Electrical Drives (EPO640)

Rahimi Baharom (SMIEEE,MIET, MIEM)

Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Universiti Teknologi MARA, MALAYSIA

SESSION SEPT 2017 – JAN 2018

 SPEED CONTROL OF
INDUCTION MOTORS
 TYPES OF AC DRIVES

1. Static Frequency changers

2. Static voltage controllers
3. Rectifier-inverter system with line
commutation
4. Rectifier system with self commutation
5. Pulse-width modulation system
 Static Frequency Changers
 Static frequency changers convert the incoming line frequency
directly into the desired load frequency.
 Cycloconverters fall into this category, and they are used to
drive both synchronous and squirrel-cage induction motors.

Variable-speed drive system using a cycloconverter

 Static Voltage Controllers
 Static voltage controllers enable speed and torque control by
varying the AC voltage. They are used with squirrel-cage
induction motors.
 Static voltage controllers are also used to soft-start induction
motors

Variable-speed drive using a static switch

 Rectifier-inverter system with line
commutation
 Rectifier-inverter systems with line commutation rectify the
incoming line frequency to DC, and the DC is reconverted to AC by
an inverter.
 The inverter, in turn, is line-commutated by the motor it drives.
 Such systems are mainly used to control synchronous motors and
also used to control the speed of wound-rotor induction motors.
 Rectifier-inverter system with self
commutation
 Rectifier-inverter systems with self-commutation rectify the
incoming line frequency to DC, and the DC is reconverted to AC by
an inverter.
 However, the inverter is self-commutated, generating its own
frequency.
 Such rectifier-inverter systems are used to control squirrel-cage
induction motors.
 Pulse-width modulation system
 PWM systems are a relatively new development as far as
widespread industrial applications are concerned.
 They enable variable speed induction motor drives ranging
from zero speed and up.
 Their appearance in the marketplace is directly due to
availability of high-speed switching devices such as IGBTs.
 Torque and Speed Control of Induction
Motor – DC motor and flux orientation
 Based on Figure DC motor below, the field produces a flux ϕ
that is stationary in space and which can be varied by means
of the field current.
 When the brushes are in the neutral position, the armature
current I flows in the armature conductors in such a way that
every conductor is subjected to a force tending to turn the
motor CCW.
 Torque and Speed Control of Induction
Motor – DC motor and flux orientation

 The current axis is therefore in line with the field axis.

 The important feature is that the resulting torque is then
maximum and directly proportional to the product ϕI.
 Because the quantities ϕ and I can be varied independently, it
is very easy to control the torque.
 Torque and Speed Control of Induction
Motor – DC motor and flux orientation

 The speed can also be varied by raising and lowering the

applied voltage Es.
 Thus, a very low speed can be obtained with high torque by
simply applying a low voltage accompanied by a large
armature current I, while keeping the flux ϕ at its rated value.
 Torque and Speed Control of Induction
Motor – DC motor and flux orientation
 It is important to note that the orientation of the flux axis with
respect to the armature current axis has a direct impact on
the torque.
 By referring to Figure below, if the brushes are shifted, the
angle between the flux axis and current axis is altered and this
will produce a smaller torque.
 Torque and Speed Control of Induction
Motor – DC motor and flux orientation

 If the brushes were shifted off neutral by 90°, the angle

between the flux and current axes would also shift by 90° and
the resulting torque would be zero.
 The reason is that the forces on the armature conductors now
cancel each other.
 Thus, flux orientation relative to the armature current axis.
CLOSED LOOP CONTROL OF
INDUCTION MOTORS
 Introduction
 A closed-loop control is normally required to satisfy the
steady-state and transient performance specifications of AC
drives.

 The dynamic model of induction motors is more complex than

DC motors.
 Stator voltage control
 A control system is generally characterized by the hierarchy of
the control loops, where the outer loop controls the inner
loops.
 The inner loops are designed to execute progressively faster.
 The loops are normally designed to have limited command
excursion.

Stator voltage control

 Stator voltage control

Stator voltage control

 The speed controller K1 processes the speed error and generates
the reference current Is(ref).
 K2 is the current controller. K3 generates the delay angle of thyristor
converter and the inner current-limit loop sets the torque limit
indirectly.
 The current limiter instead of current clamping has the advantages
of feeding back the short-circuit current in case of fault.
 The speed controller maybe Proportional type, PI type, or a lead-lag
compensator.
 Volt/hertz control
 Figure below shows the volt/hertz control.
 After the current limiter, the same signal generates the
inverter frequency and provides input to the DC-link gain
controller K3.

Volt/hertz control
 Volt/hertz control

Volt/hertz control
 A small voltage V0 is added to the DC voltage reference to compensate for the
stator resistance drop at low frequency.
 The DC voltage Vd acts as the reference for the voltage control of the
controlled rectifier.
 In case of PWM inverter, there is no need for the controlled rectifier and the
signal Vd controls the inverter voltage directly by varying the modulation
index.
 For current monitoring, it requires a sensor, which introduces a delay in the
system response.
 Slip regulation
 Because the torque of induction motors is proportional to the slip
frequency, 𝜔𝑠𝑙 = 𝜔𝑠 − 𝜔𝑚 = 𝑠𝜔𝑠 , the slip frequency instead of
the stator current can be controlled.
 The speed error generates the slip frequency command, as
shown in Figure below, where the slip limits set the torque limits.

Slip regulation
 Slip regulation

Slip regulation
 The function generator, which produces the command signal for
voltage control in response to the frequency ωs, is nonlinear and can
take also into account the compensating drop V0 at a low frequency.
 For a step change in the speed command, the motor accelerates or
decelerates within the torque limits to a steady-state slip value
corresponding to the load torque.
 This arrangement controls the torque indirectly within the speed
control loop and do not require the current sensor.
 GROUP ASSIGNMENT

VECTOR CONTROL FOR AC DRIVES

PP Presentation date: Thursday

10 minutes per groups