Should {\Delta}{\Sigma} Modulators Used in AC Motor Drives be Adapted to the Mechanical Load of the Motor?

TL;DR

This paper explores adapting { extDelta}{ extSigma} modulators in AC motor drives to the motor's mechanical load, demonstrating that mild adaptation of the Noise Transfer Function can improve signal quality with minimal gains from load-specific tuning.

Contribution

It shows how to fully adapt the { extDelta}{ extSigma} modulator's NTF to the drive chain and motor load, with simulation evidence supporting mild adaptation benefits.

Findings

Mild NTF adaptation improves SNR by a few dB.

Full load-specific adaptation offers minimal additional gains.

Simulation confirms the practicality of adaptive NTF in motor drives.

Abstract

We consider the use of {\Delta}{\Sigma} modulators in ac motor drives, focusing on the many additional degrees of freedom that this option offers over Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). Following some recent results, we show that it is possible to fully adapt the {\Delta}{\Sigma} modulator Noise Transfer Function (NTF) to the rest of the drive chain and that the approach can be pushed even to a fine adaptation of the NTF to the specific motor loading condition. We investigate whether and to what extent the adaptation should be pursued. Using a representative test case and extensive simulation, we conclude that a mild adaptation can be beneficial, leading to Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) improvements in the order a few dB, while the advantage pushing the adaptation to the load tracking is likely to be minimal.