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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 46, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010

Articial Neural Network Applied for Detection of Magnetization Level in the Magnetic Core of a Welding Transformer
Klemen De elak1 , Jo e Pihler1 , Gorazd Stumberger1 , Beno Klop i 2 , and Drago Dolinar1 z z cc
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia Indramat elektromotorji d.o.o., 4220 Skofja Loka, Slovenia
This paper deals with the detection of saturation in the magnetic core of a welding transformer which is a part of a middle-frequency direct current (MFDC) resistance spot welding system (RSWS). It consists of an input rectier, which produces dc bus voltage, an inverter, a welding transformer, and a full-wave rectier that is mounted on the output of a transformer. During normal RSWS operation welding transformers magnetic core can become saturated due to the unbalanced resistances of both transformer secondary windings and different characteristics of output rectier diodes, which causes current spikes and over-current protection switch-off of the entire system. In order to prevent saturation of the transformer magnetic core, the RSWS control must detect that the magnetic core is approaching the saturated region. The aim of this paper is to present a reliable method for detection of magnetic core saturation that does not require an additional sensor. It is based on the articial neural network (ANN). Its input is the measured primary current of the welding transformer. The applied ANN is trained to recognize the waveform of the current spikes in the primary current caused by the magnetic core saturation, which is used for magnetization level detection. Index TermsDetectors, hysteresis, neural network applications, transformers, welding.

I. INTRODUCTION HE aim of this work is to develop and evaluate detector of magnetization level in the magnetic core of a welding transformer. It is based on an articial neural network (ANN) and requires only the measurement of the transformers primary current. The magnetization level detector is substantial component of a middle-frequency direct current (MFDC) resistance spot welding system (RSWS), where the welding current and the ux density in the welding transformers magnetic core are closed-loop controlled by two hysteresis controllers. The resistance spot welding systems, described in different realizations [1][6], are widely used in the automotive industry. Although the alternating or direct currents (dc) can be used for welding, this work focuses on the RSWS (Fig. 1) with dc welding current. The resistances of the two secondary windings and characteristics of the rectier diodes, connected to these windings, can slightly differ. References [7][10] show that combination of these small differences can result in increased dc component in welding transformers magnetic core ux density. It causes increasing magnetic core saturation with the high impact on the transformers primary current , where currents spikes eventually appear, leading to the over-current protection switch-off of the entire system. However, the problematic current spikes can be prevented either passively [7] or actively [8][10]. When the current spikes are prevented actively, closed-loop control of the welding current and magnetic core ux density is required. Thus, the welding current and the magnetic core ux density must be measured. While the welding current is normally measured by the Rogowski coil [11], the magnetic core ux density can be measured by the Hall sensor or by a probe coil wound around the magnetic core. In the latter, the
Manuscript received June 19, 2009; revised August 31, 2009; accepted August 31, 2009. Current version published January 20, 2010. Corresponding author: K. De elak (e-mail: klemen.dezelak@uni-mb.si). z Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TMAG.2009.2031976

Fig. 1. Schematic presentation of the RSWS.

ux density value is obtained by analogue integration of the voltage induced in the probe coil [8]. Integration of the induced voltage can be unreliable due to the unknown integration constant in the form of remanent ux and drift in analogue electronic components. The drift can be kept under control by the use of closed-loop compensated analogue integrator [10]. An advanced, two hysteresis controllers based control of the RSWS, where current spikes are prevented actively by the closed-loop control of the welding current and ux density in the welding transformers magnetic core, is presented in [10]. This solution requires measuring of the welding current, while instead of measured ux density only information about magnetization level in the magnetic core is required. Some methods, tested on welding transformers magnetic core, that can be applied for magnetization level detection are presented in [8], [9]. All these methods require Hall sensor or probe coils which make them less interesting for applications in industrial RSWS, due to the relatively high sensitivity on vibrations, mechanical stresses and high temperatures. In order to overcome these problems, an ANN based magnetic core magnetization level detector is introduced in this work. Its only (single) input is the measured transformers primary current. The ANN, based on the magnetic core magnetization level detector, is trained to recognize the waveform of the current spikes, which appear in the primary current when the magnetic core is approaching the saturated region. Before the ANN can be applied, its structure must be dened rst, and then the ANN must be trained using an appropriate

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learning method [9], [12], [13]. In this paper, the ANN structure appropriate for saturation detection in the transformers magnetic core and the appropriate learning method are found with the help of properly build dynamic model of the RSWS [7], [14]. The mentioned dynamic model includes models of the hysteresis controllers [10] and the ANN based magnetization level detector. The well-known trial and error method was used for dening ANN structure. It is shown that the three-layer ANN with 30 neurons in the rst layer, 7 neurons in the second layer, and 1 neuron in the third layer, gives acceptable results. ANN is trained by the resilient backpropagation rule, where the measured and calculated samples of transformers primary current, with different known levels of saturation in the magnetic core, are used. The calculated and measured results, presented in this paper, show that the proposed ANN based magnetic core magnetization level detector can be used as a part of the discussed RSWS, improving performances of the entire system. II. DYNAMIC MODEL OF THE RSWS The RSWS, shown in Fig. 1, consists of an input rectier, an H-bridge inverter, a single phase transformer and a full-wave output rectier [10]. The three-phase alternating current (ac) and , supplied from the electric grid, are recvoltages tied in the input rectier in order to produce the direct current (dc) bus voltage. This voltage is used in the H-bridge inverter, where different switching patterns and modulation techniques , required for supply can be applied, to generate ac voltage of the welding transformer. The welding transformer has one primary and two secondary windings. They are marked with indices 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The currents, the number of turns, the resistances and the leakage inductances of the primary and two secondary welding transformers windings are denoted by , and . The effects of the eddy current losses are accounted by the resistor . and are the resistance and inductance of the load. and are connected to both The output rectier diodes transformers secondary coils. They generate the dc welding current which has a dc value a few times higher than the amplitudes of ac currents and that appear in the transformers secondary coils without rectier diodes. The dynamic model of the RSWS was built based on the schematic presentation, shown in Fig. 1. The results of simulations, obtained by the dynamic model of the RSWS, show and in characterthat small differences in resistances istics of the rectier diodes and can cause unbalanced time behavior of the magnetic core ux density , shown in Fig. 2, and current spikes in the primary current , shown in Fig. 3. The a) and b) graphs in Figs. 2 and 3 show the same variables in different time scales. The current spikes appear approximately after 0.04 s (Fig. 3(c)). Their magnitude and shape increase in a specic way together with the increasing magnetization level in the magnetic core (Fig. 3(c)). After 0.06 s the current spikes become high enough to cause the over-current protection switch-off of the RSWS. III. HYSTERESIS CONTROL WITH SATURATION DETECTOR The H-bridge inverter output voltage (Fig. 1) is equal to dc voltage, while its polarity depends on the pair of transistors

Fig. 2. Time-behavior of the iron core ux density B .

Fig. 3. Time-behavior of the primary current i .

that are switched on [7]. When all four transistors are switched equals zero. The welding current inoff, the voltage creases when the primary voltage of the transformer differs from zero. On the other hand the welding current tends towards equals zero. The magnetic ux density increases zero when bus voltage is applied and decreases when when bus voltage is applied. As soon as the magnetic ux density exceeds its limit, the transformers magnetic core becomes highly saturated, which causes current spikes in the transformers primary current . Advanced control of the RSWS can be applied to prevent current spikes. The authors in [10] proposed an advanced hysteresis control of the RSWS based on two hysteresis controllers. The rst one is used for the closed-loop control of welding current while the second one is used for the closed-loop control of a ux density in the transformers magnetic core. The advanced hysteresis control [10] requires information that the preset magnetization level in the magnetic core is exceeded. Measurement of the magnetic core ux density can be avoided. This paper proposes ANN based detector of magnetization level in the magnetic core. The only input for the proposed detector is the measured welding transformers primary current .

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 46, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010

Fig. 5. Signals involved in the training process of the ANN.

Fig. 4. Time-behaviors of the primary current i , the magnetic ux density B , the output of the iron core magnetization level detector in the RSWS controlled by the advanced hysteresis control Tar., the supplied voltage u and the welding current i .

until the welding cycle is completed. The transformers supply while the welding current decreases to voltage is set to value zero. The advanced hysteresis control controlled RSWS is ready for the new welding cycle. IV. TEST RESULTS The ANN [12] is a parallel multi layer information processing structure, with possibility to include an expert knowledge into an existent process. The ANN accumulates knowledge during training process, while the effectiveness of the ANN depends on the quality of the training procedure. The fundamental aim of the training procedure is to adjust all weights in the articial neural network, to obtain minimal deviations between the target and calculated outputs. Before the ANN is used, the structure of the ANN and learning method must be dened. This can be attained with proper dynamic model of the RSWS [7], [14] with included models of advanced hysteresis control and the ANN based magnetization level detector. Once the model is built, the proper structure of the ANN and learning method can be easily dened by running simulations with different ANN structures. The trial and error procedure was applied in the testing. As already mentioned, the ANN accumulates knowledge during the learning process. Fig. 5 shows both signals, which are involved in the learning process. The input learning signal (pattern) of the ANN in the learning process is the absolute A) value of the transformers primary current (1 obtained from the RSWS dynamic model. According to the magnetization level in the magnetic core, the output learning signal (target) was set to zero or one. The current spikes in the transformers primary current clearly show that the magnetic core becomes highly saturated. In that case, the output of the ANN based magnetization level detector must be set to one, which changes polarity of the transformers supply voltage in the RSWS controlled by the advanced hysteresis control. Fig. 5 shows learning signals during samples 4000 and 4200, while the number of all samples is 6000. Results of the ANN are very dependent on the ANN net conguration, therefore an extensive testing of different net congurations was performed. The proper net structure can be dened with the proper model of a whole system. The high computational effort required for simulations of the whole system forced us to apply the trial and error method in determining the ANN structure, instead of applying optimization techniques. The correlation coefcients between the target signal and calculated outputs were the root mean square errors (RMSE). The learning rates were controlled. Based on results of the extensive numerical analysis, the ANN structure with 30 neurons in rst, 7 neurons in second and 1 neuron in last layer was chosen

Its output signal (Tar.) is set to one when the preset magnetization level in transformers magnetic core is exceeded. Operation of the advanced hysteresis control [10], supplemented by the proposed ANN based magnetization level detector, is illusis the applied trated in Fig. 4, where is the welding current, H-bridge inverter output voltage, and stands for the time. The and lower welding current limits must be set upper before start. The advanced hysteresis control of the RSWS, supplemented by the proposed magnetization level detector, starts at time s. The H-bridge inverter generated transformers supply voltage , is applied. The welding current starts to increase, while the magnetic core ux density starts to decrease. At the time , the ANN based magnetization level detector detects that preset magnetization level in the magnetic core is exceeded. Its output signal is set to 1, while the transformers . The welding cursupply voltage is changed to rent still increases while the magnetic core ux density starts to increase. At time , the magnetization level detector detects the exceeded magnetization level again. In this case, it is caused by a high positive value of the magnetic core ux density. The transformers supply voltage changes to . The welding current still increases while the ux density value starts to decrease again. Thus, whenever the ANN based magnetization level detector detects the exceeded magnetization level, the polarity of the transformers supply voltage changes, causing change in the sign of the ux density increment, while the welding current increases all the time. The advanced RSWS hysteresis control switches the transformers supplied voltage according to the described pattern as long as the welding current does not reach its upper limit, which happens at the time . When the upper limit for the welding current is reached, is applied. The welding current the supply voltage starts to decrease. At the time , it reaches its lower limit. The supply voltage with the same polarity as before the time is applied again. At the time , the magnetization level detector detects the increased magnetization level again, which causes change in the polarity of the transformers . The RSWS operates as described, supply voltage keeping welding current between its lower and upper limits,

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the waveform of the currents spikes which is used for magnetization level detection. The applied ANN contains 3 layers with 30, 7 and 1 neuron in the rst, second and third layer, respectively. It is trained by the resilient backpropagation rule using samples obtained by measurements and the dynamic model of the RSWS. Performances of the trained ANN were evaluated by tests performed with the samples used in the training procedure, and with the newly measured samples. The results of the laboratory tests, shown in Fig. 6, are very promising and show reliable recognition of the magnetic core saturation. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Fig. 6. The transformers primary current i and the ANN output signal Tar.

This work was supported in part by ARRS, Project No. L2-7560-1792 and P2-0115. REFERENCES

% . More or less neurons in the rst layer gave worse RMSE. In addition to determining the ANN structure, the model was applied also for determining the most appropriate learning rule. From all learning rules tested, the resilient and Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation algorithms gave the best RMSE values. However, the resilient backpropagation was adopted due to the lowest computational effort required. As soon as the structure of the ANN and learning rule is dened, they can be applied on to the measured signals, while the ANN trained with the measured signals can be applied as magnetization level detector in RSWS controlled by the advanced hysteresis control. Fig. 6 shows output signals from the ANN for two different transformers primary currents (absolute, per A) measured on the RSWS. As soon as unit value, 1 the ANN, through the characteristic form of the primary current, detects that the magnetization level in the magnetic core is high enough, but still not too high (Fig. 3(c)), the value of the ANN output changes, causing change in the polarity of the applied supply voltage. This leads to the change in the sign of the magnetic ux density derivative. The magnetic ux density move in the opposite direction until the ANN detects increased magnetization level again. The polarity of the applied supply voltage is changed again and the complete procedure is repeated. V. CONCLUSION The aim of this research is to present a reliable method for detection of the magnetic core saturation that does not require any additional sensor. The proposed ANN based detector requires measurement of the welding transformers primary current. With the increasing level of the magnetic core saturation the magnitude of the current spikes in the primary current is increasing, which nally leads to the over-current protection switch-off. The ANN, used in this work, is trained to recognize

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