Sybill's Page

Sybill is a bi-directional converter designed and built at Oregon State University, for the purpose of providing control winding power and synchronization to a Brushless Doubly Fed Machine. Sybill has also been used to test scenarios for sag-resistant drive technology.
Sybill's Team

from the top left... Brian, Shiba, Annabelle, Manfred Dittrich (our machinist,) and me on the lower right.

The hardware design and construction of Sybill made up the work of my master's thesis, which fully documents the design of the converter. I am very grateful to my partners in the project, Shibashis Bhowmik, control and algorithms, Annabelle van Zyl (now Pratt,) control algorithms, power design and PQ research, Brian Koch, Display and Interface, and especially to Dr. René Spée, a principal investigator on the BDFM project and my major professor at Oregon State.

My thesis was the first substantial document I created, and I had a heck of a time getting it together. Most of the figures were done with Cadsoft Eagle, and at the time, I found the most expedient way to get them into the document was by cut and paste.. (metal scissors and plastic tape!) on the originals... especially the appendices. I did not have access to software that would convert the .tiff graphics into something Word (in 1997) wouldn't choke on. If I could go back and give myself a copy of Gimp or Photoshop, I would.

At some point, I plan to post the scanned pages of the thesis. It may have some information helpful in designing a converter. If someone would flatter me by requesting a bound paper copy, I can get one to you for the price of the copies and mailing. There's theoretically a copy enshrined in the OSU library.. yes, years later, my kid will be able to go in there and point to what will then be incomprehensibly obsolete gibberish from the turn of the millennium. Ah.. makes the whole grad school experience all worthwhile!

The Abstract, in text, is below, for searchable access.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF

Alex Faveluke for the degree of Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering presented on August 25, 1997. Title Hardware Design and Protection Issues in an AC/AC Converter.

Abstract approved:____________________________________
René Spée


An AC/AC converter has been designed and implemented for the purpose of providing a modular drive system with a Brushless Doubly-Fed Machine (BDFM.) This converter is to be used in laboratory testing and also as part of a demonstration system in the field.

All hardware needed to start and run the BDFM is now consolidated into a single NEMA standard frame electrical equipment box. This allows easy transportation and setup of the drive system, and will enable the BDFM drive system to be directly compared with existing induction machine based drive systems.

Converter subsystem overviews in the body of the text and comprehensive schematics in the appendices of this thesis describe all circuitry included in the drive system. Sufficient construction detail is given to allow for duplication of this converter by qualified technical personnel. While not tailored for mass production, this converter may provide a starting point for a commercially viable design.