Theory and Implementation of a Simple Digital Control Strategy for Brushless DC Generators

Permanent magnet drives have frequently been used as a generator for a variety of applications. This is mainly due to their high-power density, reliability, robustness, and wide speed range. However, these systems often use expensive position sensors as well as complex controllers with high computational and memory capacity in order to control the drive at desired performance and operating range. This paper presents the concept of a simple digital control strategy for brushless dc generators. This technique is easy to implement and can be used for variety of applications including renewable energy systems, automotive systems, and flywheels. The control strategy shows satisfying performance, reliability, and robustness for both speed and voltage regulation, which are frequently used for industrial generator applications. Fundamental principles of the control technique have been presented with detailed simulation results. This scheme has been implemented and tested on a laboratory prototype generator to demonstrate feasibility and experimentally verify performance under various operating conditions.