708

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-22, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 1986

Microcomputer
BIMAL K. BOSE,
SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE,

Control

of

Motor

Switched Reluctance
MEMBER, IEEE,

TIMOTHY J. E. MILLER, SENIOR WILLIAM H. BICKNELL

PAUL M. SZCZESNY,

AND

Abstract-A microcomputer-based four-quadrant control system of a switched reluctance motor is described. The control was implemented with a speed feedback loop, a torque feedback loop, and both the torque and speed feedback loops combined. In addition the controller incorporates a startup operation, sequencing, and synchronized angle steering control. The angle controller was designed using dedicated digital hardware, whereas the other functions were implemented using an Intel 8751 single-chip microcomputer. The complete control system was tested in the laboratory with a 5-hp drive, and the test results were found to be excellent.

controller. The angle controller, which interfaces to the microcomputer, has been designed using dedicated hardware. The complete control system has been designed and tested in the laboratory with a prototype drive system.

POWER CIRCUIT OPERATION The control system was developed for a four-phase machine which has four stator pole pairs and three rotor pole pairs. The power converter with a cross section of the machine is shown INTRODUCTION in Fig. 1. The opposite stator poles are supplied by a converter and the phase current is switched on and off in phase, INTEREST in switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives has with the rotor position. The bifilar winding in synchronism revived during the last five to ten years. The points in favor with the diode returns stored energy to the source when series of SRM drives are that the machine is simple in construction the transistor turns off. The transistors conduct in sequence, and economical compared to induction and synchronous types and of conduction the order depends on the direction of the which of machines [6]. In addition, the converter supplies A in the dc link (not shown) rotation. dynamic brake exists devices fewer machine and, requires power power to the which energy during regeneration. absorbs The SRM and reliable economical more is therefore, [7]. The inductance profile of the stator pole pair with respect to drives have received wide attention in Europe, and serious the rotor angular position is shown in Fig. 2, which also attempts are being made to commercialize them. The literature on SRM drives concentrates mainly on the indicates typical stator phase current waves. In a forward analysis of the machine and the configuration of the power motoring mode, for example, the current pulse is established converters, but very few papers discuss the control a'spects. where the inductance profile has a positive slope. This is The control requirements of the SRM drive are so unique that because the instantaneous motor torque is given by the relation the concepts of induction- and synchronous-type machines can I hardly be extrapolated to the SRM. The SRM drives discussed Te(j) 2 i2M (1) in the literature are mainly open-loop control with angle and current amplitude regulation and have usually been designed where i is the instantaneous current and m is the inductance with discrete components and dedicated hardware. slope. This paper describes a microcomputer-based control of the The current i is switched on at an advance angle 06, and it SRM drive system which is capable of operating in all four rises linearly to the magnitude I at the corner point (00) by the quadrants. The microcomputer functions include feedback relation speed and torque controls, computation of the feedback speed and torque, starting, sequencing control, computation of the 00 = ILmr (2) Vd switching angles, and a phase-locked loop for the angle where Lm is the minimum inductance; wr is the rotor speed, Paper IPCSD 86-1, approved by the Industrial Drives Committee of the and Vd is the dc link voltage. The current I is maintained IEEE Industry Applications Society for presentation at the 1985 Industry constant by the chopping control and then turned off at a Op Applications Society Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, Canada, October 6-1 1. angle so that the current zero angle Oq does not extend much Manuscript released for publication February 5, 1986. B. K. Bose is with the General Electric Research and Development Center, into the negative inductance slope region. At high speed the Building 37-380, 1 River Road, Schenectady, NY 12345. machine counter EMF dominates, and chopping control is lost T. J. E. Miller and P. M. Szczesny are with the General Electric Company, Corporate Research and Development Center, Building 37-380, P.O. Box 43, as indicated by the pulse B, which also indicates the saturation effect. The current pulse, during forward braking, is nearly Schenectady, NY 12301. W. H. Bicknell is with the General Electric Company, Corporate Research identical to that of forward motoring at low speed, except that and Development Center, Building 37-478, P.O. Box 43, Schenectady, NY it is established where the inductance slope m is negative. 12301. Since here the Oq angle can freely extend into the minimum IEEE Log Number 8608632.
=
0

0093-9994/8610700-0708$01 .00 1986 IEEE

BOSE et al.: MICROCOMPUTER CONTROL OF SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR

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Fig. 1. Switched reluctance motor with power converter.

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inductance region, the 0p angle is kept constant at the corner point (360). The advance angle 0 is to be limited because the current in the positive slope region contributes motoring

Fig. 3. Torque-speed curve showing modes of operation.

torque. The current pulse waveshapes in reverse motoring are identical to those in forward motoring, except these are placed with respect to slope 2 (see Fig. 2), which appears as a positive slope in reverse rotation. The cycle periods 0,Y for both forward and reverse rotations are indicated in the figure. Again, the current pulses in forward and reverse braking are identical, except the latter is placed on slope 1, which appears as a negative slope in reverse rotation. A particular phase is fired periodically with a 600 cycle period and, therefore, for the four-phase machine consecutive phases are fired at a 150 interval. Fig. 3 shows the typical torque-speed curve of the SRM in motoring mode, which also indicates the current and angle profiles. At speeds typically below a few r/min, defined as the startup mode, full torque is available. The chopping mode, which extends up to a base speed of ob, essentially defines the constant torque region where the current amplitude I is controlled by the chopper operation. Beyond the chopping mode the curve enters into the constant power region where the torque is controlled only by the 0' angle. Then above the critical speed tOri the limiting 0' angle is reached, and the torque falls off with a steeper slope. Note that in the constant power region the chopping mode may be resumed if the peak current rises above a threshold value.

DIGITAL ANGLE CONTROL The control system incorporates a dedicated hardware digital angle controller which receives the angle commands from the feedback loop and translates them into transistor conduction angles which are synchronized to the rotor position. The basic control parameters of the drive system can be summarized as follows:

chopping current level, which is also the peak-limiting (ip) in the constant power region, 00 transistor turn-on angle, which may be related to the advance angle 00, 0p transistor turn-off angle. The machine has a rotor position encoder which consists of four optical sensors and an interrupting type disk with the profile of the rotor stamping as shown in Fig. 1. The sensors are mounted at the right edge of each stator pole pair as shown in Fig. 4, which also shows the logic output waveforms from the sensors for forward rotation. The signals are also used for the startup operation discussed later. The signals are mutually phase shifted by 150. A monostable captures a 1 -- 0 transition, and the outputs are coupled together through an OR gate to generate the 150 pulse train. The pulse train appears in the sequence 4-3-2-1 and will have the opposite sequence in reverse rotation. The direction of rotation can be detected by
I
current

710
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-22, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 1986

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the presence (or absence) of a 0 -- 1 transition of the S2 wave within pulses 1 and 4 of the pulse train. The 150 pulses are used to generate a pulse train with a 0.250 interval by a digital phase-locked loop method as shown in Fig. 5. This interval constitutes the resolution of the control angles. A 150 counter accumulates the FOUT clock pulses during the 150 interval, and the resulting digital word W, is divided by 60 to generate the word WPLL for the phase-locked loop (PLL) counter. The PLL counter is down counted by the FOUT clock. When the counter clears, a pulse is generated at the output and the counter reloads automatically from its buffer. A phase-synchronized pulse train at higher frequency is thus generated by the PLL counter. The speed signal is calculated from the 15 counter output as shown because it is inversely proportional to the word W,. The FOUT clock is made programmable with speed to maintain a good resolution of the 0.250 pulses and to prevent an overflow of the 150 counter at very low speed. At low speed, FOUT is programmed low, and it increases in steps as speed increases. Since the same FOUT clock triggers both of the counters, the respective time intervals remain proportional to their digital words. The angle controller for the drive system consists of four pairs of programmable down-counters, of which phase A is shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 7 shows the waveforms for the forward motoring operation. Each counter operates as a programmable one shot where the digital words Op6,, = 0 + 6p and 00 = 600

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Fig. 6. Programmable counters for delay pulsewidth generation (shown for phase A only).

O' are loaded into the buffer of the pulsewidth counter and the delay counter, respectively. Both the counters are clocked by the 0.250 pulse train. The delay counter is enabled by 600 pulses generated by a 1 -+ 0 transition of sensor SI. When the counter clears at angle 00, it enables the pulsewidth counter, which maintains a logic one at the output during the countdown period. When the counter clears, it autoreloads from the buffer and locks until enabled again. This output is coupled with the chopping logic signal from the bang-bang current controller by an AND gate, and the output constitutes the phase A transistor base drive enable signal. Since the counters are independent, each can be programmed between
-

BOSE et al.: MICROCOMPUTER CONTROL OF SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR

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magnitude of the starting torque can be controlled by regulating the level of I.

FEEDBACK SPEED AND TORQUE CONTROL The drive system was designed with speed feedback control, torque feedback control, and both the torque and speed loops combined. Fig. 9 shows the block diagram for the speed feedback control loop. The command speed (w *) is compared with the actual speed co, and the error through a proportionalintegral (PI) compensator, and an absolute value circuit generates the chopping current command I. The advance angle G is calculated from I* by (1) so that in motoring modes the current I is built at the beginning of the positive inductance slope. The angles 00 and Op,, in different modes, can be summarized as follows:

For a satisfactory starting of the SRM from any arbitrary position of the rotor, a startup control is essential. For a forward startup control, the phase current should be established in the interval between 0-18. Therefore, the position sensor signals (see Fig. 4) are sensed and complemented, and the resulting logic signals are loaded into the transistor base drivers. For reverse starting the current pulse has to be placed on the negative slope (positive slope for the reverse direction). The logic signals for reverse starting can be generated by AND coupling the adjacent sensor signals. This generates 33-60 pulsewidths instead of the desired 42-60 duration. The excess 90 causes some additional power dissipation but can be Go ignored, considering the short duration for starting. The start- Mode OP up algorithm is implemented with the help of the microcompu600 00 + 6, ter. Fig. 8 shows the measured starting torque of each phase as Forward motoring (FM) O + 420 - 0 motoring (RM) a function of the rotor position. The curves deviate from the Reverse 18 18 Forward regeneration (FG) ideal rectangular shape of 180 with a 30 overlapping because Reverse regeneration (RG) 18 0 of the saturation and fringing effects. The resulting torque can be obtained by summing the components which, obviously, between the positive inductance slope fluctuate with the rotor position. The torque curves remain where 0' p is the angle turn-off point. In the FM mode transistor the and corner point The reverse and starting. forward both for symmetrical

712
fORw,D zI ReveR,s

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-22, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 1986

F'l", FG/ R17, 9G

)YAIvE SENSOR

i A9N2 AZ (r COWnPUTA JTON Fig. 9. Block diagram of speed control system.

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the turn-off angle Op = O,, but in the RM mode Op = 420 + Op. The 6' angle is made programmable with speed as shown to minimize the influence of the braking torque. The maximum value of 6' is clamped as shown in Fig. 3 to prevent contribution of the breaking torque by the preceding negative slope. The feedback speed signal is computed from a position encoder which has a sampling interval of 150. It seems obvious that the position encoder cannot be used at low speed where the sampling time becomes too large. However, the position encoder is required for the starting as well as the control of the 00 and Op,, angles. An alternate position encoder with a large number of pulses per revolution can be used if a low speed range is desired. The system as shown in Fig. 9 will start and run at low speed with *, 00, and pQ, as control variables. As the speed increases, the chopping mode will vanish, and the system will enter into the angle control mode. In this condition the peak current ip will remain below the commanded I value. However, if ip tends to exceed I due to transient loading, the chopper will act as a peak-current limiter. A block diagram of the torque control loop is shown in Fig. 10. The consideration of torque control is important in electric vehicle-type applications. In addition, providing a torque loop within a speed loop can make the response of the speed loop faster. The implementation of the torque feedback control in an SRM is difficult because the computation of accurate feedback torque is not easy. The torque can be computed from the dc link power by the following relations:
motoring Te=

?orT/GEV

V\J

Id

Fig. 10. Block diagram of torque control loop.

VdIdl
(Ar

(3)

regeneration Te

VdId
?tar

(4)

where -1 is the efficiency of the converter-machine system. These expressions neglect the delay due to the energy storage effect in inductances. The efficiency of the particular machine tested was evaluated extensively for different load and speed conditions. The data were available in the form of a lookup table for the torque computations. The computed torque shows a reasonably good correlation with the measured torque. The torque computation, however, remains invalid in the lowspeed region because of excessive ripple. As shown in Fig. 10, only the absolute value of the torque is controlled, and the polarity command actuates the angle switches as indicated in Fig. 9. The torque loop is active for positive error only. The torque control loop was implemented within the speed loop to enhance the system response speed. A high-gain torque loop linearizes the system, makes the performance insensitive to parameter variation, and permits the speed loop controller gain to be high within the limit of stability. The overall system operates in four quadrants with the absolute value of the torque control in the inner loop.

BOSE et al.: MICROCOMPUTER CONTROL OF SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR

713

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DYNAMIC MODEL The dynamic model of the SRM seems to be complex because of the nonlinearities and sampling delays, but some general discussion is appropriate here. At very low speed the angle controller starts with 180 torque-producing pulses (pw,) in motoring, which linearly reduces with speed to 90 at 900 r/min. With 180 pulses an overlap of 30 exists for adjacent phases. With 150 pulses this overlap vanishes, and the gap increases to 60 for a 90 pulse. This corresponds to a feedforward sampling delay of 1.11 ms at 900 r/min. This sampling delay can be ignored with the speed control loop if the feedback speed is sampled at 15 intervals. In addition to this sampling delay, the phase coil current has a response delay which depends on the saturation level. The sampling delay of the SRM is particularly complicated in the angle control mode. Fig. 11 shows the waveforms for the worst case in the forward motoring mode. The delay and pulsewidth counters are updated with the sampling time of the feedback control loop (3.33 ms). Since the delay counters are enabled at 15 intervals, the worst-case sampling delay at 00 is 15 with a step change of AO' as shown. Note that AOpw has to be appended to the leading edge to establish a steady-state condition. This requires that the delay counter be cleared with a new 00 value. Otherwise, AGp, will be appended to the trailing edge, causing a reduction of torque. Therefore, the worst-case sampling delay is 750 as indicated in Fig. 11. The developed torque of the SRM is related to the active rms phase current by a square law relation. In the chopping mode this current can be assumed as constant, neglecting the, spreading effect. If the angle control effect is ignored in chopping mode, then the torque-current transfer characteristic can be given by the aforementioned square law relation. In the angle control mode, G' is constant and the rms phase current is regulated by the advance angle G' only. This relation is influenced by the machine counter EMF which is, again, a function of the speed and rms current.

SEQUENCING CONTROL The drive system has several modes of operation with permissible transition paths shown by the sequence diagram in Fig. 12. The normal running modes (FM, RM, FG, and RG) are grouped into the MOT/GEN mode. For a successful transition between the modes, the conditionals written along the arrows should be valid, and then the action routines (indicated by dots) are executed before the transition occurs. The microcomputer initially attains the NEUTRAL mode after the power is switched on. The system then transitions to the START-UP mode if the speed command exceeds a threshold value. Meanwhile, enabling the feedback loop builds up the current command through the PI compensator. The phaselocked loop and speed computation are enabled with a delay of 50 ms to ensure a minimum speed so the counters do not overflow. When the speed exceeds 24 r/min as shown, the system transitions to the MOT/GEN mode but returns to the START-UP mode if the speed falls below 12 r/min. The hysteresis band prevents faulty chattering between the modes. The acquisition of a particular running mode depends upon the logic signals shown in Fig. 9.
MICROCOMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DESIGN The microcomputer hardware is based on the Intel 8751 single-chip microcomputer which is supported by peripheral chips. The peripheral hardware includes AID converters for acquisition of the dc link voltage, current and speed commands, a D/A for chopper current command, and two system timing controller chips type AM9513 manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices. The AM9513 chip has five software configurable counter/timers as well as a programmable frequency divider. Each of the five counters may be configured in one of 24 possible operating modes. All of the control and computation functions that are time critical are implemented in Assembly language, whereas the sequencing function, which is less time critical, is written in

714
-

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. IA-22, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 1986

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Fig. 13. Phase current waves in chopping mode at 550 r/min (t = 1.50, 0,W = 140). Top to bottom: i_, ibb i,id (10 A/div, 5 ms/div).

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Simplified

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the PL/M language. The program is resident in the 4-kbyte EPROM memory of the microcomputer. The executive software consists of a real-time scheduler which is responsible for the orderly execution of multiple tasks and their sampling interval generation. The fastest tasks are the control and computation functions and are executed every 3.33 ms. This task also includes a signed 16- 16-bit multiply and a 32/16-bit divide routine. The sequencing function is executed with a sampling interval of 26.67 ms, and high-level diagnostics are executed every 213.3 ms. The 8751 chip has two external interrupt signals; one is used for the 3.33 ms clock ticks that activate the real-time scheduler, and the other is for servicing the 150 interrupt which samples the 150 counter and processes data for the phase-locked loop counter and speed computation.

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LABORATORY TESTS The SRM used in testing has a nominal rating of 5 hp with a peak current of 60 A and is supplied from a regulated voltage source of 100 V. A dc load machine is coupled to the shaft to apply a variable load torque. The SRM was first tested open loop with the newly developed angle controller. Then feedback control was added for the speed loop, the torque loop, and the speed loop with the inner torque loop. The drive system was tested extensively in all four quadrants under both steady-state and transient conditions. The speed signal, computed from the 150 pulse position encoder, was found to have some jitter due to blade tolerance. Since this is unacceptable at high speed because of low digital counts, the signal was averaged over four consecutive intervals above 800 r/min. Again the sampling time interval, corresponding to 150, was too large at low speeds and, therefore, was restricted to 50 r/min. A Teledyne sensor, having 2400 pulses/revolution was used with a pulse integra-

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Fig. 14.

TIME
loop.

1.05

r-

Transient performance of speed control system with inner torque

tion method over a sampling interval of 3.33 ms, enabling the lowest speed of 12 r/min. Fig. 13 shows the typical steady-state phase current waves in chopping mode, indicating the well-balanced operation of the machine. The chopping frequency is higher initially, but reduces gradually because of the increasing inductances. The overshoot of the sensor current, due to large di/dt at a higher frequency, causes tapering of the chopping current profile. Fig. 14 shows the typical transient response of the speed control system with the inner torque loop closed. The

BOSE et al.: MICROCOMPUTER CONTROL OF SWITCHED RELUCTANCE MOTOR

715

computed torque Tel and the measured torque from a Pergmon Press. He has written a book Power Electronics and AC Drives which has been published by Prentice-Hall, Inc. Another IEEE Press book Himmelstein torque meter are shown in the figure for Microcomputer Control of Power Electronics and Drives sponsored by the comparison. The latter incorporates a low-pass filter to Industry Applications Society is in progress. He is currently an Adjunct attenuate the ripple. The longer duration of braking is Faculty Member in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Bose was Chairman of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS Review of Static evidently due to the lower clamping of braking torque. Power Converter Committee for eight years (1976-1983). He is a member of
CONCLUSION

The paper describes the development, design, and laboratory test of an Intel 8751 microcomputer-based control of a 5hp SRM drive system. The control functions include feedback control with speed loop, torque loop, sequencing control, starting, and position synchronized angle control. Because of the critical timing requirement, the angle control was implemented with dedicated digital hardware. The feedback speed signal was synthesized from the 15 pulse position encoder in the higher speed range, whereas in the lower speed range a Teledyne type sensor was used. The feedback torque was computed from electrical signals and was valid except at very low speeds due to excessive ripple. The complete drive system was tested thoroughly in all the four quadrants under both steady-state and transient conditions, and performances were found to be excellent.
REFERENCES
[1] P. J. Lawrenson et al., "Variable-speed switched reluctance motors," Proc. Inst. Elec. Eng., vol. 127, pp. 253-265, July 1980. [2] W. F. Ray and R. M. Davis, "Inverter drive for doubly salient
[3]

the Power Electronics Committee and Microcomputer Control Committee of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Conference on Digital Control of Electrical Machines, the Program Committee of the International Static Power Converter Conference, the Committee on Automotive Applications of Microprocessors, the Fellow Nominating Committee for the Static Power Converter Committee, and the Program Committee of the Tokyo International Power Electronics Conference. His biography has been published in Who's Who in Engineering, UK, Who's Who in Technology, USA, and Directory of World Researchers in Japan. The Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, India, has established the Bimal Bose Award in Power Electronics which is awarded annually to an Indian engineer for an outstanding contribution in power electronics.

[4]
[5]

[6]
[7]

reluctance motor: Its fundamental behavior, linear analysis and cost implications," Electric Power Appl., vol. 2, pp. 185-193, Dec. 1979. R. M. Davis, W. F. Ray, and R. J. Blake, "Inverter drive for switched reluctance motor: Circuits and component ratings," Proc. Inst. Elec. Eng., vol. 128, pt. B, pp. 126-136, Mar. 1981. T. J. E. Miller, "Converter volt-ampere requirements of the switched reluctance motor drive," in Proc. IEEE Ind. Appl. Soc. Annu. Meeting, 1984, pp. 813-819. P. H. Chapple, W. F. Ray, and R. J. Blake, "Microprocessor control of a variable reluctance motor," Proc. Inst. Elec. Eng. vol. 131, pt. B, pp. 51-60, Mar. 1984. M. R. Harris, T. J. E. Miller, and J. Finch, "A review of the switched reluctance drive," presented at the IEEE Ind. App!. Soc. Annu. Meeting, Toronto, ON, Oct. 1985. J. T. Bass, M. Ehsani, T. J. E. Miller, and R. L. Steigerwald, "Development of a unipolar converter for variable reluctance motor drives," in Proc. IEEE Ind. Appl. Soc. Annu. Meeting, 1985, pp. 1062-1068.

Timothy J. E. Miller (M'74-SM'82) received the B.Sc. degree from the University of Glasgow and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Leeds in 1970 and 1977, respectively, both in electrical engineering. He joined the research staff of the General Electric Company, Corporate Research and Development, in 1979. He has worked on the design of permanent-magnet ac motors and generators, on the control system for thyristor-switched capacitors for __ l power system compensation, and on the development of power electronic converters and control systems for switched reluctance motor drives. His technical work includes the analysis of the dynamic performance of permanent-magnet ac motors during starting and when operating from solid-state power supplies. He has designed the world's largest permanent-magnet generator for industrial applications. His work on switched reluctance systems includes the development of novel types of power electronic converters with associated analysis. He is presently Manager of the Power Electronics Control Program, Power Electronics Laboratory. He is also an instructor in the Reactive Power Control course which he helped to establish at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of a textbook on reactive compensation for electric power systems, which is the only text dealing with modern power electronic techniques. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Union College in Schenectady, NY, where he teaches courses in electrical energy conversion and electronic control of motor drives. lIe holds eight patents and has authored 28 technical papers in addition to his

textbook.

Dr. Miller is a Chartered Engineer in the United Kingdom and an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.

Bimal K. Bose (S'59-M'60-SM'78) received the B.E. degree from Calcutta University, Calcutta, India, in 1956, and the M.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1960, and the * | Ph.D. degree from Calcutta University in 1966. He was a Member of the Faculty at Calcutta University where he was awarded the Premchand Roychand Scholarship and the Mouat gold medal for research contributions. In 1971 he joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, as a member of faculty in the Electrical Engineering Department where he was responsible for organizing the undergraduate and graduate power electronics programs for five years. He was a consultant for several industries, including the General Electric R & D Center, Bendix Corporation, Lutron Electronics, and PCI Ozone Corporation. Since 1976 he has been with General Electric Corporate Research and Development, Schenectady, NY. His research interests are power conversion systems and microcomputerbased performance optimization of power electronic systems. He holds 15 U.S. patents. He edited the IEEE Press book Adjustable Speed AC Drive Systems (translated into Chinese) and contributed the article on ac drives in the International Encyclopedia on Control and Systems'published by

Paul M. Szczesny, for a photograph and biography please see page 1191 of the September/October 1985 issue of this TRANSACTIONS.

William H. Bicknell received the associates degree in applied science from Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, NY, and the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Union College, Schenectady, NY, in 1976 and 1983, respectively. Since 1983, he has worked as a Research Specialist for General Electric Corporate Research and Development in Schenectady, NY. He has been engaged in developing microprocessor-based control systems for power electronic circuits. His current field of interest is in developing computedaided design tools for high-voltage integrated circuits.