Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 2152–2157

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Energy efficient power electronic controller for a capacitor-run single-phase

induction motor
G. Saravana Ilango b,*, K. Samidurai a, M. Roykumar b, K. Thanushkodi c
a
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Karpagam College of Engineering, Coimbatore, India
b
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Thuvakudi, Tiruchirappalli 620015, India
c
Coimbatore Institute of Engineering and Information Technology, Coimbatore, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: At present the speed control of a capacitor-run single-phase induction motor is being achieved by using
Received 27 January 2008 triac based voltage regulators. This paper proposes a new scheme; an electronic transformer acts as a
Received in revised form 14 September voltage regulator. Performance comparison is made between these two schemes in this paper. It is found
2008
that the proposed scheme has superior operating and performance characteristics. Experimental results
Accepted 20 April 2009
Available online 27 May 2009
show that apart from improvement in performance with respect to power factor and total harmonic dis-
tortion an appreciable amount of energy saving is also obtained in the electronic transformer based
scheme.
Keywords:
Energy conservation
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Power quality
Speed control
Capacitor-run induction motor

1. Introduction ac voltage-regulator was shown to be superior when its operation

The motor used for domestic fans is a capacitor-run single-phase
induction motor with squirrel cage rotor. The rotor resistance in
these motors is higher and is therefore, quite suitable for wide
range of speed control using stator voltage control. The commonly
employed method of speed control in domestic fan motors is the
use of a variable resistance in series with the stator of the motor.
As this scheme is cheaper, it is popular even today. However, this
is an inefficient method of speed control due to the power loss in
the series resistance. In the alternative schemes, the triac is inserted
either between the ac mains and the fan motor or in series with the
main winding. The triac based schemes are simple, reliable, cost
effective and superior in power savings [1–3]. The focus of the study
in literature [2,3] was to improve energy saving rather than the
aspects of power quality.
A pulse width modulated (PWM) ac chopper has been sug-
gested [4,5] as an alternative to an ac voltage controller. The ac
chopper employs forced commutated devices or self-commutated
devices. The performance characteristics of a symmetrical PWM
ac chopper controller-fed single-phase induction motor is available
in literature [6]. However, in this work the presence of line current
harmonics is substantial and no attention has been given to energy
saving. The performance of a capacitor-run motor supplied from an
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9442366994; fax: +91 431 2500133.
E-mail address: gsilango@nitt.edu (G. Saravana Ilango).
is compared with a single PWM ac chopper [7]. The dc chopper-fed
single-phase induction motor drive has an inherent problem of
high torque pulsations [8,9]. In the literatures [10,11], only cost
reduction technique and a method to improve efficiency have been
suggested. The important aspects of energy saving and power qual-
ity have not been addressed.
Thus it is important to consider both the energy saving and
power quality when performance characteristics of the drive is
analyzed. This paper suggests a new scheme for speed control of
a capacitor-run single-phase induction motor using an electronic
transformer. The electronic transformer is making use of an ampli-
tude modulation and phase shifting technique for achieving a
variable voltage and hence the speed of the fan motor can be
controlled.
An isolated high frequency link ac/ac converter is termed as an
electronic transformer. The electronic transformer has size and
cost advantages over a conventional transformer because of high
frequency operation of the magnetic core. Low cost and easy avail-
ability of ferrite core material has helped the implementation of
high frequency link power transformation [12–14].
The use of electronic transformer for speed control of single-
phase induction motor results in improved power factor, energy
saving, reduction in total harmonic distortion (THD), improved
efficiency and improved power quality as compared to triac and
all other schemes. Experimental results are presented to validate
the proposed scheme.

0196-8904/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2009.04.024
 G. Saravana Ilango et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 2152–2157 2153

I Ia Rc Xc Rla Xla 2. Mathematical modeling

2.1. Equivalent circuit

a2Rf
Im Rlm Xlm
Rf Efa The equivalent circuit of the capacitor motor, based on the two
a2Xf revolving field theory, is shown in Fig. 1.
Efm
Xf In Fig. 1 a is the turns ratio of the auxiliary winding to the main
winding, Rlm, Xlm are the resistance and the leakage reactance of the
+jaEfm
-jEfa/a
main winding (X), Rla, Xla are the resistance and leakage reactance of
V
a2Rb the auxiliary winding (X), Rc, Xc are the equivalent series resistance
Rb
and reactance of the capacitor (X), Rf, Xf are the forward equivalent
Ebm series resistance and leakage reactance of the rotor referred to the
Eba
Xb a2Xb main winding (X), Rb, Xb are the backward equivalent series resis-
tance and leakage reactance of the rotor referred to the main wind-
ing (X), Im, Ia, I are the main, auxiliary and motor currents,
+jEba/a -jaEbm
respectively, (A), Efm, Ebm are the self-induced voltages in the main
winding by its forward and backward fluxes, respectively, (V), aEfm,
Fig. 1. Equivalent circuit of the motor.
aEbm are the mutually induced voltages in the auxiliary winding by
the forward and backward fluxes of the main winding, respectively,
(V), Efa, Eba are the self-induced voltages in the auxiliary winding by

S1 S3
L
a I

C1 C2 I/M
Vi Vo

S2 S4

(a). Power circuit configuration

RAMP-1 RAMP-2

Vref

T
S1

α
S2

S3

S4

(b). switching pulse generation using dual ramp

Fig. 2. Proposed electronic transformer based scheme.
2154 G. Saravana Ilango et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 2152–2157

COMP-1
+
Substituting from Eqs. (3)–(6) into Eqs. (1) and (2) yields:
RAMP-1
- S1
V ¼ ðZ lm þ Z f þ Z b ÞIm  jaðZ f  Z b ÞIa ð7Þ
V ¼ jaðZ f  Z b ÞIm þ ðZ l a þ Z c þ a2 ðZ f þ Z b ÞÞIa ð8Þ
COMP-2
+
MMV-1 RAMP-2 S2 The solution of Eqs. (7) and (8) gives the main and auxiliary cur-
Square -
IC 74121
Wave DRG rents Im and Ia under any operating conditions. Hence, the total
Generator IC 741 motor current is obtained as
IC 555 MMV-2 +
COMP-3

IC 74121
RAMP-1 I ¼ I m þ Ia ð9Þ
-

Vref R-S flip-flop The net amount of power transferred across the air gap (Pg) is
S3
COMP-4 R Q obtained as
+ _
Pg ¼ ðI2m þ a2 I2a ÞðRf  Rb Þ þ 2aIm Ia ðRf þ Rb Þ sinðha  hm Þ
RAMP-2 S4
- S Q ð10Þ
Vref
where hm and ha are the phase angles of the main and auxiliary cur-
(c). Block diagram of a control circuit
rents, respectively.
The electromechanical torque developed (Tmd) is
T md ¼ Pg =xs ð11Þ
where xs is the synchronous speed (rad/s). The mechanical power
developed (Pmd) is given by
Pmd ¼ ð1  SÞPg ð12Þ
where S is the per unit slip. The output power (Po) is
Po ¼ P md  Prot ð13Þ
where Prot is the rotational losses.
The two voltage Eqs. (7) and (8) constitute the steady state
mathematical model of the motor. The solution of these equations
under any operating condition gives the main and auxiliary cur-
(d).Experimental set-up rents. Hence, all the performance characteristics of the motor at
this particular load point can be calculated. It should be noted that
Fig. 2 (continued) a particular load point means a given value for the applied voltage
and the motor speed [5].

its forward and backward fluxes, respectively, (V), Efa/a, Eba/a are the
mutually induced voltages in the main winding by the forward and
backward fluxes of the auxiliary winding, respectively, (V).
2.2. Mathematical model
The steady state mathematical model of the motor consists of
the system of equations which govern its steady state operation
under all operating conditions. From Fig. 1, the following equations
can be written:
V ¼ Z lm Im þ Efm þ Ebm  jEfa =a þ jEba =a
V ¼ ðZ la þ Z c ÞIa þ Efa þ Eba þ jaEfm  jaEbm
where:
Em ¼ Z f Im ¼ Im ðRf þ jX f Þ
Ebm ¼ Z b Im ¼ Im ðRb þ jX b Þ
Efa ¼ a2 Z f Ia ¼ a2 Ia ðRf þ jX f Þ
Eba ¼ a2 Z b Ia ¼ a2 Ia ðRb þ jX b Þ
3. Circuit description and principle of operation
The circuit diagram for the experimental set-up is shown in
Fig. 2a. In this circuit, four bi-directional switches are used in
which each bidirectional switch consists of four diodes in a bridge
configuration and an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT). The
IGBTs used are IRGBC40F, which is optimized for medium operat-
ing frequency (1–10 kHz). The switching frequency of the IGBTs is
fixed at 10 kHz to change the supply frequency into high fre-
quency, to miniaturize the transformer.
The principle of operation of the high frequency ac link elec-
ð1Þ
tronic transformer is based on amplitude modulation and a phase
ð2Þ shifting technique. In this method, a low-frequency sine wave of
supply frequency being modulated by a high-frequency square
wave. The high-frequency square wave is the switching signal to
ð3Þ the IGBTs. The resultant voltage after modulation can be obtained
ð4Þ by multiplying these two waveforms. Hence this voltage can be
transformed with a high-frequency transformer [13].
ð5Þ
To control the ac output voltage, the phase shifting technique
ð6Þ is employed. As depicted in Fig. 2b, in this technique the

Fig. 3. Experimental signals from the control circuit.

 G. Saravana Ilango et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 2152–2157
high-frequency square waves (10 kHz) to be applied as the switch-
ing signals to the secondary side IGBTs is delayed by the time a
with respect to the switching signals of primary side IGBTs. In
the proposed scheme, to achieve desired speed the voltage applied
to the fan motor is controlled. The voltage control is accomplished
by applying the switching signals as shown in Fig. 2b. S1 and S2 are
alternatively driven with 50% duty ratio signals. S3 and S4 are dri-
ven with the other 50% duty ratio signals with time delay (a)
a ¼ h  T=180
where h – phase difference (h = 0°  180°); T – switching ON time
(T = 1/(2fsw)) and fsw – switching frequency.
Considering the ratio of the transformer is 1:1 and the internal
resistance of the converter is negligible, the fundamental output
voltage is obtained as follows [12]:
V o ¼ ð1  2DÞV i
where D = a/T; Vo – output voltage and Vi – input voltage.
By raising the switching frequency the time integral of the volt-
age across the transformer is decreased, therefore the volume of
the transformer can be made smaller. Because the output voltage
and power flow are the maximum values under a given input volt-
age and a given switching frequency, it is important that the trans-
former should be designed for h = 0° to any switching frequency.
The range of h from 0° to 90° is used, as the output is zero when
h = 90° [12].
The control circuit for actuating the IGBTs is shown in Fig. 2c.
The IC 555 timer used as square wave generator produces a square
wave of frequency 10 kHz with a duty ratio of 50%. The square
wave from the IC 555 timer actuates mono-stable multi vibrators
(MMV). The MMV-1 and MMV-2 control the width of the two ramp
300mA/div
i
0[A]
200V/div
ii
0 [V]
10ms/div
(a) Electronic transformer
(i) Current drawn by motor (I)
(ii) Voltage across motor terminals (V o)
Fig. 4. Comparison of current and voltage waveforms of electronic transformer and triac based schemes.
Fig. 5. Harmonic spectra of motor voltage.
2155
signals (RAMP-1 and RAMP-2) generated by the dual ramp gener-
ator. The dual ramp generator (DRG) consists of two op-amp inte-
grators made up of IC 741. Four comparators (COMP-1 to COMP-4)
are used to generate switching signals. The COMP-1 and COMP-2
which detect the zero crossing of ramp signals generate switching
signal to S1 and S2, respectively. The ramp signals are compared
with the reference voltage (Vref) using COMP-3 and COMP-4. The
output of COMP-3 and COMP-4 is fed to the R–S flip–flop to gener-
ate switching signals with time delay (a) for S3 and S4 as shown in
Fig. 2c. The experimental dual ramp and switching signals are
shown in Fig. 3.
4. Experimental results
In order to verify the theoretical findings, an experiment is con-
ducted out on a 230 V, 1350 rev/min, 60 W capacitor-run induc-
tion-type fan motor for different fan speeds. For performance
comparison, the waveforms of voltage across the motor terminals
and the current drawn by the motor for the two different schemes
are recorded using Agilent technologies; USA made sensors and
instruments (ac/dc current probe – model no. 1146A, voltage probe –
model no. 10076A, digital storage oscilloscope – 54621A). Fig. 4
shows the voltage and current waveforms of triac and electronic
transformer based schemes recorded at a fan speed of 1115 rev/
min. In the case of triac based regulators, there is discontinuity
in the motor current and an appreciable amount of distortion in
the motor terminal voltage is observed. In the proposed scheme,
as voltage and current waveforms are sinusoidal, there is an
improvement in input power factor and efficiency, substantial
reduction in THD is observed. Fig. 5 shows the harmonic spectra
300mA/div
i
0[A]
200V/div
ii
0 [V]
5ms/div
(b) Triac
(i) Current drawn by motor
(ii) Voltage across motor terminals
2156 G. Saravana Ilango et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 50 (2009) 2152–2157
Fig. 6. Performance characteristics.
of motor voltage obtained from the proposed and triac based
schemes. In the proposed scheme, the lower order harmonics starts
from twice the switching frequency (fsw). Whereas in the triac
based schemes, lower order harmonics starts from three times
the supply frequency. As a result, the harmonics contents of the
proposed electronic transformer can be easily filtered out using
L–C filter shown in Fig. 2a.
Subsequently certain steady-state characteristics are plotted as
shown in Fig. 6 using the values measured at different speeds. These
characteristics include input power drawn, input power factor,
source current. The characteristic curves clearly demonstrate the
superior performance of the proposed scheme and also confirm
the validity of the analytical findings. From the characteristics
curves it is seen that the electronic transformer based scheme
exhibits improved power saving and better input power factor
when compared to triac based scheme over the entire speed range.
Also it is observed that in the triac based schemes, increased copper
loss due to the harmonic currents reduces the over all efficiency of
the motor. At higher speeds, the THD of motor terminal voltage is
high with triac; hence the efficiency of the motor with the proposed
scheme remains higher over the entire range of speed.
It is seen that there is a saving in power of the order of 8–10 W
with a single unit of electronic transformer operated motor of rat-
ing 60 W. The use of a large number of such motors with the pro-
posed scheme in domestic and small-scale industries will result in
reasonable saving in energy over a period of time. Though the pro-
posed scheme is little expensive (approximately, twice the cost of
triac regulator), it is advisable to go by the scheme as the power
saving over a period of time is quite large.
5. Conclusions
This paper explains a new scheme for speed control of capaci-
tor-run induction motors using electronic transformer. Experimen-
tal results show that apart from improvement in performance with
respect to power factor and total harmonic distortion an apprecia-
ble amount of energy saving is also obtained in the electronic
transformer based scheme. Even though the saving in input power
is only a few watts with a single motor, the use of a large number
of capacitor-run fans in domestic and small-scale industries will
result in increased energy saving over a period of time.
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