Two-Phase Soft Start Control of Three-Phase

Induction Motor
Shrish Pandey, Shushant Bahadure, Krishna Kanakgiri, N.M.Singh

Abstract—In this paper two-phase soft start control of three- verify the effectiveness of the suggested topology, theoretical
phase induction motor is proposed. The present three-phase soft analysis and MATLAB simulation results are presented. The
starter for induction motor is compared with that of proposed improvement achieved in transient performance is shown by
two-phase soft starter on the basis of torque fluctuations, starting
current demand and starting time of induction motor. A closed comparing it to a three-phase soft starter.
loop type of control for voltage and current is used for balanced
operation during starting. This proposed topology is capable II. TWO-PHASE SOFT STARTER
of minimizing starting current and starting torque fluctuations. A. Circuit Topology
Simulation results along with theoretical analysis on 2hp, 460V,
four pole, three phase induction motor is presented. A basic circuit of two-phase soft start control topology is
Index Terms—Induction motor, soft starter, inrush current, PI shown in Fig.1. It consist of two sets of anti-parallel thyristors
controller. connected in two phases while the third phase is directly
connected to induction motor. Two contactors are used to
I. I NTRODUCTION bypass the soft starter when the motor attains the rated speed
Induction motors are being widely used for various ap- so that the power loss in thyristors and harmonic problems
plications such as conveyor systems, blowers, fans, traction, can be avoided. Motor supply voltage, terminal voltage and
elevators and pumps etc. These systems efficiency depends on current are sensed with the help of sensors for balanced
the performance of induction motor which in turn depends firing of thyristors and for providing feedback for closed loop
on the starting and running performance of induction motor. controller.
Direct starting of induction motors, specially, large horsepower
motors, will cause sag of supply voltage, heating and torque
fluctuation. Generally, the starting current and torque fluctu-
ation can be minimized by reducing the starting voltage of
induction motor [1]-[3]. Number of methods are available to
reduce the starting voltage such as reactor starter, star-delta
starter, auto-transformer starter and soft starters. Among all
these starters, soft starters are widely used because they are
capable of reducing starting current, reliable, noise free and
occupy less space [4]. In soft starter, the stator voltage is
controlled smoothly at line frequency between zero and full
voltage by symmetrically triggered thyristors. As a result the
starting current of induction motor increases slowly however,
this will leads to number of harmonics which are harmful for
induction motor as well as for grid. Hence, when the motor
is successfully started, the entire soft starter is bypassed with
the help of sensors and contactors.
Generally, a hybrid ABC/dq model is used for analyzing
the transient performance of the soft starter [5]-[7]. This will
help to minimize the complexity for the analysis of torque and
starting current during soft starting. In the proposed topology,
Fig. 1. Two-phase soft starter topology
as shown in Fig.1, two phases out of three are controlled with
the help of anti-parallel thyristors so as to control the supply
A DSP processor or Microcontroller can be used to produce
voltage and starting current in a closed loop fashion [8]. To
the required gate pulses synchronized with supply voltages and
Shrish Pandey and Shushant Bahadure are Research Scholar and Krishna feedback gains. Due to asymmetry of three-phases as shown
Kanakgiri and N.M.Singh are faculty at Electrical Engineering Department, in Fig.1, the problem of voltage unbalance arises during motor
VJTI, Mumbai, India. (pandayshrish@yahoo.com) starting period. This voltage unbalances will leads to negative
978-1-5090-0128-6/16/$31.00
2016
c IEEE sequence currents in stator winding, which consequently leads
to torque fluctuation during starting period. Therefor, a closed
loop type of control topology is used to control the firing angle
of thyristors in order to produce nearly balanced current profile
in all three phases during starting period.
B. Closed Loop Controller
Fig. 2. Per phase closed loop controller
In case of two-phase soft starter, along with initial ramp
voltage, starting current has to be controlled in two phases
with respect to third phase for balanced operation. Hence, the
closed loop controller will generate the firing angle of two
phases independently with respect to initial firing angle α0 .
Per phase closed loop controller for two-phase soft start
is depicted in Fig.2. In this controller, two types of feedback
control loops are used, basically a voltage PI loop and a current
PI loop for each of the two controlled phases. Using the output
of these control PI loops, the final firing angles are computed
as follows:
αphase = α0 − αV − αI (1)
where, αV and αI are the outputs of the voltage PI loop and
current PI loop, and α0 is the initial firing angle for each of the
two phases. The resulting firing angle αphase , obtained from
(1) is used to produce the gate pulses for firing the thyristors
of the two controlled phases. Here, for firing the thyristors,
α-control approach [9] is used rather than γ control [10].
Voltage PI loop is used to control the starting acceleration
profile and torque of the induction motor which in turn will
control the starting time of induction motor. A ramp voltage
?
Vramp is used as a reference command, which consist of
an initial voltage, start time and a final voltage. The rms
value of motor terminal voltages of two controlled phases are
?
compared with the voltage reference profile Vramp and the
errors are conditioned through a voltage proportional integral
(PI) regulator. The output of voltage PI regulator will give the
first part of firing angle αV for the two controlled phases [11].
This voltage PI loop is capable of controlling the voltages in
two phases whereas the voltage in third phase will differ from
that of two controlled phases. This unbalanced voltage will
give rise to unbalanced starting current, and starting torque
fluctuations. Hence, in order to balance the starting current, a
current PI loop is used (Fig.2). The average rms value of the
?
three phase motor currents Iavg , can be computed using the
measured rms values Ir(rms) , Iy(rms) and Ib(rms) as follows:
? Ir(rms) + Iy(rms) + Ib(rms)
Iavg = (2)
3
?
This Iavg is used as a current reference command for the
?
current PI loop. For balanced operation, Iavg is compared
with the rms motor currents of the two controlled phases, and
the errors are conditioned through a current PI regulator. The
output of current PI regulator will give the second part of firing
angle αI for two controlled phases [11]. Hence by regulating
the rms values of currents in two phases to be near the average
?
current Iavg , the current in all three phases will get balanced.
For starting the motor from standstill, an initial firing angle
for each phase is given and is represented by α0 , and the final
firing angle for each phase is αphase as shown in Fig.2.
Fig. 3. Block diagram of complete system
III. SMALL-SIGNAL MODEL OF CONTROLLER ,
SOFT STARTER AND MOTOR
Here, a small signal model of controller, soft starter and
motor is described. A block diagram of complete system is
shown in Fig.3. It consist of transfer function of the controller
Gc (s), the transfer function of the plant Gp (s), reference input
?
signal Vramp , and the system output Vrms which is function
of firing angle αphase . Induction motor is represented by a
simple first order transfer function and the controller consists
of a set of PI regulators for voltage and current loops with
unity feedback.
Fig. 4. Voltage Control Loop
Fig. 5. Current Control Loop
A. Transfer Function of Proportional Integral Controller and
Induction Motor
The PI controller depicted in Fig.3, basically consist of two
individual PI controllers for voltage and current control loops
as shown in Fig. 4 and 5. The operation of these two loops are
made independent of each other. This will simplify the design  
process of voltage and current regulator with single input and 1/2(Vvg − Vwg − er ),
 φ < ωt < α 
α < ωt < φ + 2π

Vvg ,

 

single output in their respective control system [8].
 3 
2π 2π 
 
ey , φ + 3 < ωt < α + 3 


 
The transfer function of the PI controller for the voltage 

Vvg , α + 2π < ωt < φ + π


Vyn = 3
loop Gc V (s) and current loop Gc I (s) are as follows:  1/2(Vvg − Vwg − er ), φ + π < ωt < α + π 
 
Vvg , α + π < ωt < φ + 5π

 

 3 
Ki V
 5π

5π 
ey , φ + 3 < ωt < α + 3 

Gc (s) = Kp + (3)

 
V V  
S Vvg , α + 5π < ωt < φ + 2π
 
3
(6)
Ki I where φ is the power factor angle, αphase is taken as α for
Gc I (s) = Kp I + (4)
S simplification, the winding back emf is considered zero during
starting i.e. er = ey = eb ' 0 and Vug , Vvg and Vwg represent
where Kp V and Kp I are the proportional gains, and Ki V the ac mains voltages, which are expressed as follows:
and Ki I are the integral gains of voltage and current con-
trollers respectively.
As depicted in Fig.5, an induction motor can be represented Vug (t) =Vm cos(ωt)
by a first-order model, expressed here in Fig.6 [12]. 2π
Vvg (t) =Vm cos(ωt − )
3
4π
Vwg (t) =Vm cos(ωt − ) (7)
3
Accordingly from (5), (6) and (7), the rms voltage for phase
r and y are as follows:
Vm h 5 5
Fig. 6. Induction Motor Model
Vr(rms) = √ π + {φ − α} + {sin(2φ) − sin(2α)}
2π 4 8
√ i1/2
3
where σ = 1−Lm2 /Ls Lr . Here , rs is the stator equivalent + {cos(2α) − cos(2φ)} (8)
4
resistance per phase, Ls and Lr are stator and rotor phase
leakage inductance, Lm is the magnetizing inductance in the
equivalent circuit model of an induction motor [13]. Vm h 5 5
Vy(rms) = √ π + {φ − α} + {sin(2φ) − sin(2α)}
2π 4 8
√ i1/2
3
B. Transfer Function of Soft Starter + {cos(2φ) − cos(2α)} (9)
4
In order to understand the non-linear nature of soft starter, As one can see from (8) and (9), the two controlled phases
and the relationship between the applied rms voltage and firing rms voltage expressions are not same. As a result, the voltages
angle, a mathematical expression is developed for two-phase in all three phases are unbalanced. Hence, the initial firing
soft starter in the similar manner as that of three-phase soft angle α0 for the two controlled phases will be different which
starter explained in [8]. is same for all three phases in case of three-phase soft starter.
The analytical expression of the motor line-to-neutral volt- In (8) and (9), firing angle α is the only variable, since
age during soft starting for two controlled phases over an ac φ is taken 60o during starting and Vm represents the peak
cycle is given by: magnitude of ac mains voltage.
Even though the soft starter is non-linear, a linear relation-
ship between the rms motor voltage and the firing angle (αV

 er , φ < ωt < α

 and αI ) can be obtained as :
2π
 
V , α < ωt < φ +
 
ug
 
3
Vrms (s)
 
2π 2π 
 
1/2(V − V − e ), φ + < ωt < α +


 ug wg y 3

3  = KαV (10)


Vug , 2π
α + 3 < ωt < φ + π

 αV (s)
Vrn =
 er , φ + π < ωt < α + π 


V , α + π < ωt < φ + 5π

 Vrms (s)

 ug 3 
 = KαI (11)
αI (s)
 5π

5π 
1/2(Vug − Vwg − ey ), φ + 3 < ωt < α + 3 



 

Vug , α + 5π < ωt < φ + 2π
 
3 for voltage and current loops, respectively, where KαV and
(5) KαI are gain constants resulted from linearization process.
C. Gain Constants Calculation for PI Regulators
The closed loop transfer function of overall voltage PI loop
and current PI loop as shown in Fig.4 and Fig.5, can be written
as follows:
KαV Kp V s + KαV Ki V
GCL V (s) = (12)
(1 + KαV Kp V )s + KαV Ki V
KαI Kp I s + KαI Ki I
GCl I (s) = (13) Fig. 7. Motor soft starter power structure in MAATLAB/Simulink
σLs s2 + (rs + KαI Kp I )s + KαI Ki I

To give fast transient and dynamic responses, the overall

motor soft starter system is designed at a particular bandwidth. B. Simulation Results
For voltage PI loop as shown in Fig.4, the design criteria for
The soundness of the proposed soft start topology for induc-
selecting the gain constants of PI regulator are as follows:
tion motor is validated by analytical solution and simulation
1) Gain crossover frequency, fc = 500Hz; results in MATLAB. The starting currents of three-phase
2) Phase margin, φm = 120o . induction motor obtained from two-phase soft starter and that
of three-phase soft starter are shown in Fig.8. The starting
Based on above mentioned criteria, the following equations
current profile in both cases are approximately same.
can be obtained as:
1
Kp V = (14)
2KαV
√
3ωc
Ki V = (15)
2KαV
where ωc = 2πfc is the angular frequency in rad/per second
and KαV is calculated from (10). Hence the gain constants
of voltage PI regulator for phase R is found to be Kp V =
0.00137, Ki V = 7.499 and for phase Y is Kp V = 0.001,
Ki V = 5.423.
Similarly, the design criteria for selecting gain constants of
PI regulator for the current PI loop are as follows:
1) Gain crossover frequency, fc = 500Hz;
2) Phase margin, φm = 90o .
With this criteria, the gain constants of the PI current regulator
can be obtained as:
σTe rs ωc
Kp I = (16)
KαI
rs ωc Fig. 8. Motor starting currnet results. (a) Proposed two-phase soft starter. (b)
Ki I = (17) Three-phase soft starter.
KαI
where Te = Ls /rs is the electrical time constants. Using the The motor load is of fan type, TL = kL ωm 2
, where ωm is
calculated KαI from (11), along with the given machine pa- the motor speed in mech-rad/sec and kL is load coefficient in
rameters of 2hp induction motor, the current PI gain constants N.m/(mech.rad/s)2 . The developed electromagnetic torque is
for R phase is found to be Kp I = 0.3, Ki I = 33.33 and for shown in Fig.9. for the two cases.
Y phase is Kp I = 0.2149, Ki I = 24.1 The starting current profile for two-phase soft starter under
three different load condition is shown in Fig.10. As one
IV. SIMULATION CIRCUIT AND RESULTS
can see the time taken to start the motor is different in all
A. Simulation Circuit three cases. Under no load condition, it takes 0.48 seconds to
In this paper, a three phase induction motor with 460V, start the motor and under fully loaded condition, it takes 1.1
50Hz, 4 pole, 2 hp, 1470 rpm, 2.8 A is used in the simulation. seconds to start the motor which is twice the time as taken by
The simulation circuits are constructed on MATLAB/Simulink motor when started direct on line.
as shown in Fig.7. Other machine parameters are rs = 3.85 Also from Fig.10, it is clear that the time taken to start the
Ω, rr = 2.57 Ω, Lls = 17.56 mH, Llr = 17.56 mH, Lm = motor with two-phase soft starter is same as that of three-phase
0.3727 H, total inertia = 0.028 kg.m2 . soft starter (i.e.t=0.64 sec at 40% load).
 The rms value of current in each phase of motor during
starting is depicted in Fig.11, which shows that the current
in uncontrolled phase (i.e.b-phase) is approximately same as
that of controlled phases. Hence, the proposed two-phase soft
starter is capable of balancing the currents in all three phases
while controlling only two phases of induction motor.

Fig. 11. Motor Phase Currents (rms)

V. C ONCLUSION
Fig. 9. Electromagnetic torque results. (a) Proposed two-phase soft starter. The proposed two-phase soft starter uses only two anti-
(b) Three-phase soft starter.
parallel thyristors for the two controlled phases rather than
three anti-parallel thyristors as in case of three-phase soft
starter as a result, a cost effective soft starter with only
two controlled phases can be produced with reasonably same
performance as that of three-phase soft starter for customers
at lower price. The closed loop controller used in this paper
shows a better error minimization which results in effective
transient performance. The proposed two-phase soft starter can
be easily implemented with the available micro-controller or
DSP processor. The simulation presented in this paper shows
an effective reduction of motor starting currents, and in turn,
reduced starting torque fluctuations when compared with that
of direct on-line starting, and same starting current and torque
profile when compared with three-phase soft starter. Still work
has to be done to reduce starting time of induction motor under
fully loaded condition.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Centre of Excellence
(COE) in Complex and Nonlinear Dynamical System (CNDS),
VJTI, Mumbai, India for the support required to carry out the
research work.

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