Efficient motor control for heat pumps

Efficient motor control for heat pumps

Heat pumps are gaining prominence as a low-energy way of heating buildings that will contribute towards net-zero goals. By extracting heat from surroundings, they are able to supply more thermal energy than the electrical energy they consume.

At the moment, heat pumps are expensive to buy, and even though running costs are lower, manufacturers are seeking to reduce costs in key areas, such as the electronics that control the heat pump.

Electric motors are key to the operation of heat pumps, especially the compressor motor. Others may be used to drive fans, circulating pumps and valves.

Choosing the right drive algorithm is essential when designing a heat pump – this is especially important for the compressor motor that consumes significant energy. Simple approaches such as trapezoidal control can lead to audible noise, which is not desirable in domestic or commercial installations. Field Oriented Control (FOC) enables precise control of motor speed and torque while reducing harmonic distortion and energy consumption.

The complexity of the arithmetic involved in FOC demands dedicated hardware resources, including analogue-digital converters and a processor that can handle vector mathematics. The correct combination of devices is rarely found outside dedicated motor control solutions, especially as pulse-width modulation (PWM) is highly interrupt driven which can swamp a conventional microcontroller.

Toshiba’s TMPM4KL integrates their specialised FOC Advanced Vector Engine (A-VE) with units dedicated to pulse-width modulation (PWM), allowing for high precision motor control that does not impose a significant loading on the host microcontroller. Known as the Advanced Programmable Motor Driver (A-PMD), these units combine wave generation via hardware with advanced functions such as inserting dead time and handling fault signals.

Based upon an ArmÒ CortexÒ-M4 RISC processor running at 160MHz along with 12-bit ADCs, the TMPM4KL has capacity to control two motors using FOC as well as controlling the boost PFC, the pump motor controller and operating a number of solenoid-based valves.

The RD219 reference design is built around the versatile TMPM4KL and includes circuitry to control all essential building blocks of a typical heat pump, including valve outputs and an efficient CCM PFC front end. Low loss components such as IGBTs and SiC Schottky diodes ensure a highly efficient solution. Within the compressor section a 600V DT-MOS super junction MOSFET provides fast and efficient switching.

Toshiba’s TMPM4KL PMD is an ideal solution for highly efficient and cost effective heat pump design.

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