IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 49, NO.
4, AUGUST 2002
Optimal Vector Control of Pumping and Ventilation
Induction Motor Drives
Jaime Rodriguez Arribas and Carlos Mario Vega González
Abstract—An original speed control for centrifugal pump and
fan drives with squirrel-cage induction motors that seeks the max-
imum energy saving is proposed. The strategy is based on mini-
mizing the motor and converter losses at the steady state and min-
imizing the transient time that the motor employs in passing from
one steady stage to another. The shortest transient time is achieved
by applying the Pontriagin’s maximum principle taking into ac-
count the parabolic load torque–speed dependence of these types of
drives. Short-time transients, which take the motor from one point
of maximum efficiency to another, contribute to reduce losses and
to extend the application of the energy-saving concept to the drives
with frequent changes of load torque and speed.
Index Terms—Maximum principle, optimal control, pumps,
squirrel-cage motors, ventilation.
I. INTRODUCTION
I N INDUSTRIALIZED countries, about 70% of all gener-
ated electric energy is used by electrical motors. In addition,
more than 60% of all the electric energy converted into mechan-
ical energy is consumed by pump and fan drives with induction
motors. This fact points out the importance of energy saving in
this type of drive.
It is surprising that, nowadays, the flow and pressure in these
drives, despite their importance, keeps being often regulated by
mechanical means, such as throttle valves and similar. The me-
chanical control brings unjustified high pressure and losses in
the pipes, valves, and other mechanical elements, and excessive
losses in the electrical equipment. Despite the fact that these dis-
advantages can be avoided by adequate electrical control of the
motor speed, the most extended method of electrical control is
still based only on the soft starting without any speed control
after the starting process is finished.
For many drives, including pump and fan ones, losses mini-
mization by voltage and frequency control is considered to be
convenient when those work at steady state. Since the precise
and reliable estimation of losses, aggravated by the variation of
the motor and converter parameters, is difficult, the direct mea-
sure of consumed power and its minimization [1] seems to be
reasonable.
The maximum efficiency requirement demands the increase
or decrease of the motor flux depending on the torque. This
means that the control system must be able to overcome the
motor electromagnetic inertia in transients to shorten its dura-
Manuscript received December 14, 2000; revised February 5, 2002. Abstract
published on the Internet May 16, 2002.
The authors are with the Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, E.T.S.I.I.,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28006, Spain (e-mail: jar-
ribas@inel.etsii.upm.es).
Publisher Item Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2002.801240.
0278-0046/02$17.00 © 2002 IEEE
889
tion. The quick transients help the motor follow the target speed
more closely and, in this way, it stays longer at low losses steady
states. This way, not only can the energy waste be reduced, but
also a greater product quality and quantity can be achieved, in
particular, when frequent flow changes are required.
The problem of the shortest optimal transient raises two ques-
tions (among others) as to: 1) the existence of the proper optimal
transient and 2) the final point of the process.
The first question must be treated inside the optimal control
theory, using the variational calculus or other methods as, for
example, the Pontriagin’s maximum principle. The logical an-
swer to the second question seems to be that the optimal tran-
sient must bring the motor with the minimum possible time to a
maximum efficiency point at the new steady state.
In [2] and [3], it was proved that Pontriagin’s maximum prin-
ciple can be applied to the induction motor drives with the con-
stant torque. However, the authors of these papers state as a
goal that the optimal transients reached the desired torque and
speed regardless of the closeness of the final point to the one
of maximum efficiency. Then, once the transient process has
finished, an iterative process of approaching the maximum effi-
ciency point, which can last some seconds and lessen the benefit
of the previous optimal transient, is needed.
In the present work, the Pontriagin’s maximum principle has
been applied to the centrifugal pump and fan drives, that is,
those with the parabolic relationship between the load torque
and speed. In this case, the equations are more complicated and
cannot be solved separately, as it occurs, when the torque is con-
stant. At the same time, it has been stated not only reaching
the desired speed and torque at the minimum possible time, but
also setting the motor at the final instant near the maximum ef-
ficiency point. The comparison of the obtained optimal acceler-
ation process with some usual ones for this kind of drive (direct
start, start with a certain voltage/frequency ratio) showed the
advantage of the optimal process not only regarding the time
shortness, but also with respect to the losses in the electrical
equipment.
II. DETERMINATION OF OPTIMAL TRAJECTORIES
This task consists of determining the optimal trajectories that
lead the motor from the torque–speed initial point to the final
torque–speed point in the minimum time and taking into account
the relationship load torque-speed during the transient process.
In the operating point reached at the end of the transient process,
the flux level that ensures the minimum electrical losses has to
be fixed. This implies the need of knowing or previously calcu-
lating the corresponding flux level.
890 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 49, NO. 4, AUGUST 2002

Due to the difficulty of the exact and previous definition of the (11)
motor input variables that ensure the minimum electrical losses
at the end of the transient process, this goal is substituted by the (12)
simple and well-known criteria of “torque–minimum current re- (13)
lation” or simply “minimum current.” This criteria implies the (14)
minimum stator copper losses for a given torque. The analysis
in [4] shows that, for speeds up to the rated one, this criteria is where Is Ief fase, Ief fase being the
very close to the “maximum efficiency criteria.” On the other maximum admissible current in the drive, equal to the minimum
hand, the minimum current criteria is easy to apply, since in the among the maximum admissible currents in the motor and in-
rotor field coordinate system it means the exact equivalence be- verter
tween the direct and quadrature components of the stator current
vector. seg
The equations of the motor in such a coordinate system are
N m
(1)
rad/seg

rad elect. seg

(2)
(3) V

(4)
(5)

where
modulus of the rotor magnetizing cur-
rent vector;
direct and quadrature components of the
stator voltage and current;
stator resistance;
rotor resistance reduced to the stator;
magnetizing inductance;
, stator and rotor time constants, respec-
tively;
, total and rotor leakage coefficients, re-
spectively;
, rotor and rotor field speeds (electrical
radians per second), respectively.
For completing the drive model, the dynamic equation must be
added
where is the total moment of inertia (kg m ), and is the
motor speed (rad/s),
is the load torque (N m
and and are constants (N m and N m s , respectively).
Per-Unit Model: In order to achieve a system of equations
independent of the particular parameters of a given machine,
(1)–(7) are presented in per-unit values
The general control strategy proposed consists of the following:
1) Translate the motor from a steady-state operating point
to another in the shortest time without having the stator
current exceed the value. This, in per-unit values,
means
(15)
Place the motor at the end of the transient period in the
minimum stator current operating point, which is close to
the maximum efficiency operating point.
2) Lead the motor through an iterative process to the max-
imum efficiency operating point after the transient has fin-
ished.
If the inverter, which feeds the motor, is assumed to work as a
(6)
current source, it is possible to do without the voltage (8) and
(9), because the stator current becomes the input motor variable.
Taking into account the restriction (15), the Pontriaguin’s max-
imum theory [5], [6] can be applied for the calculation of the
(7) optimal trajectories.
According to this theory and (10), (13), and (14), the Hamil-
tonian function is defined as
(16)
from which two new differential equations for both Hamiltonian
(8) variables are obtained

(9) (17)

(10) (18)
ARRIBAS AND VEGA GONZÁLEZ: PUMPING AND VENTILATION INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVES 891

Expressions (17)–(23) with the adequate initial values of

and conform to the necessary conditions for achieving the
optimal transient processes.
The integration of (18) leads to

(24)

where angle represents the rotor position with respect to the

stator and is the constant representing the initial value
of the variable. Constant must be nonzero in order to
allow the motor torque (23) not to be zero. Thus, an accel-
erating process, produced by a positive motor torque, needs a
positive integration constant ( ) and a deceler-
ating process a negative one ( ).
According to Pontriagin’s maximum criteria, in order to find
an optimal process, the condition which states that the Hamil-
tonian maximum value must keep constant and positive during
the whole process, must be satisfied ( cte ).
The substitution of (19) and (20) in the Hamiltonian (16)
leads to
Fig. 1. Hamiltonian existing area.

Expression (16) is the equation of a plane whose

orientation with respect to and axes and inclination with
respect to the plane ( ) depends on the coefficients and (25)
of the and variables.
Considering the limitation (15), the existing area will be The fact that the Hamiltonian must remain constant during the
enclosed in the ellipse generated from the intersection of the optimal process can sometimes be used to calculate it easily for
plane with the cylinder whose base is the circumfer- special instants in the process, such as the motor starting initial
ence with radius equal to one. Since it is a plane surface, there is instant when the speed and flux are zero (
no extreme value, maximum or minimum, expected inside the )
ellipse. Thus, those values should be placed in the upper and
lower points of the ellipse, that is, in the limit of the , co-
ordinates existing area (Fig. 1), justifying the application of the (26)
Pontriagin’s maximum criteria in the calculation of the optimal Taking into account that with (17) gives ,
trajectories. whose solution is , where is the vari-
Since the value, required by the optimal trajectory, only able initial condition, which must be positive in order to allow
exists if the plane forms a nonzero angle with the the starting process. The necessary condition for an optimal
( ) plane, the optimal process could not exist if the process, according to (26), becomes
and coefficients in (16) are simultaneously zero.
Operating over (16), we obtain that the value is maximum (27)
when
In order to simplify the equations, derived from the Pontriagin’s
(19) criteria, a new variable can be introduced

(20)
resulting in
Equations (19) and (20) with (10) and (13) give
(28)
(21)
Showing (17) and (18) like
and (22)
and
where
then (28) becomes

(23) (29)
892 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 49, NO. 4, AUGUST 2002

TABLE I
INITIAL 9 VALUES OF OPTIMAL TRAJECTORIES

(a)

(a)

(b)
Fig. 3. Motor variables during an optimal deceleration.

(33)

(34)

(35)
(36)

The necessary condition (27) would be

(b)
(37)
Fig. 2. Motor variables during an optimal acceleration.
In order to verify this theoretical development, a control
system, whose algorithm was tested in a pumping prototype
Making the same substitution in (19), (20), (21), and (23), we drive after the corresponding system simulation stage, was
finally obtain designed.
The pump and asynchronous squirrel-cage motor data used
(30) in this simulation are the following:
• motor— W; V; A;
(31) r/min Hz; ;
; ; ;
(32) H H; H
s s ;
ARRIBAS AND VEGA GONZÁLEZ: PUMPING AND VENTILATION INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVES
Fig. 4. Control system block diagram.
• pump— r/min; pressure 3.15 bar;
kg m ; ; .
Base values are as follows:
A; N m;
rad s V;
p.u; p.u; p.u.
For a given electrical drive and a given stator current restric-
tion, the correct optimal trajectory is univocally defined by the
initial condition which depends on the speed increment re-
quested and the initial and final values of the current as well.
These values are easy to obtain from the operating point infor-
mation, the new speed requested, and the new load torque re-
lated to that speed, considering that the motor must reach a min-
imum current operating point at the end of the transient process.
From it is obtained for steady state and
taking into consideration (12), (13), and (14),
and
Due to the closeness between the operating point stated by
the minimal current criteria and that of the maximum efficiency,
has been chosen according to the assumption that the stator
current at the beginning of the transient is also the minimum
current for the existing torque.
In order to free the microprocessor from calculation of
each time the speed changes, Table I of values, for different
combinations of initial and final speeds, has been calculated and
kept in the memory. This table allows interpolation if real values
do not coincide with the stored ones.
893
As an example, the curves corresponding to a definite process
of acceleration from zero to the machine rated speed (0.65 p.u.)
with the initial conditions , , and
are presented in Fig. 2.
; The opposite process to the one mentioned before, that is,
the braking process from the rated speed to zero is shown in
Fig. 3, whose initial conditions are the following: ,
, and .
III. CONTROL SYSTEM
The designed control algorithm is divided in two parts: one
part whose task is to translate the motor from one operating
point to another through the adequate optimal trajectory and the
other which is in charge of keeping the motor at a maximum ef-
ficiency operating point in the steady state for a given speed and
torque. The first part acts when a modification in the reference
speed is produced. Its function consists of determining the nec-
essary optimal trajectory, starting from the present state of the
motor ( ) and the aimed speed, creating the adequate ref-
erence signals and . Once the desired speed is reached,
the motor changes into steady state with minimum stator current
for the new load torque.
From this moment, the second algorithm acts. The search for
the maximum efficiency operating point is based on [1] and con-
sists of an iterative algorithm which applies small increments to
the reference signal while reference signal is in charge
of maintaining the required torque and speed. A step followed
by a decrease in the consumed active electric power means that
894 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 49, NO. 4, AUGUST 2002

it acts in the correct direction and must be repeated. Otherwise,

a successive step will be reversed.
The closeness of the stator current space vector to its ref-
erence signal in both transient and steady states is achieved by
a special algorithm that selects the most convenient state of the
insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) three-phase inverter
among the eight possible ones. In this way, the inverter, in spite
of being a voltage-source one, acts as a current source which
permits us to ignore the voltage equations of the motor model
(1), (2), (8), and (9), as mentioned previously.

IV. RESULTS OF THE SIMULATION

The regulation system designed for pumping drives has been
simulated in Matlab Simulink. (a)
The system block diagram shown in Fig. 4 includes, among
others, the block “Transient” that conforms the optimal trajec-
tories in transients, the block “Steady State” that controls the
search for the maximum efficiency point at steady state, the
block “Switch” that decides which of the preceding blocks must
act, according to the difference between the target speed (“Speed
Reference”), stated by the user and the real motor speed (“En-
coder”). The optimal trajectory in each definite case is deter-
mined by an initial value that is extracted by the block “Tran-
sient” from Table I, according to the difference between the
target speed and initial real speed, but only in the moment of
target signal change. Once is determined, “Transient” be-
gins to generate the appropriate optimal trajectories of and
.
The output of the control algorithm in each cycle defines the (b)
state of each one of the six IGBTs of the inverter, which feeds the
drive motor, through digital signals that reach the optocouplers
where they are converted into the electrical signals that rule the
IGBT drivers.
Fig. 5 shows the variation of the stator current and torque
during the acceleration process up to the rated motor speed
(1400 r/min 293 rad e/s) and later during the braking
process down to 60% of the rated speed, which is similar to the
theoretically calculated curves (Figs. 2 and 3).
The stator current limitation during transients as well as the
load torque (speed dependent) and their jumps from the tran-
sients to the steady states and viceversa can be observed.

V. LABORATORY TESTS. RESULTS (c)

The feasibility of the designed regulation system was tested Fig. 5. Motor variables during simulated optimal acceleration and deceleration
processes.
in a real installation, composed of an industrial centrifugal pump
(21 m h and 31.5 water column meters), coupled to a 5.5-kW
induction motor fed by an IGBT inverter bridge. The control In Fig. 6(a), the optimal trajectories of the current and
has been programmed in a TMS320C31 digital signal processor the reference current as well as the motor speed are shown,
(DSP). The available inverter voltage and current (230 V and 25 while in Fig. 6(b) are the other currents components and ,
A), lower than those desired, forced the use of a motor different the ones that are presented, all corresponding to a pump starting
from the one used for the simulation and did not allow the full process up to a speed of 420 r/min (approximately 1/3 of the
utilization of the installation. In order to save space, only a few rated speed). The reference curves are presented as white lines.
of the most important data of the electric drive are mentioned Notice the good following process of the reference signals by
as folows: W; V; A; the stator current. The reason why a speed restriction was made
r/min; Hz; kg m ; was the computational speed of the DSP, which allowed 200 s
A; s; ; for the main cycle program, when this time step should have
. been 50 s in order to reach the rated speed.
ARRIBAS AND VEGA GONZÁLEZ: PUMPING AND VENTILATION INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVES
(a)
(b)
Fig. 6. Measured stator current components and their references during an
acceleration test.
In order to show clearly the transient process in Fig. 6,
the maximum efficiency searching system operation is not
presented.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
In order to reduce losses, a control system for the centrifugal
pump and fun drives, based on induction squirrel-cage motors,
has been proposed. It has been proved that the Pontriagin’s max-
imum principle can be applied to the drives with parabolic de-
pendence between load torque and speed in order to minimize
the transient duration when the motor passes from one max-
imum efficiency steady point to another with limited stator cur-
rent. The optimal trajectories of the motor variables for different
combinations of initial and final steady stages were defined.
895
The short-time optimal transients enable the motor to follow
the target speed more closely and to stay more time in max-
imum efficiency steady states. They also contribute to reducing
the transient losses in electrical equipment in comparison with
usual methods of speed regulation and permit the extension of
the solution of the losses reduction problem to the drives with
frequent speed changes.
Finally, the proposed control system has been proved in lab-
oratory real pump equipment with a squirrel-cage motor and an
inverter controlled by means of a DSP.
REFERENCES
[1] D. S. Kirschen, D. W. Novotny, and T. A. Lipo, “On-line efficiency op-
timization of a variable frequency induction motor drive,” IEEE Trans.
Ind. Applicat., vol. IA-21, pp. 610–616, May/June 1985.
[2] S. Sangwongwanich, M. Ishida, S. Okuma, and K. Iwata, “Manipula-
tion of rotor flux for time-optimal single-step velocity response of field-
oriented induction machines,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 24, pp.
262–270, Mar./Apr. 1988.
[3] S. Sangwongwanich, M. Ishida, S. Okuma, Y. Uchikawa, and K. Iwata,
“Time-optimal single-step velocity response control scheme for field-
oriented induction machines considering saturation level,” IEEE Trans.
Power Electron., vol. 6, pp. 108–117, Jan. 1991.
[4] J. R. Arribas, “Control vectorial Óptimo de accionamientos eléctricos
asíncronos con par resistente dependiente de la velocidad,” Ph.D. dis-
sertation, Univ. Politécnica Madrid, Madrid, Spain, Mar. 2000.
[5] L. S. Pontriagin et al., The Mathematical Theory of Optimal
Process. New York: Wiley, 1962.
[6] V. G. Boltyanskiy, Mathematical Methods of Optimal Control. New
York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.
Jaime Rodriguez Arribas was born in Madrid,
Spain, in 1968. He received the Dipl. degree in
electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in
industrial engineering from the Polytechnic Univer-
sity of Madrid, Madrid, Spain, in 1993 and 2000,
respectively.
Since 1992, he has been with the Electrical Engi-
neering Department, Faculty of Industrial Engineers,
Polytechnic University of Madrid, where he teaches
graduate and postgraduate courses in electrical ma-
chines and their control. His current research inter-
ests include the loss minimization of induction motor drives and the control of
electrical drives.
Carlos Mario Vega González was born in Asturias,
Spain, in 1937. He received the Dipl. Degree in
electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in tech-
nical sciences from the Energy Institute of Moscow,
Moscow, Russia, in 1961 and 1977, respectively,
and the Dipl. and Doctor degrees in industrial engi-
neering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid,
Madrid, Spain, in 1980 and 1982, respectively.
Since 1981, he has been a Professor in the Elec-
trical Engineering Department, Polytechnic Univer-
sity of Madrid. His current research interests include
the control of electrical drives and power electronics.