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Piston motion control of a free-piston engine generator: A new approach using cascade control

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  • Jia, Boru
  • Mikalsen, Rikard
  • Smallbone, Andrew
  • Zuo, Zhengxing
  • Feng, Huihua
  • Roskilly, Anthony Paul

Abstract

The free-piston engine generator (FPEG) is a linear energy conversion system, which is known to have greater thermal efficiency than an equivalent and more conventional reciprocating engine. The piston motion of a FPEG is not restricted by a crankshaft-connection rod mechanism, it must be controlled to overcome challenges in the starting process, risk of misfire, and unstable operation. In this paper, the global control structure for a FPEG prototype is presented. A Cascade control strategy is proposed for the piston stable operation level, and PID controllers are used for both of the outer loop and inner loop. The measured top dead centre of the previous stroke and the piston velocity during the current stroke are taken for controller feedback, and the injected fuel mass is used as the control variable. The proposed cascade control implemented in the FPEG is shown to have good performance, the piston returns to a stable state in 0.5s. Compared with a single loop control strategy, the performance of cascade control is improved in terms of the control delay, peak error and settling time.

Suggested Citation

  • Jia, Boru & Mikalsen, Rikard & Smallbone, Andrew & Zuo, Zhengxing & Feng, Huihua & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2016. "Piston motion control of a free-piston engine generator: A new approach using cascade control," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1166-1175.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:179:y:2016:i:c:p:1166-1175
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.07.081
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Zhiyuan & Feng, Huihua & Jia, Boru & Zuo, Zhengxing & Yan, Xiaodong & Smallbone, Andrew & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2022. "Identification and analysis on the variation sources of a dual-cylinder free piston engine generator and their influence on system operating characteristics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    2. Hou, Xiaochen & Zhang, Hongguang & Xu, Yonghong & Yu, Fei & Zhao, Tenglong & Tian, Yaming & Yang, Yuxin & Zhao, Rui, 2018. "External load resistance effect on the free piston expander-linear generator for organic Rankine cycle waste heat recovery system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1252-1261.
    3. Xuezhen Wang & Feixue Chen & Renfeng Zhu & Guilin Yang & Chi Zhang, 2018. "A Review of the Design and Control of Free-Piston Linear Generator," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Wang, Yaodong & Chen, Lin & Jia, Boru & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2017. "Experimental study of the operation characteristics of an air-driven free-piston linear expander," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 93-99.
    5. Geng, Heming & Wang, Yang & Zhen, Xudong & Liu, Yu & Li, Zhiyong, 2018. "Study on adaptive behavior and mechanism of compression ratio (or piston motion profile) for combustion parameters in hydraulic free piston engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 921-928.
    6. Wronski, Jorrit & Imran, Muhammad & Skovrup, Morten Juel & Haglind, Fredrik, 2019. "Experimental and numerical analysis of a reciprocating piston expander with variable valve timing for small-scale organic Rankine cycle power systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 403-416.
    7. Li, Jian & Zuo, Zhengxing & Liu, Wenzhen & Jia, Boru & Feng, Huihua & Wang, Wei & Smallbone, Andrew & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2023. "Generating performance of a tubular permanent magnet linear generator for application on free-piston engine generator prototype with wide-ranging operating parameters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    8. Ziwei Zhang & Huihua Feng & Zhengxing Zuo, 2020. "Numerical Investigation of a Free-Piston Hydrogen-Gasoline Engine Linear Generator," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-16, September.
    9. Li, Jian & Yang, Fubin & Zhang, Hongguang & Wu, Zhong & Tian, Yaming & Hou, Xiaochen & Xu, Yonghong & Ren, Jing, 2020. "Comparative analysis of different valve timing control methods for single-piston free piston expander-linear generator via an orthogonal experimental design," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    10. Javier Rico-Azagra & Montserrat Gil-Martínez, 2023. "Robust Cascade Control inside a New Model-Matching Architecture," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-20, May.
    11. Wu, Zhong & Zhang, Hongguang & Liu, Zhongliang & Tian, Guohong & Hou, Xiaochen & Yang, Fubin, 2022. "Force and energy analysis of single-piston free-piston expander—linear generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    12. Zhu, Shunmin & Yu, Guoyao & O, Jongmin & Xu, Tao & Wu, Zhanghua & Dai, Wei & Luo, Ercang, 2018. "Modeling and experimental investigation of a free-piston Stirling engine-based micro-combined heat and power system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 522-533.
    13. Jia, Boru & Smallbone, Andrew & Mikalsen, Rikard & Feng, Huihua & Zuo, Zhengxing & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2017. "Disturbance analysis of a free-piston engine generator using a validated fast-response numerical model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 440-451.
    14. Boru Jia & Zhengxing Zuo & Andrew Smallbone & Huihua Feng & Anthony Paul Roskilly, 2017. "A Decoupled Design Parameter Analysis for Free-Piston Engine Generators," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-14, April.
    15. Boru Jia & Yaodong Wang & Andrew Smallbone & Anthony Paul Roskilly, 2018. "Analysis of the Scavenging Process of a Two-Stroke Free-Piston Engine Based on the Selection of Scavenging Ports or Valves," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-14, February.
    16. Wu, Zhong & Zhang, Hongguang & Liu, Zhongliang & Hou, Xiaochen & Li, Jian & Yang, Fubin & Zhang, Jian, 2021. "Experimental study on the performance of single-piston free-piston expander—linear generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    17. Guo, Chendong & Zuo, Zhengxing & Feng, Huihua & Jia, Boru & Roskilly, Tony, 2020. "Review of recent advances of free-piston internal combustion engine linear generator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    18. Chi Zhang & Feixue Chen & Long Li & Zhaoping Xu & Liang Liu & Guilin Yang & Hongyuan Lian & Yingzhong Tian, 2018. "A Free-Piston Linear Generator Control Strategy for Improving Output Power," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, January.

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