MDSRC - 2017 Proceedings, 27-28 December, 2017 Wah/Pakistan

Design of Digitally Controlled Solid State Soft Starter for Induction Motor
Zeeshan Ali1, Ashar Wahid2, Waseem Shahzad3, Ghulam Murtiza4, Arslan Masood5
1
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Wah Engineering College, University of Wah
zeeshana459@gmail.com
2
Lecturer,Department of Electrical Engineering,
Wah Engineering College, University of Wah
asharwahid@yahoo.com
3
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Wah Engineering College, University of Wah
ma.wasi39@yahoo.com
4
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Wah Engineering College, University of Wah
murtizaugguana@yahoo.com
5
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Wah Engineering College, University of Wah
arslanm169@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
During induction motor starting, high inrush currents are dangerous as they can exceed the
current carrying capability of power cables, switch gears and circuit breakers and can
cause damage to the windings & insulation of power system components. To minimize the
inrush current in starting, there are various techniques of starting the induction motor.
Beside Direct on Line and Star-Delta starting techniques, electronic soft starting is a
mechanism designed to reduce the starting current of induction motors. In this work, a
solid state soft starter comprising of various devices like SCRs & TRIACS is designed. The
device limits the starting current by gradually increasing the applied voltage across the
load according to the pre-defined parameters like rise time and peak allowed current etc.

Keywords: Soft Starter, Solid State, Induction Motors.

1. INTRODUCTION: 1.2. Solution Achieved:

1.1. Problem Statement: To avoid above described problem,

Induction motor draws high inrush
current at starting and also cause
mechanical loss due to jerk at
starting. High inrush currents are
dangerous as they can exceed the
current carrying capability of power
cables, switch gears and circuit
breakers and can cause damage to
the windings & insulation of power
system components.
Soft Starting technique is used.
Beside Direct on Line and Star-Delta
starting techniques, electronic soft
starting is a mechanism designed to
reduce the starting current of
induction motors. In this work, a solid
state soft starter comprising of
various devices like SCRs & TRIACS is
designed.

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Power electronic switches are

3-PHASE DRIVE CIRCUIT MOTOR
controlled through Arduino (i.e. SUPPLY USING TRIAC
microcontroller) according to
CURRENT
predefined user parameters (i.e. peak 400V AC to
5V DC
ZERO CROSS
DETECTOR MEASUREMENT

current and rise time) to start motor

softly in given rise time and peak ARDUINO BOARD
current limit.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW: USER INPUT/PARAMETERS

ADJUSTMENT LCD DISPLAY
“Soren Kling soft starter handbook
ABB”[1], contain basic knowledge and
design of soft starter.“An engineering Figure 1: Block Diagram
Guide to Soft Starters”[2], it contain
knowledge about designing of soft 3.1. Zero Cross Detector (ZCD):
starters. Motor protection with starting
Zero crossing detector works as a
current limit also be studied[3]. comparator which is used to observe
the point of transition where sine
Motors can be start by different methods wave enters to negative cycle from
to avoid high starting current include positive and vice versa. As ZCD
Start Delta[6] technique in which first Circuit[9] is shown in figure 1.1.1.
circuit is on star configuration then
changes to delta configuration but it also
draws high current than solid state soft
starter as shown in figure 3 below.

Autotransformer is also a good starting

technique for getting maximum torque
with minimum line current[6] but it is also
expensive method.

Three phase circuits are observed using
TRIAC’s operation in controlling devices
and perform fast switching[8].
3. METHODOLOGY:
Our main objective is to give motor a
smooth start. For this we have to control
the initial current of induction motor.
This is done by controlling the input
voltage of motor. Complete method for
smooth start of motor is divided into
various sections. It consists of frequency
measurement, current measurement,
zero crossing and triggering or drive
circuit using TRIAC. All parameters are
displayed on LCD as well. Block Diagram
is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1.1.1: ZCD Circuit
As pulse comes, interrupt service
routine (ISR) is called. A variable value is
increased by one in interrupt service
routine and then come back to main
program. Here variable value is displayed
that shows number of interrupts or pulses
sensed by pin D2. As interrupt service
routine is called increment is made that
dispayed on LCD. As coding for that
interrupt is shown in figure 1.1.2.

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able to trigger TRIAC connected to phase

for limiting the voltage.

Figure 1.1.2: Interrupt Increment

3.2. Frequency Measurement:

As interrupt sensed by interrupt pin Figure 1.3: TRIAC Triggering

D2(Arduino mega 2560) given by zero
cross detector, interrupt service 3.4. Drive Circuit:
routine is called where time (T1) of
first interrupt is observed using
function millis () and as it is time (T2)
of tenth interrupt. Then difference of
times (T2-T1) gives total time
between first and tenth zero crossing.
This time difference is five times of
time period. So, difference is divided
by 5 to get time period of one wave.
Then inverse of this time period gives
frequency. Hence, frequency is
measured and displayed on LCD. As
interrupt sevice routine is called
increment is made and time is Figure 1.4.1: TRIAC Triggering
measured to calculate frequency The main task of controlling input voltage
using delayMicroseconds() command. to control the load current value is done
As coding for frequency calculation is
through this circuit. As circuit for TRIAC
shown in figure 1.2.
triggering[10] is shown in figure 1.4.1.

Each phase of the supply is controlled

and value is maintained by controlling
the conduction angle of TRIAC. Firstly
maximum conduction angle is given so to
maximize the control of voltage and then
conduction angle is increased with time
Figure 1.2: Frequency Calculation as it tends to rotate at normal running
speed as wave for controlled output
3.3. TRIAC Triggering: voltage is shown in figure 1.4.2.
Triggering of control devices are done on
the basis of reference point. To get the
actual point of reference we firstly get
the zero crossings of sine waveform.
Through this reference point of each
signal is determined and with this we are

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as primary and secondary is connected to

oscilloscope high voltage is observed in
very initial cycle that decoded in terms
of current which shows initial current is
three to seven times of running current.

Figure 1.4.2: TRIAC Triggering

4. RESULTS:
Different tasks has been done to
minimize starting current of induction
motors to done soft starting using soft
starter. Three Phase waveforms using Figure 2.1: High Inrush Current
MATLAB are observed as shown in figure
4.2. CASE #2(tr=1.5sec):
2.

Figure 2.2: 0.65A

Figure 2: 3-Phase Sine waves
The peak of starting current is observed
Sine waves of 50Hz are generated on 0.65A at rise time of 1.5 seconds.
MATLAB to observe zero crossing or
references to give alpha delay. 50Hz 4.3. CASE #3 (tr=3.0sec):
waveform is generated because in The peak of starting current is observed
Pakistan input (WAPDA supply) frequency 0.55A at rise time of 3.0 seconds.
is 50Hz. As we observe phase starting
from zero milliseconds, it crosses zero
again after 10ms and then negative cycle
starts and crosses zero at 20ms.

So, we are limited to give alpha delay

angle value between 0ms and 10ms.

4.1. CASE #1(Direct connected):

When induction motor is directly
connected to supply. A current
transformer (CT) where phase line acted Figure 2.3: 0.55A

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4.4. CASE #4(tr=5.0sec):

The peak of starting current is observed
0.49A at rise time of 5.0 seconds.

Figure 3: Starting Techniques

Figure 2.4: 0.49A
4.5. CASE #5(tr=6.5sec):
The peak of starting current is observed
0.45A at rise time of 6.5 seconds.
Figure 2.5: 0.45A
5. CONCLUSION:
Soft starter allows starting motor with
very low initial current to avoid
mechanical and electrical losses. It is a
best technique to start motor as we
compared it with other techniques as
well.
To accomplish our target, we have to
limit starting current by giving low
voltage at start of the motor with
highlighted soft starting technique. Here
we used Power electronic switches
(TRIACs) to control starting current by
giving low voltages as it includes fast
switching to control input voltage.
As input (WAPDA Supply) frequency in
Pakistan is 50Hz. So, we are limited to
control input wave with 20ms that
includes 10ms for positive and 10ms for
negative half cycle. To fulfill this task
alpha delay (0ms-10ms) is used to control
switch by controlling gate voltage using
Arduino (microcontroller) as shown in
figure b. In this way, motor current is
controlled. As motor starts, alpha is
reduced to zero to give full input voltage
to motor.
6. APPLICATIONS:
 It helps in reducing maintenance
of bearings, couplings, gear
boxes, pulleys, belts and chains.
 In protection of the motor.
 In controlling of any input voltage
with user defined current limit
and rise time can also be defined
by user.
 In any device where fast switching
is required.
 It can be used in lifts/elevators to
start smoothly without any jerk.

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 In industry motor windings can be [7] Chapman S.J., “Electric

avoided to burn by using soft
starter as it limits starting current
at minimum value as compared to
normal starting current
7. FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS:
7.1. Soft Stop Feature can be
Added:
Machinery Fundamentals”, 4th edition.
[8] M. H. Rashid, “Power Electronics
Circuits, Devices, and Applications”,
Third edition.
[9] www.dextrel.net/diyzerocrosser,
“Dextrel Dego’s Extreme Electronics
Lab”, on 26 March, 2017.

Soft Stopping of motor is a same [10] Geoff Garcia and Alfonso

vice versa process as it increases Camacho-Carrillo, “The Benefits of
firing angle linearly upto 180 TRIAC- Based Control”,
degrees that enables motor to https://www.ecnmag.com/article/2010/
stop smoothly. 08/benefits-triac-based-control on
08/31/2010.
7.2. By Using Different Switches:
Different Power Electronic Switches can
be used to improve speed of switching
hence efficiency can be improved.

8. REFERENCES:

[1] Johan Rees, Magnus Kjellberg,

“Soren Kling soft starter handbook ABB
AB”, Ceve-Control‟, November 2010
available on 15-03-2017.
[2] Akram Faraj Hussain, “An
engineering Guide to Soft Starters”
available on 15-03-2017.
[3] Schneider Electrics, “AC motor
starting and Protection System” available
on 03-11-2016.
[4] GE energy industrial Solutions,
“Soft Starter for 3 phase standard
induction Motors”, India available at on
10-04-2017.
[5] EATON Corporation, “Solid State
soft start motor controller and starter”,
February 2011 on 03-12-2016.
[6] H.H. Goh, M.S. Looi and B.C.
Kok, “Comparison between Direct-On-
Line, Star-Delta and Auto-transformer
Induction Motor Starting Method in terms
of Power Quality” IMECS 2009, March 18 -
20, 2009.