Resistance Estimation of a Pwm-driven Solenoid

−This paper proposes a method that can be used for the resistance estimation of a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)-driven solenoid. By using estimated solenoid resistance, the PWM duty ratio was compensated to be proportional to the solenoid current. The proposed method was developed for use with EHB (Electro-Hydraulic Braking) systems, which are essential features of the regenerative braking system of many electric vehicles. Because the HU (Hydraulic Unit) of most EHB systems performs not only ABS/TCS/ESP (Electronic Stability Program) functions but also service braking function, the possible duration of continuous solenoid driving is so long that the generated heat can drastically change the level of solenoid resistance. The current model of the PWM-driven solenoid is further developed in this paper; from this a new resistance equation is derived. This resistance equation is solved by using an iterative method known as the FPT (fixed point theorem). Furthermore, by taking the average of the resistance estimates, it was possible to successfully eliminate the effect of measurement noise factors. Simulation results showed that the proposed method contained a sufficient pass-band in the frequency response. Experimental results also showed that adaptive solenoid driving which incorporates resistance estimations is able to maintain a linear relationship between the PWM duty ratio and the solenoid current in spite of a wide variety of ambient temperatures and continuous driving.