System for Preventing Transformer Saturation

Abstract

A system for preventing magnetic saturation and for controlling and managing DC offset in a transformer cores. A magnetic flux sensor is disposed within a bore within the core transformer core. The sensor transmits a sensor output that is continuously received by a processor that is programed to continuously compare in real time the sensor output with a stored selectable maximum flux sensor output value. Responsive to the comparison of real-time sensor output value to the stored maximum value, the microprocessor either allows, during each driving voltage half-cycle, the driving voltage to continue unabated while the sensor output remains below the selectable maximum value, or triggers a gate to modify the driving voltage for the remainder of the half-cycle when the selectable maximum value is reached. The processor is also programed to process, in parallel or separately, the flux sensor output for each phase half-cycle to continuously compute a flux-second integral for each half-cycle, and to continuously compare them to each other for an instantaneous DC offset value and to add a DC voltage to the phase half-cycle that is deficient and or to subtract a DC voltage from the phase half-cycle that is contributing to the DC offset to effect minimal DC offset.

Claims

1. A system for preventing magnetic saturation in a magnetizable material, the system comprising: a primary driving voltage having opposite phase half-cycles, and a magnetic flux sensor operably disposed within the magnetizable material; a hardware processor operatively associated with a machine readable memory and a set of instructions stored in the machine readable memory; the flux sensor having a sensor output that is continuously received into the machine readable memory; the hardware processor programed, in accordance with the set of instructions stored in the machine readable memory, to process the flux sensor output during each phase half-cycle to continuously compare in real time the sensor output with a stored selectable maximum flux sensor output value, and responsive to the comparison to allow, during each voltage half-cycle, the driving voltage to continue unabated while the sensor output remains below the selectable maximum value, and to trigger a gate to modify the driving voltage for the remainder of the half-cycle when the selectable maximum value is reached.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the magnetizable material is a transformer core.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the magnetic flux sensor is disposed within the transformer core.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the magnetic flux sensor is disposed within a bore in the transformer core.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the magnetic flux sensor is selected from the group of magneto-resistive sensors including a GMR, a TMR, a CMR and an EMR.

6. The system of claim 2 further comprising a series injection topology to control the driving voltage.

7. The system of claim 3 further comprising an electrically isolated, self-powered flux sensor.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising fiber optic electrically isolated signal transmission from the flux sensor to the microprocessor.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising, within the set of stored microprocessor instructions, instructions for a hold-off time delay having a programmable duration that is programmably and selectively imposed during one or more of the driving voltage half-cycles.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the hold-off time delay is part of instructions for a system circuitry integrity check.

11. A method of preventing magnetic flux saturation in a magnetizable material comprising a magnetic flux sensor, where the magnetic flux is induced by a primary driving voltage having opposite phase half-cycles, the method comprising the steps of: the sensor continuously sensing and transmitting to a programmable microprocessor having a set of stored instructions a magnetic flux density value from within the magnetizable material; the microprocessor continuously receiving the transmitted magnetic flux density value; the microprocessor comparing in real time during each driving voltage half-cycle each transmitted magnetic flux density value with a selectable and programmatically stored maximum flux density value, and the microprocessor triggering a gate to modify the driving voltage for the remainder of the half-cycle when the selectable maximum flux density value is reached.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the magnetizable material is a transformer core.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the magnetic flux sensor is disposed within a bore in the transformer core.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the magnetic flux sensor is selected from the group of magneto-resistive sensors including a GMR, a TMR, a CMR and a EMR.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising, within the set of stored microprocessor instructions, instructions for a hold-off time delay having a programmable duration that is programmably and selectively imposed during one or more of the driving voltage half-cycles.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising, as part of the set of stored instructions, instructions to multiply a PWM for positive half-cycles with a gain variable Kpos and for negative half-cycles with a gain variable Kneg, where Kpos and Kneg have different values.

17. A system for preventing transformer saturation, the system comprising a GMR to continuously measure and transmit a flux density value for continuous use as a microprocessor input to control a modification of transformer primary voltage when the transmitted flux density value matches a preselected flux density value approximating a transformer saturation value.

18. A system for managing and centering a cumulative DC offset in a magnetizable material, the system comprising: a primary driving voltage having opposite phase half-cycles, and a magnetic flux sensor operably disposed within the magnetizable material; a hardware processor operatively associated with a machine readable memory and a set of instructions stored in the machine readable memory; the flux sensor having a sensor output that is continuously received into the machine readable memory; the hardware processor programed to process, in accordance with the set of instructions stored in the machine readable memory, the flux sensor output for each phase half-cycle to continuously compute and re-compute in real time a flux-second integral for each half-cycle; the two half-cycle flux-second integrals programmatically and continuously compared to each other for an instantaneous DC offset value; and the offset value driving a slow loop DC compensation circuit to steer a PWM control to vary the primary driving voltage in such a way as to add a DC voltage to the phase half-cycle that is deficient and or to subtract a DC voltage from the phase half-cycle that is contributing to the DC offset, in effect to continuously and automatically control the DC offset of the AC primary drive voltage to effect minimal DC offset.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising: a gain variable Kpos and a gain variable Kneg both stored in the machine readable memory; and the slow loop DC compensation circuit steering the PWM for positive half-cycles with a gain variable Kpos and for negative half-cycles with a gain variable Kneg to center the DC offset for each half-cycle.

20. A method for managing and centering a cumulative DC offset in a magnetizable material with a magnetic flux induced by a primary driving voltage having opposite phase half-cycles, and a magnetic flux sensor disposed within the magnetizable material, the method comprising the steps of: the flux sensor continuously transmitting to a programmable hardware processor a magnetic flux density value for each half-cycle from within the magnetizable material, the processor having an accessible machine readable memory in which is stored a set of programmable instructions; the hardware processor continuously and in real time receiving and storing into the machine readable memory the transmitted magnetic flux density value for each half-cycle; the hardware processor continuously and in real time during each half-cycle computing and re-computing with each successively received magnetic flux density value a flux-second integral for each half-cycle; the hardware processor programmatically and continuously comparing each of the two half-cycle flux-second integrals to each other for an instantaneous DC offset value; and using the DC offset value, the hardware processor driving a slow loop DC compensation circuit to steer a PWM control to vary the primary driving voltage in such a way as to add a DC voltage to the phase half-cycle that is deficient and or to subtract a DC voltage from the phase half-cycle that is contributing to the DC offset, in effect to continuously and automatically control the DC offset of the AC primary drive voltage to effect minimal DC offset.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0060] FIG. 1 is a circuit schematic of an aspect of the disclosure.

[0061] FIG. 2 is an oscilloscope screen shot of an aspect of the disclosure.

[0062] FIG. 3 is a circuit schematic of an aspect of the disclosure.

[0063] FIG. 4 is a circuit schematic of an aspect of the disclosure.

[0064] FIG. 5 is a circuit schematic of an aspect of the disclosure.

[0065] FIG. 6 is a circuit schematic of an aspect of the disclosure.

[0066] FIG. 7 is a circuit schematic of an aspect of the disclosure.

[0067] FIGS. 8A and 8B are schematic views of aspects of the disclosure.

[0068] FIG. 9 is a flow chart of program instructions of the disclosure.

[0069] FIG. 10 is a schematic representation of a hardware processor.

[0070] FIG. 11 is a flow chart of program instructions of the disclosure.

[0071] FIG. 12 is a flow chart of program instructions of the disclosure.

[0072] FIG. 13 is a logic flow chart for an aspect of the disclosure.

[0073] FIGS. 14A and 14B are schematic views of aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0074] A circuit for use with bridge-configured GMR sensors is illustrated in FIG. 1. GMR sensing bridge 102 has signal output 101 to the microprocessor.

[0075] The flux sensor also enables the flux in power transformers to stay centered in the presence of any DC offset originating in the AC line. Such a circuit is further illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5.

[0076] FIG. 3 is a diagram of a transformer flux centering control system that uses modulation of the AC voltage applied to the transformer primary. The Switch ON:OFF time is modulated as a function of supply line polarity and transformer flux level on a half-cycle-by-half-cycle time basis, employing conventional line voltage polarity detector 301, amplifier 302, half-cycle compensation 303, PWM 304 and novel flux sensor 100, as discussed above.

[0077] FIG. 5 provides the same function utilizing a series injection topology. The control voltage is increased or reduced each half-cycle so that the power transformer Volt-Second interval is altered so as to drive the flux excursions to a minimum, and employs conventional power electronics block 405, signal conditioner block 406, series injection transformer 408 and novel GMR flux sensor 407.

[0078] In both illustrations, these control systems sense continuously and in real-time the instantaneous transformer-core flux levels and uses that information to instantly and in real-time control the transformer primary voltage in such a manner as to maintain the averaged flux level at zero. This action compensates for DC offset on the AC line to the transformer.

[0079] In the case of a series injection voltage regulator, the voltage amplitude and polarity are varied as needed on the primary winding of a series-injection transformer to achieve the desired output voltage correction on the secondary winding. This can be accomplished by using an inverter or an AC to AC converter with an H bridge.

[0080] In FIG. 7 transformer saturation is prevented by modifying the voltage source driving the series injection transformer primary to either reduce the voltage or cut it off to zero (see voltage modification discussion herein) when the GMR sensor indicates a transformer flux level approaching saturation. The reduced or zero voltage is maintained until the polarity of the line voltage changes, whereupon the full drive voltage is re-enabled, advantageously at the zero crossing, and the reversed current in the transformer primary begins driving the flux away from saturation. FIG. 7 illustrates SMPS 702, microprocessor block 701, series injection transformer 703 and novel flux sensor 100.

[0081] FIG. 7 also illustrates a transformer flux centering control system that modulates the AC voltage applied to the transformer primary. This technique is also illustrated in the scope shots below.

[0082] In the scope traces shown in FIG. 2, Cyan is the Sat line, Magenta is the AC polarity circuit output, Green is the AC voltage on the transformer primary and Yellow is the current on the transformer primary. This is a scope shot of a negative saturation where the cyan line goes low, which interrupts the PWM and consequently the primary winding drive voltage to the series injection transformer.

[0083] Also disclosed is a method of providing a direct, first-order flux measurement of a transformer core or other magnetic structure, in order to control an independent third winding provided to inject DC current with the proper polarity into the transformer core such that it reduces the instantaneous core flux level or, over a longer time frame, it is used to center the core flux to compensate for DC offset, as shown in FIG. 4. Novel flux sensor 401 and microprocessor block 402 are illustrated.

[0084] In FIG. 6 an alternate schematic of an electrically isolated, fiber optic flux sensor is shown with flux-powered VCC 601, microprocessor block 602, fiber optic interface 603, and GMR bridge 100.

[0085] FIGS. 8A and 8B are schematic views of the flux sensor installation 10 and flux sensor 13 and associated electronics positioning within a toroidal core bore 13 with trailing sensor leads 12. Alternate position 11 is also shown.

[0086] FIG. 9 is a flow chart of microprocessor program instructions for the disclosed system. Flux sensor installation 30 has SMPS 33, series injection transformer 32 and flux sensor 31. Flux sensor 31 sends flux density value output to microprocessor block 20, received by signal conditioning 21, then passed to threshold comparison 22, 23. If the received flux density value is below the threshold the next value is compared and so on through the half-cycle. If the sensor-transmitted density value is above the threshold, PWM gating/modification 27 is triggered, and when zero cross 26 is detected, hold-off timer 25 is triggered, with optional sensor test 24.

[0087] FIG. 10 is a schematic representation of a conventional hardware processor 500 with bus 502, processor 504, memory 506, optional alternate storage 508, optional interfaces 510, and input/output 512.

[0088] FIG. 11 is an alternate flow chart of hardware processor program instructions for the disclosed system. Flux sensor installation 30 has SMPS 33, flux sensor 31, and series injection transformer 32 which sends an appropriate value to AC line polarity and zero cross detection 26 (which in turn has respective inputs to PWM control 27, hold off timer 25 and half-cycle flux-second integration 41). Flux sensor 31 sends flux density value output to hardware processor block 20, received by optional sensor test 24 and passed to signal conditioning 21 at which block the sensor data is passed to half-cycle flux-second integration 41 and or (in systems combining both threshold limitation and DC offset control) to threshold comparison 22.

[0089] From integration 41 a value is passed to slow loop DC compensation 42 (and optionally to buffer comparator 43, see FIG. 12) and then to PWM control 27.

[0090] From threshold comparison 22 a value is sent to above/below threshold check 23 and then to optional hold off timer 25 in coordination with sensor test 24 before it goes to PWM control 27 which in turn controls the operation of SMPS 33.

[0091] FIG. 12 is an alternate flow chart of hardware processor program instructions for the disclosed system. Flux sensor installation 30 has SMPS 33, flux sensor 31, and series injection transformer 32 which sends an appropriate value to AC line polarity and zero cross detection 26 (which in turn has respective inputs to PWM control 27 and half-cycle flux-second integration 41). Flux sensor 31 sends flux density value output to hardware processor block 20, received by optional sensor test 24 and passed to signal conditioning 21 at which block the sensor data is passed to half-cycle flux-second integration 41. From integration 41 a value is passed to buffer comparator 43 and thence to slow loop DC compensation 42, which then operates on PWM control 27 which in turn controls the operation of SMPS 33.

[0092] FIG. 13 schematically illustrates an example of a logic flow for the firmware for the flux-second integration and comparison. The filtered output from the flux sensor is desirably sampled as frequently as state of the art hardware will allow. The sampled flux values are binned into sequential positive & negative half cycle bins using the zero crossing and polarity information derived elsewhere from the line voltage. At the end of each half cycle period, which can be either a voltage half-cycle or a flux half-cycle, the values are integrated and subsequently buffered for use by a DC slow loop compensation circuitry so that over some time window that is advantageously adjustable (probably <1 second), the half cycle PWM is gently adjusted differentially with a selectable gain in a manner such that the net flux-second values net to zero. It is believed that details of slow loop gain and decay rate will be familiar to those skilled in the art of control loop theory.

[0093] In FIG. 13 illustrates a processing logic 800 for continuous, real time automatic flux-second integration and comparison. At Initialization 801 all variables are set to zero. Loop 802 provides a wait for zero crossing before summation begins. At the next zero crossing after initialization, the summations start. At first approach to IF juncture 803, summation for sample bin 1 commences, with SUM 1 starting at zero. All incoming flux values from the flux sensor are summed at integration loop 804 from NR=0 to N (a hardware appropriate selectable value stored in memory) until at checkpoint 806 NR=N. The bin 1 summed flux-second value is sent to comparator 810 and at operation 808 processing returns to start for sampling into sample bin 2. Comparison at 810 begins only when both bins have a value.

[0094] At IF juncture 803, SUM 2 starts at zero, and all incoming flux values from the flux sensor are summed at integration loop 805 from NR=0 to N until at checkpoint 807 NR=N. The bin 2 summed flux-second value is sent to comparator 810 and at operation 809 processing returns to start for sampling into sample bin 1.

[0095] At operation 810, Sum 1 is compared with Sum 2 and the signed difference is the difference between successive half-cycle flux-second integrals and that signed value is then sent to slow loop DC compensation circuit 42 (see e.g. FIG. 12) for further processing.

[0096] FIG. 14A represents a typical hysteresis loop (B-H curve) of a core operating in a balanced condition. During normal operation the flux density values are contained within the lines of the two S-shaped curves. It is known that if the magnetizing force becomes too high, the flux density increases until it levels out and core saturation occurs.

[0097] FIG. 14B illustrates the hysteresis loop of a core that is operating with a (for instance) negative DC offset. The B-H curves are shifted to the right, and the amount of magnetizing force required to saturate the core in the negative is less than was required in FIG. 14A. Under these conditions it is known that the positive flux value will never get as high as the negative, and therefore positive saturation is not possible in this condition. When the positive magnetizing force becomes greater than the negative magnetizing force, the B-H curve will then move to the left until it is re-centered and even potentially continue moving to the left until the core is in a positive (opposite) DC offset condition (not illustrated).

[0098] With regard to systems and components above referred to, but not otherwise specified or described in detail herein, the workings and specifications of such systems and components and the manner in which they may be made or assembled or used, both cooperatively with each other and with the other elements of the invention described herein to effect the purposes herein disclosed, are all believed to be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art. No concerted attempt to repeat here what is generally known to the artisan has therefore been made.

[0099] In compliance with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown, since the means and construction shown comprise preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the legitimate and valid scope of the appended claims, appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.