Modeling and Analysis of Limited-Angle Torque Motor Considering Nonlinear Effects

Nonlinear mathematical model (NMM) of limited-angle torque motor (LATM) is rarely studied at present because its operating principle is different from conventional rotating electrical machines. In this article, inspired by the NMM of rotating electrical machines, a high-fidelity and computationally efficient model of LATM is proposed, which can completely consider the nonlinear effects, including the electromagnetic torque, flux linkage, and inductance variation with current and rotor position due to magnetic saturation in the stator core. Different from the field-circuit coupling approach (FCCA) considering nonlinear effects, the proposed model exhibits higher computational efficiency since a finite element analysis (FEA) is not involved in the time-stepping simulation. Based on the high-fidelity model, an LATM position-tracking system model is built to simulate the real operation of the LATM system, which provides an accurate means of assessing the position-tracking performance without the actual test platform. The high fidelity of the proposed LATM model is validated by both the FCCA and experimental results.