Piston position sensing and control in a linear compressor using a search coil

•The stroke and offset in the linear compressor can be detected by using a search coil.•Value of mutual inductance between the search and the main coils is required.•A solenoid valve was used to control the piston offset.•Controls of stroke, offset and frequency were implemented in LabVIEW

Linear compressors with clearance seals are well established for cryocoolers using either a Stirling cycle or pulse tube. However, both piston stroke and piston offset require detection and control in valved compressors. In order to manufacture linear compressor in large scale, then a simple, robust, and cheap control system is required with a minimum of sensors and actuators. This work introduces an approach to sensing the position of the piston using a search coil. The piston stroke is detected by calculating the peak-to-peak flux linkage in relation to the measured drive voltage and current. The piston offset is proportional to an integrated modulus of the back electromotive force (emf) of the search coil. Two PID (proportional-integral-derivative) controllers were developed to control the piston stroke by adjusting the drive voltage and a solenoid valve and bleed flow to control the piston offset. Experimental results validate the proposed compressor control technique.