A STUDY OF AN ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN INERTIAL TORQUE CONVERTER

E. Ya. Antonyuk, S. N. Kozhevnikov,

V. E. Letopur, and I. G. Nuribekov UDC 621.83.062.1

An inertial angular-momentum conversion mechanism has a smooth response characteristic,

and it therefore can have many uses as a torque converter in various branches of engineering
provided that reliability can be ensured. Studies have been made [3-5] of the processes in
such mechanisms, but there the dynamic processes were discussed without reference to the
parameters of the drive motor, which certainly influence the characteristics of the entire
system. As a consequence, there are major errors in the calculations. Simplifying assump-
tions are made about the constancy of the driving torque M d or angular velocity ~ of the
driving section in order to solve the differential equations.
Here we report results from a dynamic study of such a mechanism driven by an asynchronous
electric motor under steady-state conditions and during startup.
A drive of Chalmers type with a central driving gear is considered (Fig. i); the equa-
tions of motion in terms of the generalized coordinates ~ I (angle of rotation of the rotor
in the motor) and ~3 (angle of rotation of the output unit 3) take the following form if we
assume that the shafts are absolutely rigid:
"2

(i)
A,f6f+ A~,% -- A,,@~+ A~ (~ -- @,)'= M r .
Here M d is the driving torque, while Mr is the resistance torque in effect applied to unit
3, and
A~t= I~+ l~i~In;

AIs ~ A ~ = nmi~ (r~ ~ r2) I sin [i21 (~I - - %)];

A s ~ : Is § n~ (r~ + ~)~ § l~n (1 - - ~ ) ~ § 2nm (I - - i ~ ) (r~ + r~) l cos [ ~ ( ~ - - ~ ] ~

A~ : nmi~x (1 - - i~O (r i @ ~ ) l sin ~ l ( ~ - - ~a)];

where mand nare the mass and number of the load units 2; 12, moment of inertia of load units 2
about an axis passing through the axis of rotation of the satellite; I~, moment of inertia
of the rotor in the electric motor and of the central ring; Is, moment of inertia of the out-
put section 3; im=-- r__~
r~ ' ratio of the gear pair; rl and r~, radii of the circles representing
the central ring and satellite; and Z, distance from the axis of rotation to the center of
gravity of unit 2.
The steady-state motion is examined on the assumption that M d is given by the following
formula [2]:
M d= Mn . ~~ --e- n~I' (2)
where M n is the nominal torque provided by the motor, while ~ , ~o, and ~n are the current,
synchronous, and nominal angular velocities of the rotor.
Equations (i) describe the dynamic processes if the force relationships are such as to
ensure that the driven section can move in the allowed direction, i.e., for Css~n M r < 0, or
for ~ 3 = 0 , with the result that [A~1+(A2~--A,8)$~--mr]sign~>O

Institute of Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from
Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 15, No. i, pp. 89-92, January, 1979. Original article submitted
January 5, 1978.

70 0038-5298/79/1501-0070507.50 9 1979 Plenum Publishing Corporation

 Fig. I

Md N'm

0
IX .. \ \ _
Yr.., \ \
*45

-g

-05
2 t.m~.c

1 2 t.18" $ ~
~,zadlsec

I#5,o5

~O o z t m-.z~.x~
Fig. 2

The second phase of the motion is with the output section immobile as the result of
operation of the freewheel mechanism or because the load on the output side is greater than
the maximum available torque, and this occurs if
,~., = o, [A~,~,~+ (A~ -- A.) , ~ - - . % t sig~ Mr < O,
in which case the equation of motion takes the form

At,'@ - M d = O. (3)
Equation (2) converts (3) to the form
;~',+ ~p, - ~ = o. (4)
where
Mn I . b = Ma.. ~oo
a= AI~ O}o--(o.d' Au too--a.M

We integrate (4) to get

b
qgI = aSl__e_~+c, ~ + Y t + C,,

where Cz and C2 are constants of integration which are dependent on the initial conditions.
Consequently, the speed of the motor during the second phase, i.e., with the output
shaft braked, takes the following form as a function of time:

7i
 Md. 20, N , m
m4,%~
~av,~d/sec

//
~2
J 2~
l

AA~AA~

~--..._ J
It lllll IIIIIIIII
a, ~_Ft/U IJ U U t,/t/M
/0 ~ t0/N.m
Fig. 3 Fig. 4

l e -al+C~b 4- b

This shows that the s p e e d i n a n y c a s e h a s ~o ( t h e s y n c h r o n o u s speed) as an upper bound, and

this can be attained i n t h e b r a k e d mode f o r t + ~ .
b
tol= -~-= coo.

Naturally, if we replace (2) by Md = const, as has several times been done in other stud-
ies, then the exponential variation of ~i is replaced by a linear time dependence, i.e., ~ =
-~dat; further, this very artificial specification of the static component of the drive l o a d
alone does not allow one to determine the additional dynamic terms, which may in fact be the
dominant terms with regard to the torque developed by the motor by virtue of the system de-
sign. Similar major errors occur over the dynamic processes if we specify that ~, = const.
It is therefore incorrect to analyze the response of the device without allowance for
the mechanical characteristics of the motor.
The system of equations (i) is usedwith the conditions for compatible motion and (3), which
describes themotion of the input end with the freewheelbraked, but the equations together can be
solved only by computer; the processing involves a search for periodic solutions corresponding
to the steady state in which the variation in Md(~1) is taken as being as in (2), while the
transient states correspond to a mechanical characteristic of the motor defined by Kloss's
formula [i]:

Md = Mnmx s s ' (5)

where Mma x is the maximum torque developed by the motor; s= %--~, slip; Sm, slip correspond-
ing to the maximum torque of the motor; and d, a constant that can be determined from the
catalog data for the asynchronous motor.
Solutions were derived for various values of M r in order to define the steady state of
motion of the motor such that the mean angular velocity at the motor end did not vary over a
time T corresponding to the period of oscillation or several such periods, i.e.,

'S T

Figure 2 shows ~t and ~,, as well as Md, as functions of time for various values of Mr,
which took the values 0, 5, i0, and 15 kN.m for curves 1-4, respectively.
The results show that the motor works under heavy dynamic loading; at some times it sup-
plies energy to the massive components (part of the curve corresponding to M d > 0) and at
other times draws energy from the latter (part of the curve corresponding to M d < 0), with
the motor in that case working as a generator. The conditions are particularly unfavorable
for M r = 0 (idling), since in that case almost all the energy accumulated by the load section

72
is returned to the motor. This reverse energy flow causes considerable heating in the motor
windings, since then the amplitude of the torque is several times the calculated nominal value
Therefore, the system is of low efficiency under conditions close to idling; consequent-
ly, the nominal motor power and maximum torque must be selected on the basis of the mean
power and maximum amplitude of the torque for the minimum loads at the output shaft.
A disadvantageous feature of the mechanism is the high degree of fluctuation in the angu-
lar velocity of the output section; Fig. 3 shows the nonuniformity coefficient 63 for that
section as a function of the load, together with the output characteristic m~av = f(Mr), both
of which have been derived on the basis of the response of the motor in the steady state for
various M r .
The processes occurring in the phase preceding the steady-state were examined by refer-
ence to startup of the transmission under load; in that case, the mechanical response of the
motor was incorporated into (i) in accordance with (5).
Figure 4 shows ml, m3, and M d as functions of time for a nominal load M r = 5 kN.m.
This mathematical model for the system, which includes the asynchronous motor as well
as the torque converter, provides a basis for a full study of the characteristics; the coef-
ficients in the equations are dependent on the design parameters of the actual mechanism,
and these can be varied in the synthesis of a torque converter with specified characteristics.

LITERATURE CITED
io A. I. Vazhnov, Electrical Machines [in Russian], Energiya, Leningrad (1969).
2. S. N. Kozhevnikov, Dynamics of Machines with Elastic Links [in Russian], Izd. Akad.
Nauk SSR, Kiev (1961).
. V. V. Levanidov and V. V. Raiskii, "A method of integrating a differential equation of
motion for a planetary gear system during acceleration," in: Dynamics of Inertial
Torque Converters, Drives, and Other Devices [in Russian], Chelyabinsk Polytechnic
Institute (1976), pp. 117-120.
. V. I. Pozhbelko, "Study of the output characteristics of an inertial torque converter
with a single-valued rectification characteristic," in: Continuously Variable Trans-
missions [in Russian], Yaroslavl Polytechnic Institute (1976), pp. 108-112.
. A. S. Suztin, "Calculation of the output torque characteristic of an inertial torque
converter," in: Dynamics of Inertial Torque Converters, Drives and Other Devices [in
Russian], Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute (1976), pp. 93-96.

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