as a researcher. Permanent magnet brushed DC-motors
were studied first during the Ph.D. studies where he has Dr. Hebertt Sira-Ramírez as
advisor. Very special thanks to him. After realizing that energy exchange between
the electrical and the mechanical subsystems in these motors allows the natural
cancellation of some cross terms, it was also natural to wonder whether these
cancellations also exist in other classes of electric motors. After all, energy
exchange between the electrical and the mechanical subsystems are the fundamental
Physics phenomenon behind any electric motor operation. The present book is the
answer for such a question.
Since those early years, a source of motivational support has been Dr. Victor
Santibanez, a researcher at Instituto Tecnológico de La Laguna, in Torreón, Coah.,
México. Thanks and a special acknowledgment to him. Also thanks to my former
Ph.D. students, Fortino Mendoza-Mondragón, Moises Martínez-Hernández, Mayra
Antonio-Cruz, José Rafael García-Sánchez, and Celso Márquez-Sánchez, for their
collaboration in diverse research subjects. Special thanks to my wife Judith for her
continuous moral support and understanding when I spend so much time in
researching and writing. Also thanks to my parents and my brothers for their
fundamental teachings about life.
The second author acknowledges and thanks the first author for his invitation to
participate in the creation of this book and for other ambitious academic and
research projects. Special thanks to Dr. Gilberto Silva-Ortigoza and Dr. Hebertt

xiii
xiv Acknowledgments

Sira-Ramírez, researchers at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla and


CINVESTAV-IPN. The former has been his mentor throughout his entire profes-
sional formation and the latter was his mentor during his graduate years. He also
acknowledges the important academic and research collaboration of Dr. Magdalena
Marciano-Melchor (CIDETEC-IPN), Dr. Mariana Marcelino-Aranda (UPIICSA-
IPN), and Dr. Hind Taud (CIDETEC-IPN). He would like to thank all of his former
bachelor, master, and doctoral students for their collaboration in research and
projects development. He especially thanks his former doctoral students Dr. José
Rafael García-Sánchez and Dr. Eduardo Hernández-Márquez, for their continuous
support, generosity and their willingness to undertake new theoretical and practical
problems. The second author is grateful to CIDETEC of Instituto Politécnico
Nacional (IPN), the Research Center where he has been based since 2006, SIP-IPN,
programs EDI and SIBE from IPN, and to the SNI from CONACYT-México for
financial support. A special loving mention is deserved by my children—Alessa,
Robert, Rhomy, and Joserhamón—and my mother. They are the inspiration I need
to improve and reinvent myself every day.
The third author specially thanks to God for all the blessings received throughout
his life and the Virgin Mary for always interceding for his well-being and helping
him to have his feet on the ground. Also special thanks to my four greatest mentors
in my life, José Aranda González, Mario Rodríguez Franco (may he rest in peace),
Víctor Santibáñez Dávila and Victor Hernández Guzmán (first author), who
inspired my professional life. Finally, the greatest of thanks to my parents and my
brother Jesús Yusen for their moral support and for all the unforgettable moments
we have had.

Querétaro, Mexico Victor Manuel Hernández-Guzmán


México City, Mexico Ramón Silva-Ortigoza
Matamoros, Mexico Jorge Alberto Orrante-Sakanassi
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Mathematical Preliminaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 7
2.1 Control of Linear Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 7
2.2 Mathematical Tools for the Study of Nonlinear Control
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 12
2.3 Passivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 31
2.4 A Novel Passivity-Based Approach for Control
of Electromechanical Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 39
2.5 The Electromechanical Systems that Are Studied
in This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 45
3 Permanent Magnet Brushed DC-Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1 Motor Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.1 A Simple Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.2 A General Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2 Standard Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.2.1 Case 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.2 Case 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.2.3 Case 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.2.4 Case 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.2.5 An Improved PI Velocity Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.2.6 An Improved PID Position Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.3 The Standard Control Scheme Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.4 Open-Loop Energy Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.4.1 The Velocity Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.4.2 The Position Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.5 Velocity Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.6 Position Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.7 Velocity Control Using a DC/DC Buck Power Converter
As Power Amplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 83

xv
xvi Contents

3.7.1 Dynamic Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 84


3.7.2 Open-Loop Energy Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 86
3.7.3 Control of the DC to DC Buck Converter DC-Motor
System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 87
3.7.4 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 92
4 Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.1 Motor Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.1.1 The Working Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.1.2 Three-Phase Dynamic Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.1.3 Park’s Transformation or dq Transformation . . . . . . . . 105
4.1.4 The dq Dynamic Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.1.5 dq Decomposition of the Stator Magnetic Flux . . . . . . 112
4.1.5.1 The Open-Loop Working Principle . . . . . . . 112
4.1.5.2 Closed-Loop Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.1.5.3 Field Weakening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.1.5.4 The Home Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.1.6 Standard Field-Oriented Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.2 Open-Loop Energy Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.2.1 The Velocity Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.2.2 The Position Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.3 Velocity Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.3.1 Simulation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4.4 Position Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
4.4.1 Simulation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
4.5 Velocity Ripple Minimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
4.5.1 Mutual Torque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
4.5.1.1 Nonsinusoidal Distribution of Stator
Windings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
4.5.1.2 Errors in Stator Electric Current
Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
4.5.2 Reluctance Torque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
4.5.3 Cogging Torque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
4.5.4 Torque Ripple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
4.5.5 The Problem to Solve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
4.5.6 Stability Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
4.5.7 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
4.6 A Practical PM Synchronous Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
4.6.1 Magnetic Field at the Air Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
4.6.1.1 Magnetic Field Produced by the Stator
Windings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
4.6.1.2 Magnetic Field Produced by Rotor . . . . . . . . 174
Contents xvii

4.6.2 Magnetic Flux Linkages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177


4.6.3 The Motor dq Dynamical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
4.7 Another Practical PM Synchronous Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
4.7.1 Magnetic Field at the Air Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
4.7.1.1 Magnetic Field Produced by the Stator
Windings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
4.7.1.2 Magnetic Field Produced by Rotor . . . . . . . . 193
4.7.2 Magnetic Flux Linkages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
4.7.3 The Motor dq Dynamical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
5 Induction Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
5.1 Motor Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
5.1.1 The Working Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
5.1.2 Three-Phase Dynamical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
5.1.3 ab Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
5.1.4 The ab Dynamical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
5.1.5 Park’s Transformation or dq Transformation . . . . . . . . 217
5.1.6 The dq Dynamical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
5.1.7 dq Decomposition of the Magnetic Flux . . . . . . . . . . . 222
5.1.7.1 The Open-Loop Working Principle . . . . . . . 222
5.1.7.2 Closed-Loop Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
5.1.7.3 Field Weakening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
5.1.8 Standard Indirect Field-Oriented Control . . . . . . . . . . . 224
5.2 Open-Loop Energy Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
5.2.1 The Velocity Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
5.2.2 The Position Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
5.3 Velocity Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
5.3.1 Simulation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
5.4 Position Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
5.4.1 Simulation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
5.5 A Practical Induction Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
5.5.1 Magnetic Field at the Air Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
5.5.1.1 Magnetic Field Produced by the Stator
Windings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
5.5.1.2 Magnetic Field Produced by Rotor . . . . . . . . 270
5.5.2 The Magnetic Flux Linkages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
5.5.3 The Motor Dynamic Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
6 Switched Reluctance Motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
6.1 Motor Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
6.1.1 The Working Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
6.1.2 Magnetic Circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
6.1.3 SRM Unsaturated Dynamical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
6.1.4 SRM Saturated Dynamical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
2.1 Control of Linear Systems 9

ρ(k−1)i −ζi ωni t


··· +  te sin(ωdi t + φi )
1 − ζi2

ρki
+ e−ζi ωni t sin(ωdi t + φi )⎠
1 − ζi 2

Q(s)
+ p(t), where p(t) = L−1 . (2.3)
M(s)

The symbols
√ λi , ρ ji , j =1,√. . . , k,
 represent real constants and φi p =
1−ζi2p 1−ζi2
arctan ζi p
, φi = arctan ζi
.
In the previous expression, p(t) is known as the forced response, y f (t), and
all of the remaining
 terms are known as the natural response, yn (t). Since p(t) =
−1 Q(s)
L M(s)
, the forced response is “similar” to the input u(t). Because of this,
in a control system the input u(t) (through p(t)) is employed to specify the
behavior that is expected for y(t), i.e., a closed-loop control system is designed
such that limt→∞ y(t) = y f (t) = p(t). Hence, it is desirable that p(t) = u(t) and
limt→∞ yn (t) = 0. A transfer function is said to be stable if and only if this limit is
accomplished for all initial conditions.
According to the general solution given in (2.3), we have the following conclusions
on the stability of an arbitrary linear system.

1. The differential equation in (2.1) or, equivalently, the transfer function in (2.2) is
stable if and only if all of the poles of G(s) have negative real parts, i.e., if and
only if −di < 0, −h i < 0, −ζi p ωni p < 0, and −ζi ωni < 0.
2. The differential equation in (2.1) or, equivalently, the transfer function in (2.2) is
unstable if at least one of the poles of G(s) has a positive real part, i.e., if −di > 0
or −h i > 0 or −ζi p ωni p > 0 or −ζi ωni > 0.
3. The differential equation in (2.1) or, equivalently, the transfer function in (2.2) is
unstable if G(s) has at least one pole with zero real part which is repeated at least
two times, i.e., if −h i = 0 or −ζi ωni = 0 and k ≥ 2.
4. The differential equation in (2.1) or, equivalently, the transfer function in (2.2) is
marginally stable if all of the poles of G(s) have negative real parts excepting some
single poles which have zero real parts, i.e., if −di < 0, −h i < 0, −ζi p ωni p < 0,
−ζi ωni < 0 and k = 1 for the poles such that −h i = 0 or −ζi ωni = 0.

From the expression in (2.3) it is clear that the poles of a transfer function not only
determine the system stability but also the system transient response. As a matter
of fact, in Fig. 2.1 we present several examples of typical transient responses due
to real poles and complex conjugate poles when u(t) = 1. The relative location of
these poles on the plane s is depicted in Fig. 2.2. We conclude that a faster response is
accomplished as these poles are located farther from the origin on the left-hand half-
complex plane. A more oscillatory response is obtained as the complex conjugate
10 2 Mathematical Preliminaries

Fig. 2.1 Transient responses when an unit step input is applied

Fig. 2.2 Location on the 5

plane s of poles 4

corresponding to the 3

transient responses in 2
Fig. 2.1. Figure 2.1a: 1
dash-dot x, continuous o,
Im(s)

0
dashed +. Figure 2.1b:
-1
dash-dot triangle-right,
-2
continuous square, dashed
triangle-left. Figure 2.1c: -3

dash-dot triangle-down, -4

dashed triangle-up -5
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1
Re(s)

poles approach the imaginary axis. Real poles do not produce any oscillation. This
is depicted in Fig. 2.3.
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Title: Down to Earth

Author: Harry Harrison

Illustrator: Lutjens

Release date: December 16, 2023 [eBook #72431]

Language: English

Original publication: New York, NY: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company,


1963

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed


Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOWN TO


EARTH ***
DOWN TO EARTH

HARRY HARRISON

Illustrated by LUTJENS

Whatever goes up must come down.


Including moon rockets. But there's no
law saying what they must come down to.

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from


Amazing Stories November 1963.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"Gino ... Gino ... help me! For God's sake, do something!"
The tiny voice scratched in Gino Lombardi's earphone, weak against
the background roar of solar interference. Gino lay flat in the lunar
dust, half buried by the pumice-fine stuff, reaching far down into the
cleft in the rock. Through the thick fabric of his suit he felt the edge
crumbling and pulled hastily back. The dust and pieces of rock fell
instantly, pulled down by the light lunar gravity and unimpeded by
any trace of air. A fine mist of dust settled on Glazer's helmet below,
partially obscuring his tortured face.
"Help me, Gino—get me out of here," he said, stretching his arm up
over his head.
"No good—" Gino answered, putting as much of his weight onto the
crumbling lip of rock as he dared, reaching far down. His hand was
still a good yard short of the other's groping glove. "I can't reach you
—and I've got nothing here I can let down for you to grab. I'm going
back to the Bug."
"Don't leave ..." Glazer called, but his voice was cut off as Gino slid
back from the crevice and scrambled to his feet. Their tiny helmet
radios did not have enough power to send a signal through the rock;
they were good only for line-of-sight communication.
Gino ran as fast as he could, long gliding jumps one after the other
back towards the Bug. It did look more like a bug here, a red beetle
squatting on the lunar landscape, its four spidery support legs sunk
into the dust. He cursed under his breath as he ran: what a hell of an
ending for the first moon flight! A good blast off and a perfect orbit,
the first two stages had dropped on time, the lunar orbit was right,
the landing had been right—and ten minutes after they had walked
out of the Bug Glazer had to fall into this crevice hidden under the
powdery dust. To come all this way—through all the multiple hazards
of space—then to fall into a hole.... There was just no justice.

At the base of the ship Gino flexed his legs and bounded high up
towards the top section of the Bug, grabbing onto the bottom of the
still open door of the cabin. He had planned his moves while he ran
—the magnetometer would be his best bet. Pulling it from the rack
he yanked at its long cable until it came free in his hand, then turned
back without wasting a second. It was a long leap back to the
surface—in Earth gravitational terms—but he ignored the apparent
danger and jumped, sinking knee deep in the dust when he landed.
The row of scuffled tracks stretched out towards the slash of the
lunar crevice and he ran all the way, chest heaving in spite of the
pure oxygen he was breathing. Throwing himself flat he skidded and
wriggled like a snake, back to the crumbling lip.
"Get ready, Glazer," he shouted, his head ringing inside the helmet
with the captive sound of his own voice. "Grab the cable...."
The crevice was empty. More of the soft rock had crumbled away
and Glazer had fallen from sight.
For a long time Major Gino Lombardi lay there, flashing his light into
the seemingly bottomless slash in the satellite's surface, calling on
his radio with the power turned full on. His only answer was static,
and gradually he became aware of the cold from the eternally chilled
rocks that was seeping through the insulation of his suit. Glazer was
gone, that was all there was to it.
After this Gino did everything that he was supposed to do in a
methodical, disinterested way. He took rock samples, dust samples,
meter readings, placed the recording instruments exactly as he had
been shown and fired the test shot in the drilled hole. Then he
gathered the records from the instruments and when the next orbit of
the Apollo spacecraft brought it overhead he turned on the cabin
transmitter and sent up a call.
"Come in Dan.... Colonel Danton Coye, can you hear me...?"
"Loud and clear," the speaker crackled. "Tell me you guys, how does
it feel to be walking on the moon?"
"Glazer is dead. I'm alone. I have all the data and photographs
required. Permission requested to cut this stay shorter than planned.
No need for a whole day down here."
For long seconds there was a crackling silence, then Dan's voice
came in, the same controlled, Texas drawl.
"Roger, Gino—stand by for computer signal, I think we can meet in
the next orbit."
The moon takeoff went as smoothly as the rehearsals had gone in
the mock-up on Earth, and Gino was too busy doing double duty to
have time to think about what had happened. He was strapped in
when the computer radio signal fired the engines that burned down
into the lower portion of the Bug and lifted the upper half free,
blasting it up towards the rendezvous in space with the orbiting
mother ship. The joined sections of the Apollo came into sight and
Gino realized he would pass in front of it, going too fast: he made the
course corrections with a sensation of deepest depression. The
computer had not allowed for the reduced mass of the lunar rocket
with only one passenger aboard. After this, matching orbits was not
too difficult and minutes later Gino was crawling through the
entrance of the command module and sealing it behind him. Dan
Coye stayed at the controls, not saying anything until the cabin
pressure had stabilized and they could remove their helmets.
"What happened down there, Gino?"
"An accident—a crack in the lunar surface, covered lightly, sealed
over by dust. Glazer just ... fell into the thing. That's all. I tried to get
him out, I couldn't reach him. I went to the Bug for some wire, but
when I came back he had fallen deeper ... it was...."
Gino had his face buried in his hands, and even he didn't know if he
was sobbing or just shaking with fatigue and strain.
"I'll tell you a secret, I'm not superstitious at all," Dan said, reaching
deep into a zippered pocket of his pressure suit. "Everybody thinks I
am, which just goes to show you how wrong everybody can be. Now
I got this mascot, because all pilots are supposed to have mascots,
and it makes good copy for the reporters when things are dull." He
pulled the little black rubber doll from his pocket, made famous on
millions of TV screens, and waved it at Gino. "Everybody knows I
always tote my little good-luck mascot with me, but nobody knows
just what kind of good luck it has. Now you will find out, Major Gino
Lombardi, and be privileged to share my luck. In the first place this
bitty doll is not rubber, which might have a deleterious effect on the
contents, but is constructed of a neutral plastic."
In spite of himself, Gino looked up as Dan grabbed the doll's head
and screwed it back.
"Notice the wrist motion as I decapitate my friend, within whose
bosom rests the best luck in the world, the kind that can only be
brought to you by sour mash one-hundred and fifty proof bourbon.
Have a slug." He reached across and handed the doll to Gino.
"Thanks, Dan." He raised the thing and squeezed, swallowing twice.
He handed it back.
"Here's to a good pilot and a good joe, Eddie Glazer," Dan Coye said
raising the flask, suddenly serious. "He wanted to get to the moon
and he did. It belongs to him now, all of it, by right of occupation." He
squeezed the doll dry and methodically screwed the head back on
and replaced it in his pocket. "Now let's see what we can do about
contacting control, putting them in the picture, and start cutting an
orbit back towards Earth."

Gino turned the radio on but did not send out the call yet. While they
had talked their orbit had carried them around to the other side of the
moon and its bulk successfully blocked any radio communication
with Earth. They hurtled their measured arc through the darkness
and watched another sunrise over the sharp lunar peaks: then the
great globe of the Earth swung into sight again. North America was
clearly visible and there was no need to use repeater stations. Gino
beamed the signal at Cape Canaveral and waited the two and a half
seconds for his signal to be received and for the answer to come
back the 480,000 miles from Earth. The seconds stretched on and
on, and with a growing feeling of fear he watched the hand track
slowly around the clock face.
"They don't answer...."
"Interference, sunspots ... try them again," Dan said in a suddenly
strained voice.
The control at Canaveral did not answer the next message, nor was
there any response when they tried the emergency frequencies.
They picked up some aircraft chatter on the higher frequencies, but
no one noticed them or paid any attention to their repeated calls.
They looked at the blue sphere of Earth, with horror now, and only
after an hour of sweating strain would they admit that, for some
unimaginable reason, they were cut off from all radio contact with it.
"Whatever happened, happened during our last orbit around the
moon. I was in contact with them while you were matching orbits,"
Dan said, tapping the dial of the ammeter on the radio. "There
couldn't be anything wrong...?"
"Not at this end," Gino said grimly. "But something has happened
down there."
"Could it be ... a war?"
"It might be. But with whom and why? There's nothing unusual on
the emergency frequencies and I don't think...."
"Look!" Dan shouted hoarsely, "The lights—where are the lights?"
In their last orbit the twinkling lights of the American cities had been
seen clearly through their telescope. The entire continent was now
black.
"Wait, see South America—the cities are lit up there, Gino. What
could possibly have happened at home while we were in that orbit?"
"There's only one way to find out. We're going back. With or without
any help from ground control."
They disconnected the lunar Bug and strapped into their acceleration
couches in the command module while they fed data to the
computer. Following its instructions they jockeyed the Apollo into the
correct attitude for firing. Once more they orbited the airless satellite
and at the correct instant the computer triggered the engines in the
attached service module. They were heading home.
With all the negative factors taken into consideration, it was not that
bad a landing. They hit the right continent and were only a few
degrees off in latitude, though they entered the atmosphere earlier
than they liked. Without ground control of any kind it was an almost
miraculously good landing.

As the capsule screamed down through the thickening air its


immense velocity was slowed and the airspeed began to indicate a
reasonable figure. Far below, the ground was visible through rents in
the cloud cover.
"Late afternoon," Gino said. "It will be dark soon after we hit the
ground."
"At least it will still be light. We could have been landing in Peking at
midnight, so let's hear no complaints. Stand by to let go the
parachutes."
The capsule jumped twice as the immense chutes boomed open.
They opened their face-plates, safely back in the sea of air once
more.
"Wonder what kind of reception we'll get?" Dan asked, rubbing the
bristle on his big jaw.
With the sharp crack of split metal a row of holes appeared in the
upper quadrant of the capsule: air whistled in, equalizing their lower
pressure.
"Look!" Gino shouted, pointing at the dark shape that hurtled by
outside. It was egg-shaped and stub-winged, black against the
afternoon sun. Then it twisted over in a climbing turn and for a long
moment its silver skin was visible to them as it arched over and
came diving down. Back it came, growing instantly larger, red flames
twinkling in its wing roots.
Grey haze cut off the sunlight as they fell into a cloud. Both men
looked at each other: neither wanted to speak first.
"A jet," Gino finally said. "I never saw that type before."
"Neither did I—but there was something familiar—Look, you saw the
wings didn't you? You saw...?"
"If you mean did I see black crosses on the wings, yes I did, but I'm
not going to admit it! Or I wouldn't if it wasn't for those new air-
conditioning outlets that were just installed in our hull. Do you have
any idea what it means?"
"None. But I don't think we'll be too long finding out. Get ready for the
landing—just two thousand feet to go."

The jet did not reappear. They tightened their safety harness and
braced themselves for the impact. It was a bumping crash and the
capsule tilted up on its side, jarring them with vibration.
"Parachute jettisons," Dan Coye ordered, "We're being dragged."
Gino had hit the triggers even as Dan spoke. The lurching stopped
and the capsule slowly righted itself.
"Fresh air," Dan said and blew the charges on the port. It sprang
away and thudded to the ground. As they disconnected the multiple
wires and clasps of their suits hot, dry air poured in through the
opening, bringing with it the dusty odor of the desert.
Dan raised his head and sniffed. "Smells like home. Let's get out of
this tin box."
Colonel Danton Coye went first, as befitted the commander of the
First American Earth-Moon Expedition. Major Gino Lombardi
followed. They stood side by side silently, with the late afternoon sun
glinting on their silver suits. Around them, to the limits of vision,
stretched the thin tangle of greyish desert shrub, mesquite, cactus.
Nothing broke the silence nor was there any motion other than that
caused by the breeze that was carrying away the cloud of dust
stirred up by their landing.
"Smells good, smells like Texas," Dan said, sniffing.
"Smells awful, just makes me thirsty. But ... Dan ... what happened?
First the radio contact, then that jet...."
"Look, our answer is coming from over there," the big officer said,
pointing at a moving column of dust rolling in from the horizon. "No
point in guessing, because we are going to find out in five minutes."
It was less than that. A large, sand-colored half-track roared up,
followed by two armored cars. They braked to a halt in the immense
cloud of their own dust. The half-track's door slammed open and a
goggled man climbed down, brushing dirt from his tight black
uniform.
"Hande hoch!" he ordered, waving their attention to the leveled guns
on the armored cars. "Hands up and keep them that way. You are
my prisoners."
They slowly raised their arms as though hypnotized, taking in every
detail of his uniform. The silver lightning bolts on the lapels, the high,
peaked cap—the predatory eagle clasping a swastika.
"You're—you're a German!" Gino Lombardi gasped.
"Very observant," the officer observed humorlessly. "I am
Hauptmann Langenscheidt. You are my prisoners. You will obey my
orders. Get into the kraftwagen."
"Now just one minute," Dan protested. "I'm Col. Coye, USAF and I
would like to know what is going on here...."
"Get in," the officer ordered. He did not change his tone of voice, but
he did pull his long-barreled Luger from its holster and leveled it at
them.
"Come on," Gino said, putting his hand on Dan's tense shoulder.
"You outrank him, but he got there fustest with the mostest."
They climbed into the open back of the half-track and the captain sat
down facing them. Two silent soldiers with leveled machine-pistols
sat behind their backs. The tracks clanked and they surged forward:
stifling dust rose up around them.
Gino Lombardi had trouble accepting the reality of this. The moon
flight, the landing, even Glazer's death he could accept, they were
things that could be understood. But this...? He looked at his watch,
at the number twelve in the calendar opening.
"Just one question, Langenscheidt," he shouted above the roar of
the engine. "Is today the twelfth of September?"
His only answer was a stiff nod.
"And the year—of course it is—1971?"
"Yes, of course. No more questions. You will talk to the Oberst, not to
me."
They were silent after that, trying to keep the dust out of their eyes. A
few minutes later they pulled aside and stopped while the long,
heavy form of a tank transporter rumbled by them, going in the
opposite direction. Evidently the Germans wanted the capsule as
well as the men who had arrived in it. When the long vehicle had
passed the half-track ground forward again. It was growing dark
when the shapes of two large tanks loomed up ahead, cannons
following them as they bounced down the rutted track. Behind these
sentries was a car park of other vehicles, tents and the ruddy glow of
gasoline fires burning in buckets of sand. The half-track stopped
before the largest tent and at gunpoint the two astronauts were
pushed through the entrance.
An officer, his back turned to them, sat writing at a field desk. He
finished his work while they stood there, then folded some papers
and put them into a case. He turned around, a lean man with burning
eyes that he kept fastened on his prisoners while the captain made a
report in rapid German.
"That is most interesting, Langenscheidt, but we must not keep our
guests standing. Have the orderly bring some chairs. Gentlemen
permit me to introduce myself. I am Colonel Schneider, commander
of the 109th Panzer division that you have been kind enough to visit.
Cigarette?"
The colonel's smile just touched the corners of his mouth, then
instantly vanished. He handed over a flat package of Player's
cigarettes to Gino, who automatically took them. As he shook one
out he saw that they were made in England—but the label was
printed in German.
"And I'm sure you would like a drink of whisky," Schneider said,
flashing the artificial smile again. He placed a bottle of Ould
Highlander on the table before them, close enough for Gino to read
the label. There was a picture of the highlander himself, complete
with bagpipes and kilt, but he was saying Ich hätte gern etwas zu
trinken WHISKEY!
The orderly pushed a chair against the back of Gino's legs and he
collapsed gratefully into it. He sipped from the glass when it was
handed to him—it was good scotch whisky. He drained it in a single
swallow.

The orderly went out and the commanding officer settled back into
his camp chair, also holding a large drink. The only reminder of their
captivity was the silent form of the captain near the entrance, his
hand resting on his holstered gun.
"A most interesting vehicle that you gentlemen arrived in. Our
technical experts will of course examine it, but there is a question—"
"I am Colonel Danton Coye, United States Air Force, serial
number...."
"Please, colonel," Schneider interrupted. "We can dispense with the
formalities...."
"Major Giovanni Lombardi, United States Air Force," Gino broke in,
then added his serial number. The German colonel flickered his
smile again and sipped from his drink.
"Do not take me for a fool," he said suddenly, and for the first time
the cold authority in his voice matched his grim appearance. "You
will talk for the Gestapo, so you might just as well talk to me. And
enough of your childish games. I know there is no American Air
Force, just your Army Air Corps that has provided such fine targets
for our fliers. Now—what were you doing in that device?"
"That is none of your business, Colonel," Dan snapped back in the
same tones. "What I would like to know is, just what are German
tanks doing in Texas?"
A roar of gunfire cut through his words, sounding not too far away.
There were two heavy explosions and distant flames lit up the
entrance to the tent. Captain Langenscheidt pulled his gun and
rushed out of the tent while the others leaped to their feet. There was
a muffled cry outside and a man stepped in, pointing a bulky, strange
looking pistol at them. He was dressed in stained khaki and his
hands and face were painted black.
"Verdamm ..." the colonel gasped and reached for his own gun: the
newcomer's pistol jumped twice and emitted two sighing sounds.
The panzer officer clutched his stomach and doubled up on the floor.
"Don't just stand there gaping, boys," the intruder said, "get moving
before anyone else wanders in here." He led the way from the tent
and they followed.
They slipped behind a row of parked trucks and crouched there while
a squad of scuttle-helmeted soldiers ran by them towards the
hammering guns. A cannon began firing and the flames started to
die down. Their guide leaned back and whispered.
"That's just a diversion—just six guys and a lot of noise—though
they did get one of the fuel trucks. These krautheads are going to
find it out pretty quickly and start heading back here on the double.
So let's make tracks—now!"

He slipped from behind the trucks and the three of them ran into the
darkness of the desert. After a few yards the astronauts were
staggering, but they kept on until they almost fell into an arroyo
where the black shape of a jeep was sitting. The motor started as
they hauled themselves into it and, without lights, it ground up out of
the arroyo and bumped through the brush.
"You're lucky I saw you come down," their guide said from the front
seat. "I'm Lieutenant Reeves."
"Colonel Coye—and this is Major Lombardi. We owe you a lot of
thanks, lieutenant. When those Germans grabbed us, we found it
almost impossible to believe. Where did they come from?"
"Breakthrough, just yesterday from the lines around Corpus. I been
slipping along behind this division with my patrol, keeping San
Antone posted on their movements. That's how come I saw your
ship, or whatever it is, dropping right down in front of their scouts.
Stars and stripes all over it. I tried to reach you first, but had to turn
back before their scout cars spotted me. But it worked out. We
grabbed the tank carrier as soon as it got dark and two of my walking
wounded are riding it back to Cotulla where we got some armor and
transport. I set the rest of the boys to pull that diversion and you
know the results. You Air Corps jockeys ought to watch which way
the wind is blowing or something, or you'll have all your fancy new
gadgets falling into enemy hands."
"You said the Germans broke out of Corpus—Corpus Christi?" Dan
asked. "What are they doing there—how long have they been there
—or where did they come from in the first place?"
"You flyboys must sure be stationed in some hideaway spot,"
Reeves said, grunting as the jeep bounded over a ditch. "The
landings on the Texas side of the Gulf were made over a month ago.
We been holding them, but just barely. Now they're breaking out and
we're managing to stay ahead of them." He stopped and thought for
a moment. "Maybe I better not talk to you boys too much until we
know just what you were doing there in the first place. Sit tight and
we'll have you out of here inside of two hours."
The other jeep joined them soon after they hit a farm road and the
lieutenant murmured into the field radio it carried. Then the two cars
sped north, past a number of tank traps and gun emplacements and
finally into the small town of Cotulla, straddling the highway south of
San Antonio. They were led into the back of the local supermarket
where a command post had been set up. There was a lot of brass
and armed guards about, and a heavy-jawed one star general
behind the desk. The atmosphere and the stares were reminiscent in
many ways of the German colonel's tent.
"Who are you two, what are you doing here—and what is that thing
you rode down in?" the general asked in a no-nonsense voice.
Dan had a lot of questions he wanted to ask first, but he knew better
than to argue with a general. He told about the moon flight, the loss
of communication, and their return. Throughout the general looked at
him steadily, nor did he change his expression. He did not say a
word until Dan was finished. Then he spoke.
"Gentlemen, I don't know what to make of all your talk of rockets,
moon-shots, Russian sputniks or the rest. Either you are both mad or
I am, though I admit you have an impressive piece of hardware out
on that tank carrier. I doubt if the Russians have time or resources
now for rocketry, since they are slowly being pulverized and pushed
back across Siberia. Every other country in Europe has fallen to the
Nazis and they have brought their war to this hemisphere, have
established bases in Central America, occupied Florida and made
more landings along the Gulf coast. I can't pretend to understand
what is happening here so I'm sending you off to the national capitol
in Denver in the morning."

In the plane next day, somewhere over the high peaks of the
Rockies, they pieced together part of the puzzle. Lieutenant Reeves
rode with them, ostensibly as a guide, but his pistol was handy and
the holster flap loose.

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