Pressure Control using Sensorless Voice Coil

Abstract: In this master thesis, a new method for estimating the position of the moving parts of avoice coil is presented. Instead of using a position sensor the method exploits the connectionbetween the position and the inductance of the voice coil. This is done by superpositioning a small sine voltage signal and the voice coil voltage control signal. By measuring thevoltage and current and using the fourier transform, the impedance and phase difference iscalculated which are used to compute the inductance. A medical ventilator (also known as a respirator) concept is developed with a control systemwhich takes the expiratory pressure from a higher to a lower level. The position estimationalgorithm is then used in an attempt to improve the pressure control. The result is a slightlymore stable control system. The master thesis is conducted at Maquet Critical Care (MCC) in Solna, Sweden. MCC is amedical technology company working with high performance medical ventilators. The longterm goal of this work is to develop a ventilator which is more comfortable for the patient.