EP3698046B1 - Compresseur à moteur linéaire à piston libre et systèmes de fonctionnement associés - Google Patents

Compresseur à moteur linéaire à piston libre et systèmes de fonctionnement associés Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3698046B1
EP3698046B1 EP18869166.1A EP18869166A EP3698046B1 EP 3698046 B1 EP3698046 B1 EP 3698046B1 EP 18869166 A EP18869166 A EP 18869166A EP 3698046 B1 EP3698046 B1 EP 3698046B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
piston
compressor
motor
linear
electric motor
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EP18869166.1A
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP3698046A4 (fr
EP3698046A1 (fr
Inventor
Jason Stair
Anthony Lindsay
Michael Lewis
Raymond ZOWARKA
Siddharth Pratap
Clay HEARN
Charles Penney
Michael WORTHINGTON
Hsing-Pang Liu
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University of Texas System
GTI Energy
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Gas Technology Institute
University of Texas System
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Priority claimed from US15/785,963 external-priority patent/US11466678B2/en
Application filed by Gas Technology Institute, University of Texas System filed Critical Gas Technology Institute
Publication of EP3698046A1 publication Critical patent/EP3698046A1/fr
Publication of EP3698046A4 publication Critical patent/EP3698046A4/fr
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Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04B—POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS
    • F04B31/00—Free-piston pumps specially adapted for elastic fluids; Systems incorporating such pumps
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04B—POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS
    • F04B25/00—Multi-stage pumps
    • F04B25/02—Multi-stage pumps of stepped piston type
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04B—POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS
    • F04B35/00—Piston pumps specially adapted for elastic fluids and characterised by the driving means to their working members, or by combination with, or adaptation to, specific driving engines or motors, not otherwise provided for
    • F04B35/04—Piston pumps specially adapted for elastic fluids and characterised by the driving means to their working members, or by combination with, or adaptation to, specific driving engines or motors, not otherwise provided for the means being electric
    • F04B35/045—Piston pumps specially adapted for elastic fluids and characterised by the driving means to their working members, or by combination with, or adaptation to, specific driving engines or motors, not otherwise provided for the means being electric using solenoids
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04B—POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS
    • F04B49/00—Control, e.g. of pump delivery, or pump pressure of, or safety measures for, machines, pumps, or pumping installations, not otherwise provided for, or of interest apart from, groups F04B1/00 - F04B47/00
    • F04B49/06—Control using electricity
    • F04B49/065—Control using electricity and making use of computers
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04B—POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS
    • F04B2201/00—Pump parameters
    • F04B2201/02—Piston parameters
    • F04B2201/0201—Position of the piston
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04B—POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS
    • F04B2201/00—Pump parameters
    • F04B2201/02—Piston parameters
    • F04B2201/0202—Linear speed of the piston
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04B—POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS
    • F04B2203/00—Motor parameters
    • F04B2203/04—Motor parameters of linear electric motors
    • F04B2203/0401—Current
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04B—POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS
    • F04B2203/00—Motor parameters
    • F04B2203/04—Motor parameters of linear electric motors
    • F04B2203/0409—Linear speed

Definitions

  • This invention generally relates to a linear motor compressor and associated systems and methods for gas compression operation, i.e., a natural gas vehicle home refueling appliance.
  • NVM natural gas vehicle
  • Linear motor compressor controller strategies have generally relied upon mechanical or pneumatic springs or electromagnetic coils to provide stability and ensure the piston has a returning force to center.
  • U.S. Patent 6,231,310 stabilizes its system about a central point by using a spring.
  • a position feedback is used to oscillate about the stable position by changing the amplitude and frequency of a sinusoidal source.
  • U.S. Patent 4,750,871 issued to Curwen, stabilizes a linear motor by using external cylinders to hold the reciprocator in a centered position.
  • External AC and DC coils are used to stabilize the system.
  • the disclosed servomechanism is either a series of valves and ports actuated by the motion of the piston or a combination of AC and DC coils activated by position feedback.
  • US 2015/125323 A1 discloses a linear motor compressor including a compressor housing and a cylinder housing having a plurality of opposing compression chambers. A piston freely reciprocates within the cylinder housing using a linear electric motor. However, motor design and control in this compressor can still be improved.
  • the subject invention relates to a Free Piston Linear Motor Compressor (FPLMC), which preferably eliminates all but one major moving part and improves durability and compressor system efficiency, while significantly decreasing manufacturing costs, installation, and maintenance of gas compression, which includes but is not limited to natural gas, other hydrocarbons, hydrogen, and air.
  • FPLMC Free Piston Linear Motor Compressor
  • a system that includes a multi-stage dual-acting free piston driven by a linear motor.
  • the subject arrangement is preferably used in connection with an integrated staged compressor and linear motor to result in, for example, an appliance for natural gas vehicle fueling, particularly direct fill into an unattended vehicle.
  • the invention further includes a control strategy that provides stability without the need for a centering force of any kind, whether mechanical or pneumatic springs or electromagnetic coils.
  • the unique ability provided by this invention allows the piston to operate in a stable manner about any point throughout the stroke, not just about center position.
  • complexity within the linear motor compressor is reduced by removing springs or additional electromagnetic coils, thus simplifying manufacturing and reducing cost and size.
  • the invention refers to a robust free piston linear motor compressor control system.
  • the linear motor compressor includes a compressor housing, a cylinder housing having a plurality of opposing compression chambers, a piston freely reciprocating within the cylinder housing, a linear electric motor positioned to reciprocate the piston, and a piston position feedback control system configured to provide adaptive current output as a function of position feedback and/or velocity feedback from the piston and/or the electric motor.
  • the linear electric motor is a three-phase permanent magnet motor.
  • the piston position feedback control system is configured to form and control a traveling wave within the electric motor that moves the piston.
  • control system determines motor force requirements from estimated position values and/or velocity values.
  • An observer routine can be used to produce the position and velocity estimates from position and current measurement alone.
  • the control system can include a linear encoder feedback loop to track a position and/or a velocity of the electric motor or the piston. The control system then determines a current required to generate the motor force requirements as a function of the position feedback and/or the velocity feedback. The control system allows the piston to reciprocate without assistance from a mechanical spring or other centering force/mechanism.
  • the linear electric motor can be directly coupled to the piston. Additionally or alternatively, the piston can operate at resonant frequency.
  • control system uses reference position values and/or velocity values for comparing to the position feedback and/or the velocity feedback to adjust current to the linear electric motor.
  • the reference signals of the position and/or velocity may be sinusoidal or of random description.
  • a linear quadratic regulator is used to provide stable operation while minimizing state error and observing the limits of the control signal.
  • the controller of this invention is robust enough to handle deviations in behavior between the actual compressor through the entire range of operation and an idealized mass spring system. This has been demonstrated in simulation and hardware with a compressor driven with reluctance linear motor. It has also been demonstrated in simulation with a compressor driven with permanent magnet linear motor. It has further been demonstrated that the control is stable with a bandwidth of 20kHz which is readily obtainable with a range of digital signal processors.
  • the system requires a power system link to be supplied with an unrestricted source to prevent instability between the link and the linear motor.
  • the control strategy of this invention is capable of being applied to multiple linear motor topologies for the compressor. These include permanent magnet motors, induction motors, voice coil motors, reluctance motors, and/or homopolar induction motors.
  • the plurality of opposing compression chambers can comprise a series of stepped diameter compression chambers positioned at opposing ends of the cylinder housing.
  • the linear motor compressor can further comprise a blowdown volume within the compressor housing for depressurizing the compressor and related systems.
  • the cylinder housing then includes the piston freely reciprocating within the cylinder housing. Compression discharge from an outlet of a chamber of one side of the opposing compression chambers feeds an inlet of another chamber and a first stage of compression is drawn from the blowdown volume.
  • the housing is a multi-stage cylinder housing.
  • the piston is bi-directionally driven and freely reciprocating within the multi-stage cylinder housing without the assistance from a centering mechanism.
  • the control system can comprise reference piston position values and/or the piston velocity values to compare to measured piston position feedback and/or piston velocity feedback and adjust current to the linear electric motor.
  • the cylinder housing is a multi-stage cylinder.
  • the piston is a bi-directional piston reciprocating within the multi-stage cylinder housing without a mechanical spring and/or centering force.
  • the compressor chambers and the linear electric motor are hermetically sealed within the compressor housing.
  • the piston position feedback control system comprises adaptive current output to minimize energy required to do work.
  • the piston position feedback control system comprises a linear encoder feedback loop to track a position and/or velocity of the linear electric motor or the piston, and adjusts the current to the linear electric motor up or down in order to directly control and maintain an optimized frequency of the piston.
  • a further aspect of the present invention relates to a method for gas compression operation, comprising:
  • the above method can further comprise the control system determining a current required to generate the motor force requirements as a function of the position feedback and/or the velocity feedback.
  • the above method can further comprise automatically tracking a position and/or velocity of the linear electric motor or the piston; and adjusting an electrical current to the linear electric motor up or down in order to directly control and maintain an optimized frequency of the piston.
  • One preferred application of the subject invention relates to refueling of natural gas vehicles. Although described in detail below with respect to NGV refueling stations, the subject invention is not limited to such applications and numerous other suitable applications achieving various pressure levels and producing various flow rates are likewise appropriate for use with the subject invention.
  • Natural gas refueling in a consumer or home environment is critical to the widespread adoption of natural gas vehicles and presents a unique opportunity for consumers to save significantly on the cost of fuel on a per gallon equivalent advantage over gasoline and diesel and enjoy the convenience of fueling at home.
  • Traditional home refueling appliances have relied on multi-piston reciprocating compressors driven by a rotary electric motor. These systems are complicated, expensive, and have historically suffered poor reliability.
  • the free piston linear motor compressor solves these problems by using a linear motor to drive a single, multi-stage piston, reducing complexity and part count, which improves overall reliability and simplifies manufacturing. Furthermore, efficiency of the linear motor compressor may be improved by operation at a resonant frequency with low friction coatings and reduced clearance volume losses.
  • the preferred design preferably does not use mechanical springs, instead utilizing compression chambers as a dual purpose compression chamber and gas spring. This simplifies the design by eliminating all dedicated spring-like components, and simply using the stranded gas remaining in the compression chamber as the spring, allowing for operation at resonance.
  • the FPLMC concept depicted in Fig. 1 , includes a symmetric multi-stage dual-acting free piston driven by a linear motor.
  • Fig. 1 shows a four stage unit although other stage increments may be likewise suitable.
  • the FPLMC preferably uses compression chambers, in which compression discharge in a lower stage feeds the inlet of the next higher stage. This approach uniquely combines the functions of the compressor and motor into one device with a single moving part, thus eliminating the inefficiencies inherent in converting rotary motion into linear motion.
  • the design results in fewer wearing components, reduced parasitic friction and consequently increased compressor durability, reliability, and reduced maintenance.
  • the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 may comprise an 200mm ( ⁇ 8 inch) diameter by 400mm ( ⁇ 16 inch) long device with an estimated mass of 45 kgs ( ⁇ 100 lbs), but may be scaled up or down to achieve a broad range of flow rates and compression ratios.
  • One preferred compressor design results in four-stages of compression with compression ratios of approximately 4:1 per stage.
  • the design assumes natural gas inlet pressures of 1 bar and has the ability to compress to at least 290 bar.
  • This preferred compressor design operates at 15 Hz resonant frequency and has a natural gas flow rate of 60 liters per minute ( ⁇ 2 standard cubic feet per minute (scfm)).
  • the preferred compressor design is driven by a reciprocating reluctance linear motor operating on 240V, single-phase, 30A service and capable of providing a 3,000 N compression force.
  • Thermal management of the linear motor and inter-stage gas are also important as reduced temperatures may further improve the overall compression efficiency of this device.
  • Methods of heat management include forced air or water cooling to integrated heat pipes that use hermetically sealed refrigerants.
  • a resulting FPLMC making use of a single piston to achieve multiple stages of compression is one preferred component of the subject invention.
  • a uniquely coupled electromagnetic compressor includes a fully integrated and optimized electric motor and compressor that are no longer independent.
  • Fig. 3 shows one preferred embodiment of a free piston compressor that may include one or more of the following components: a compressor housing 10; a multi-stage cylinder housing 20; a compressor piston 30; a motor stator 40; a motor armature 50; a sealed gas flooded housing 60; inter-stage cooling tubes 70; motor cooling fins 80; hub integrating motor and compressor 90; and/or cooling fan 100.
  • a linear motor compressor includes a compressor housing 10 having an internal cylinder housing 20 and a plurality of opposing compression chambers 25.
  • the compressor housing 10 and cylinder housing 20 are preferably formed using cast iron alloys, steel alloys, or aluminum alloys using known manufacturing techniques.
  • the opposing compression chambers 25 are preferably arranged opposite each other to facilitate use of a piston arrangement as described in more detail below.
  • a piston 30 is freely positioned within the cylinder housing 20 to reciprocate freely back and forth or up and down (any orientation is achievable) within the cylinder housing 20 thereby alternatingly charging (pressurizing) opposing compression chambers 25.
  • a preferred arrangement of the piston 30 permits bi-directional drive and free reciprocation within the cylinder housing 20.
  • the piston 30 freely reciprocates within the cylinder housing 20 such that compression discharge from an outlet of a chamber of one side of the opposing compression chambers 25 feeds an inlet of another chamber.
  • the piston 30 preferably operates at resonant frequency.
  • the plurality of opposing compression chambers 25 preferably comprise a series of stepped diameter compression chambers positioned at opposing ends of the cylinder housing 20.
  • the plurality of opposing compression chambers 25 comprise compression chambers of a single diameter at opposing ends of the cylinder housing.
  • the former embodiment may, though not necessarily, be more suited to a plurality of stages while the latter embodiment may be more suited to a single or two stage arrangement.
  • compression is preferably achieved with a single primary moving part.
  • the piston 30 reciprocates without assistance from a mechanical spring.
  • a low friction coating on the piston 30 and/or cylinder housing 20 may be used in combination with a seal material optimized for a process fluid to reduce energy consumption and increase seal life.
  • the invention further includes a linear electric motor 35 preferably positioned in-line relative to the compressor housing 10 to reciprocate the piston 30.
  • the linear electric motor 35 may be adapted to the cylinder housing 20 or otherwise positioned in an integrated or non-integrated manner to facilitate efficient reciprocation of the piston 30 within the cylinder housing 20.
  • the linear electric motor 35 is directly coupled to the piston 30.
  • the linear motor compressor of the present invention may include a compressor housing 10 and/or a cylinder housing 20 that is pressurized with a process fluid.
  • the compressor housing 10 may include a blowdown volume 15 for depressurizing the compressor and related systems at the conclusion of the compression process.
  • the linear motor compressor assembly may be hermetically sealed. By hermetically sealing the compressor chambers 25 and the linear electric motor 35 in the same housing, certain hazards may be avoided when the process fluid is combustible or otherwise volatile. Sealing the relevant components permits operation at high pressures without contamination from outside sources and without risk of combustion due to sparking, arcing or other hazards that may occur depending on the installation.
  • the linear electric motor 35 includes a reluctance motor with dual opposing winding cores.
  • the linear electric motor 35 may comprise a permanent magnet motor, an induction motor, a voice coil motor, a reluctance motor, or an alternative linear motor variant.
  • the compressor system described herein may include a motor stator fully integrated within the housing. In each case, the preferred linear electric motor 35 will be robust and engineered to endure the high frequency cycles and load volumes expected for applications such as described herein.
  • an integrated motor and process fluid cooling system may be utilized for heat removal.
  • Integrated motor and interstage gas coolers may use forced air convection and require only one fan or blower.
  • a piston position feedback control system 45 with adaptive current output to minimize energy required to do work may be employed.
  • the preferred embodiment utilizes a linear encoder feedback loop to track the position of the linear motor/piston, allowing the controller to adjust the current up or down in order to maintain an optimized frequency.
  • a control strategy provides stability without the need for a centering force of any kind, whether mechanical or pneumatic springs or electromagnetic coils. This ability allows the piston to operate in a stable manner about any point throughout the stroke, and not just about a center position.
  • the control strategy of this invention reduces complexity within the linear motor compressor by removing springs or additional electromagnetic coils, thus simplifying manufacturing and reducing cost and size.
  • the control strategy includes position feedback to stabilize a magnetic forcer, at each instant in time using principles of automatic control. This provides improvement over, for example, using position to oscillate by controlling phase and amplitude of a sinusoidal source.
  • Figs. 5 and 6 representatively show current produced by a convention system that is largely sinusoidal, wherein the phase and amplitude is viable when using spring assist and the motor force is very much sinusoidal and dependent on a stabilizing cylinder or spring regaining force.
  • Fig. 7 representatively shows current of two coils A and B, resulting from the control strategy of one embodiment of this invention.
  • the current changes instantaneously with time based on a state space controller, observer, and position and/or velocity feedback.
  • the resulting current profile is not sinusoidal and has the ability to stabilize the system without assistance of springs and/or additional coils.
  • the motor force is seen to be less than the gas compression force and not sinusoidal. No springs or external stabilizing cylinders are required by stabilizing the motion with the control scheme in the presence of the nonlinear gas compression. In resonant operation, the inertial force and the compressor force are near equal and the motor force is reduced.
  • Fig. 9 representatively illustrates a flow overview for a control system and the compressor plant according to embodiments of this invention.
  • Boxes 120-128 are elements of the control structure, namely a controller, and boxes 130, 132, and 135 are elements of the corresponding compressor.
  • the controller starts off with the generation of reference curves in box 120 which dictate the position and velocity paths that the flotor (free linear motor rotor equivalent) should follow.
  • These path reference values are sent to state space controller 122 (e.g., a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR)) to estimate motor force requirements based on estimated position and velocity values.
  • LQR Linear Quadratic Regulator
  • the next block 124 estimates the coil currents required to generate the force demand based on the estimated flotor position.
  • the current commands are then fed to a typical PI current control block 126 to control the motor drives 132.
  • the currents delivered to the motor 135 are measured and fed back to the current control 126 and a force estimator 128 based on the actual currents.
  • the linear motor 135 drives the compressor and a linear encoder or potentiometer feeds back position information to an observer, in this case a Luenberger Estimator 125, to estimate position and velocity of the piston 130.
  • the observer is also supplied with the force estimate.
  • This architecture readily adapts to, without limitation, reluctance, permanent magnet, induction, and/or homopolar motor linear motor variants.
  • the current estimator is based on the inductance and inductance gradient as a function of position for the particular motor architecture, whereas for the permanent magnet motor the d-axis and q-axis currents of the three phase motor can be controlled to position the traveling wave, and the resultant d-axis and q-axis voltages are converted to three-phase values through a Parks transformation to gate the inverter.
  • the inverter drive is a pair of H-bridges each controlling an individual coil.
  • the inverter drive is a three phase bridge producing the currents to create the traveling wave. It can be seen that the control architecture is robust and readily adaptable to different linear motor types and their control.
  • the control can be set up with very little knowledge of what is actually being controlled.
  • the actual compressor plant, motor, and drives can be replaced by a black box 140 as represented in Fig. 10 .
  • Modeling of the compressor has shown that the system is quite complicated and would require too much computational power to mirror in an affordable controller. From modeling the compressor, it is recognized that the gas will behave loosely like a spring and offer some level of return force to the piston. Therefore, the primary components of the controller design, e.g., the state space controller 122 and Luenberger estimator 125, assume the plant is a simple, 2 nd order, linear mass spring system, such as shown in Fig. 11 . This gross simplification assumes that the controller will be robust enough to handle the deviations in behavior between the actual compressor through the entire range of operation and the idealized mass spring system.
  • the gains for the state space controller 122 and Luenberger estimator 125 can be determined using built in routines in Matlab.
  • the mass spring system can be represented in a linear state-space format (1), which is expanded as shown in equation (2), where the states x 1 and x 2 are the flotor position and velocity, respectively.
  • the important control design parameters in equation (2) are the equivalent spring stiffness, k eq , flotor mass, M f , and viscous friction coefficient, B d .
  • the control force is the motor force, F m .
  • the equivalent spring stiffness can be estimated from evaluating the peanut shaped force displacement curves from the compressor simulation, as illustrated in Fig. 12 .
  • B d 2 E L s 2 ⁇ 2 f
  • the required motor force can be calculated by multiplying the state deviations from a reference state by respective gains, K 1 and K 2 .
  • K 1 and K 2 The behavior of a full state feedback controller will result in the system equation (4).
  • the gains must be selected so that ( A - BK ) has all negative eigenvalues.
  • the gain values K can be selected by pole placement schemes to achieve a desired response.
  • the issue here is that there is literally an infinite number of pole options to choose from.
  • the state feedback controller has been limited to a specific type of controller, referred to as a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR).
  • the matrix Q must be semi-positive definite, and R must be positive definite.
  • To get the gain values K from this cost function requires solving the Algebraic Ricatti Equation (ARE).
  • Matlab offers a function, lqr, which will calculate the gains, ARE solution, and resulting pole locations (4), for a system defined by A and B, with weighting matrices Q and R .
  • a preferred method of tuning is by changing the values ⁇ x 1 and ⁇ x 2 which are from the previous discussion. Decreasing these values will increase the gains, i.e., less acceptable path error. It was found that gain tuning was more sensitive to ⁇ x 1 than ⁇ x 2 .
  • the variable ⁇ x 1 can be set relatively tight to values of 1e-7 to 1e-5, while ⁇ x 2 can be kept to 1 or greater. If either of these variables are set too small, very large control gains will be calculated which can drive the actual system unstable. Very large gains here will also increase the observer gains and cause computational slow down, plus possible unstable behavior.
  • the motor design of embodiments of this invention only measures the flotor position, which is provided by a digital encoder.
  • a digital encoder For the LQR state feedback controller to work, both position and velocity must be provided.
  • a Luenberger observer is employed, such as shown in Fig. 13 . This state observer estimates the flotor position and velocity based on the dynamics of the linear mass-spring plant model along with force inputs and measured encoder position.
  • the control input u is the motor force, F m .
  • this value is not the requested motor force derived from the state space controller, but rather the calculated force based on coil current measurements and coil inductances estimated from estimated position
  • the observer gains are defined by the vector L . These gains are selected so that ( A - LC ) produces a pair of stable negative eigenvalues.
  • pole placement techniques can be used to determine the locations of these eigenvalues. For the observer to function properly with the state feedback controller, the observer should respond at least 10 times faster than the closed loop state feedback controller. Since the pole locations for the LQR controller have been determined, the L vector is calculated by placing the eigenvalues of ( A - LC ) to 10 times the LQR values. This solution can be accomplished using the "place" command in Matlab.
  • the DSP, the power electronic gate fiber optic transmitters, the position encoder power supply, and the power supplies for the current measurement transducers are desirably in one Faraday enclosure.
  • the DSP and fiber optic transmitters desirably derive their power from a common supply.
  • the gate leads from the fiber optic receiver cards to the transistors desirably are twisted pair shielded.
  • the power supplies for the transistor gate circuits and any relay controls typically should be plugged into isolation transformers. Any signals entering or leaving the Faraday enclosure desirably are passed through wave guides. Galvanic signals coming into the Faraday enclosure should be kept at a minimum. If possible, the DSP desirably has differential inputs for analog input signals.
  • a mechanical failsafe (not shown) may be further incorporated into the subject invention, for instance using compliant stator laminations and compressor heads to decelerate the piston during a failure mode.
  • armature motion will automatically be contained in a fail-safe manner, greatly reducing the potential for damage or gas leaks.
  • the arrangement of components as described may result in the following preferred or unique features/attributes of the invention. It is desirable for the invention to include one or more stages of compression with a single piston.
  • Motive force is preferably supplied with a custom designed linear reluctance motor, although other motor variants such as permanent magnet, induction, and homopolar induction have also been designed.
  • a reluctance motor may include dual opposing winding cores that provide reciprocating linear motion.
  • a reluctance motor armature, or moving part has low losses and allows for a sealed motor housing, which can act as a receiver volume for the depressurization of the compressor.
  • compression stages are designed such that the differential pressure acting across seals is reduced by placing lower stages next to higher stages such that the pressure of the lower stage is acting on the back of the high pressure stage. This reduces the net force acting on the seal, improving seal life and durability.
  • Low profile valve design and unique valve locations preferably minimize a volume in the compressor which does not contribute to work. This improves the efficiency and reduces net power required for compression.
  • the compressor cylinders may be manufactured with unique interlocking scheme to allow ease of alignment and service.
  • the linear motor compressor of the subject invention may further include a directly coupled compressor piston and motor armature.
  • a rigid piston or a flexible coupling may be positioned between the piston and an armature of the linear electric motor.
  • the flexible coupling between compressor piston and motor armature as described preferably allows for independent alignment.
  • Resonant frequency operation preferably based on mass and dynamic gas spring may be used to increase system efficiency.
  • a dynamic gas spring preferably replaces a mechanical spring in the subject system.
  • Advanced controls allow for operation without mechanical springs.
  • Advanced controls may further allow for minimal gap/volume at end of compression stroke, thus minimizing volume which does not provide useful work.
  • such controls may enable position only control, velocity only control, or control with no external sensors (sensorless control) through active inductance measurements of the linear motor coils.
  • the reluctance motor as described may use laminated polygonal design to reduce cost and ease fabrication and assembly.
  • the segments are preferably laminated in the direction perpendicular to current flow to limit losses and improve controllability.
  • One coil preferably links all polygonal segments eliminating end turns in the individual segments and reducing losses.
  • the segments preferably lock into a sealed stator housing.
  • the motor is preferably vacuum pressure impregnated to provide insulation integrity.
  • the reluctance motor may use a circular lamination design with similar design and benefits as described above.
  • the resulting FPLMC system creates numerous advantages including: (1) reduces friction losses, no rotary to linear motion conversion; (2) reduces part count, uses single piston for multiple stage compression; (3) reduces differential seal pressure, increases seal life; (4) reduces moving parts, reduces maintenance; (5) control algorithm allows removal of mechanical spring typically used in linear motor compressor for resonant frequency operation; (6) reluctance motor design allows for sensorless control, eliminating additional sensors which add to cost and prone to fail; and/or (7) reduces costs and increases overall reliability of gas compressor.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Compressors, Vaccum Pumps And Other Relevant Systems (AREA)

Claims (15)

  1. Compresseur à moteur linéaire comprenant :
    un boîtier de compresseur (10) ;
    un boîtier de cylindre (20) ayant une pluralité de chambres de compression (25) opposées ;
    un piston (30) effectuant librement un mouvement de va-et-vient à l'intérieur du boîtier de cylindre (20) ;
    un moteur électrique linéaire (35) positionné pour amener le piston (30) à effectuer un mouvement de va-et-vient ; et
    un système de commande de rétroaction de position de piston conçu pour fournir une sortie de courant adaptative en fonction d'une rétroaction de position et/ou d'une rétroaction de vitesse provenant du piston (30) et/ou du moteur électrique (35),
    caractérisé en ce que le moteur électrique linéaire (35) est un moteur triphasé à aimant permanent et le système de commande de rétroaction de position de piston est conçu pour former et commander une onde progressive à l'intérieur du moteur électrique (35) qui déplace le piston.
  2. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon la revendication 1, le système de commande déterminant les exigences de force de moteur à partir de valeurs de position et/ou de valeurs de vitesse estimées.
  3. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon la revendication 1 ou 2, le système de commande déterminant un courant requis pour générer les exigences de force de moteur en fonction de la rétroaction de position et/ou de la rétroaction de vitesse.
  4. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, le système de commande comprenant des valeurs de position et/ou des valeurs de vitesse de référence à comparer à la rétroaction de position et/ou à la rétroaction de vitesse pour ajuster le courant vers le moteur électrique linéaire (35).
  5. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, le piston (30) effectuant un mouvement de va-et-vient sans l'assistance d'un ressort mécanique ou d'une force de centrage.
  6. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, le moteur électrique linéaire (35) étant directement accouplé au piston (30) et/ou le piston (30) fonctionnant à fréquence de résonance.
  7. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, la pluralité de chambres de compression (25) opposées comprenant une série de chambres de compression à diamètre échelonné positionnées aux extrémités opposées du boîtier de cylindre (20).
  8. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, comprenant en outre un volume de purge (15) à l'intérieur du boîtier de compresseur (10) pour dépressuriser le compresseur et les systèmes associés, de préférence le boîtier de cylindre (20) comprenant le piston (30) effectuant librement un mouvement de va-et-vient à l'intérieur du boîtier de cylindre, la décharge de compression depuis une sortie d'une chambre d'un côté des chambres de compression (25) opposées alimentant une entrée d'une autre chambre et un premier étage de compression étant extrait du volume de purge (15).
  9. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 3, le boîtier de cylindre (20) étant un boîtier de cylindre à plusieurs étages et le piston (30) étant entraîné de manière bidirectionnelle et effectuant librement un mouvement de va-et-vient à l'intérieur du boîtier de cylindre à plusieurs étages sans l'assistance d'un mécanisme de centrage ; éventuellement, le système de commande comprenant des valeurs de position de piston et/ou des valeurs de vitesse de piston de référence à comparer à une rétroaction de position de piston et/ou à une rétroaction de vitesse de piston mesurée et ajuster le courant vers le moteur électrique linéaire (35).
  10. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon la revendication 1, le boîtier de cylindre (20) étant un cylindre à plusieurs étages ; et le piston (30) étant un piston bidirectionnel effectuant un mouvement de va-et-vient à l'intérieur du boîtier de cylindre à plusieurs étages sans ressort mécanique et/ou force de centrage ; et les chambres de compresseur (25) et le moteur électrique linéaire (35) étant hermétiquement scellés à l'intérieur du boîtier de compresseur (10) ; et le système de commande de rétroaction de position de piston comprenant une sortie de courant adaptative pour réduire au minimum l'énergie requise pour fonctionner, le système de commande de rétroaction de position de piston comprenant une boucle de rétroaction de codeur linéaire pour suivre une position et/ou une vitesse du moteur électrique linéaire (35) ou du piston, et ajustant le courant vers le moteur électrique linéaire (35) vers le haut ou vers le bas afin de commander directement et de maintenir une fréquence optimisée du piston.
  11. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, les courants d'axe d et d'axe q du moteur triphasé étant commandés pour positionner l'onde progressive.
  12. Compresseur à moteur linéaire selon la revendication 11, comprenant en outre un entraînement d'onduleur connectant le système de commande de rétroaction de position de piston au moteur électrique linéaire (35), l'entraînement d'onduleur comprenant un pont triphasé connecté au moteur électrique linéaire (35) et conçu pour produire la sortie de courant adaptative pour créer et déplacer l'onde progressive, les tensions de l'axe d et de l'axe q étant converties en valeurs triphasées par une transformée de Park pour déclencher l'entraînement d'onduleur.
  13. Procédé pour une opération de compression de gaz, comprenant les étapes consistant à :
    fournir un compresseur à moteur linéaire selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes ;
    fournir, par l'intermédiaire du système de commande de rétroaction de position de piston, une sortie de courant adaptative en fonction d'une rétroaction de position et/ou d'une rétroaction de vitesse provenant du piston (30) et/ou du moteur électrique (35), pour alimenter et commander directement le moteur électrique (35), le système de commande déterminant de préférence les exigences de force de moteur à partir des valeurs de position et/ou des valeurs de vitesse estimées.
  14. Procédé selon la revendication 13 comprenant en outre l'étape consistant à déterminer par le système de commande un courant requis pour générer les exigences de force de moteur en fonction de la rétroaction de position et/ou de la rétroaction de vitesse.
  15. Procédé selon la revendication 13 ou 14, comprenant en outre les étapes consistant à :
    suivre automatiquement une position et/ou une vitesse du moteur électrique linéaire (35) ou du piston ; et
    ajuster un courant électrique vers le moteur électrique linéaire (35) vers le haut ou vers le bas afin de directement commander et maintenir une fréquence optimisée du piston (30).
EP18869166.1A 2017-10-17 2018-10-16 Compresseur à moteur linéaire à piston libre et systèmes de fonctionnement associés Active EP3698046B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US15/785,963 US11466678B2 (en) 2013-11-07 2017-10-17 Free piston linear motor compressor and associated systems of operation
PCT/US2018/056103 WO2019079312A1 (fr) 2017-10-17 2018-10-16 Compresseur à moteur linéaire à piston libre et systèmes de fonctionnement associés

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EP3698046B1 true EP3698046B1 (fr) 2023-04-19

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GB2627206A (en) * 2023-02-14 2024-08-21 Phinia Delphi Luxembourg Sarl Fuel compressor

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3937600A (en) * 1974-05-08 1976-02-10 Mechanical Technology Incorporated Controlled stroke electrodynamic linear compressor
US4750871A (en) 1987-03-10 1988-06-14 Mechanical Technology Incorporated Stabilizing means for free piston-type linear resonant reciprocating machines
CN1083939C (zh) 1996-07-09 2002-05-01 三洋电机株式会社 线性压缩机
WO2004045060A2 (fr) * 2002-11-12 2004-05-27 The Penn State Research Foundation Commande sans capteur d'une machine electrodynamique a commande harmonique pour un dispositif thermo-acoustique ou une charge variable
NZ541466A (en) * 2005-07-25 2007-02-23 Fisher & Paykel Appliances Ltd Controller for free piston linear compressor
DE102006060147B4 (de) * 2006-12-18 2009-05-14 Andreas Hofer Hochdrucktechnik Gmbh Fluidarbeitsmaschine
US11466678B2 (en) * 2013-11-07 2022-10-11 Gas Technology Institute Free piston linear motor compressor and associated systems of operation
US10323628B2 (en) * 2013-11-07 2019-06-18 Gas Technology Institute Free piston linear motor compressor and associated systems of operation
DK3436680T3 (da) * 2016-03-31 2023-01-23 Mainspring Energy Inc Styring af stempelbane i en lineær generator

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WO2019079312A1 (fr) 2019-04-25
AU2018352528A1 (en) 2020-04-23
EP3698046A1 (fr) 2020-08-26
AU2018352528B2 (en) 2024-01-18

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