Copvright © I FAC Control in Power El ectronics

and Elt'ctric al Dri\"C's , Lau sannr , Switzerland. 1983

FIELD-ORIENTED CONTROL BY FORCED MOTOR

CURRENTS IN A VOLTAGE FED INVERTER DRIVE

J. Holtz and S. Stadtfeld

La boralory for Electrical Machines and Drives, University of Wuppertal, Postfach 100 127
5600 Wuppertal 1, Federal Republz'c of Germany

Abstract. The paper proposes an optimally pulsed voltage fed inverter drive with
field oriented control , in which the standard pulsewidth modulator as well as the
dynamic d eco upling system are completely eliminated. Instead, the reference current
components supplied by the field oriented control system are used to directly control
the switch ing state of the inverter with the aim of fo~cing the actual stator current
vec tor to trace the time-variant locus of the current reference. The inverter swit-
ching con trol includes an algorithm which ensures either minimum harmonic torque at
minimum switching frequency or, in the case of large -signal transients, operation at
steepest possible current gradient. The optimizat ion is being performed at steady
state and transient operati on, including operation at zero stator frequency.

Keywords. ac motors; converters; torque control; microprocessors; predictive control;

optimization ; on-line operation.

INTRODUCTION REVIEW OF RECENT METHODS FOR

INVERTER CONTROL

The squirrel cage induction motor fed from a

PWM inverter has become more and more attrac-
tive for the application in speed variable
drive systems of high power rating or for
servo drives of high dynamic performance
owing to the recent advances in the field of
semiconductor technology. New fast and power-
ful semiconductors devices have been made
available which in turn has stimulated the
development of PWM i nverters capable of hand-
ling a few megawatts of drive power (Appun
and co- workers , 1982; Holtz and Wurm, 1982).
I mp r oved mi c r op ro cesso rs faci litate the im-
plementation of sophisticated algo rithms for
gene r at in g the firing sequences o f the in-
verter (Pol lman n , 1982 ; Holtz, Stadtfeld,
and Wurm , 1983) . Al so , the elaborate process
of field- oriented control for the overa ll
drive system has become economica lly feasible
after the e xpensi ve e l ectronic hardware used
so far could be substituted by the software
o f a single microcompute r (Gabriel and Leon-
hard, 1982).
Two problems, however , have remai ned un-
solved with regar d t o h i gh performance PWM
inverter d rives :
1. Practicable optimal PWM cont rol
2 . Field-oriented con trol of a drive system
containing an op timally controlled in-
verter .
The fundamental voltage and the frequenc y
of a three-phase inverter fed from a con-
stant dc source are being contro lled by
pulse trains for the individual inverter
phases, commanding either positive or
negative potential at the three output ter-
minals of the inverter. The pulse trains
define the average switching frequency fs
of the inverter which is always well above
the fundamental frequency f . Generally, the
1
width of the pulses and the time interval
between two pulses will permanently change .
Both parameters define the harmonic spectra
of the inverter output voltage . Their effect
on the machine currents decreases with in-
creasing harmonic o rder owing to the low
pass characteristic of the leakage impedan ce
of the motor. As a consequence, the lower
order components dominate the current wave-
forms. They can be reduced by increasing the
switching frequency of the inverter. This
defines the basic problem of inverter con-
trol: Reaching a compromise between the
limited switching capability of the power
semiconductors and the acceptable harmonic
distortion of the machine currents.
Harmonic distortion of the machine currents
can be characterized
- by the rms value of the distortion current,

The following review will give a more de- - by the amplitude spectrum of its fourier
tailed discussion . Thereafte r, a soluti on components or
to the above problems 'viii be presented.

10 3
104 J. Holtz and S. Stadtfeld

by the maximum peak current, a quantity been given so far. At lower stator frequency,
composed of the amplitudes and the phase where the number of pulses per cycle increa-
angles of the individual fourier compo- ses rapidly, off-line computed patterns fail
nents of the load current. to be applicable even in the steady state.

Of particular interest is the maximum pos-
sible load current that may occur under
worst case operating conditions of the en-
tire drive system. This limit value is
difficult to predict as it not only depends
on the inverter control but on the dynamic
properties of the drive control as well. In
order to ensure safe operation of the in-
verter, a distinct safety margin must be
observed when designing its power components.
In most of the inverter control schemes the
switching frequency fs is an integer mul-
tiple N of the fundamental frequency f1
where N is the pulse number.
It may be concluded that these optimal con-
trol strategies are not likely to gain much
significance. They are definitely excluded
from being applied in a field oriented drive
control system for high dynamic performance
as this would require to control the phase
angle of the fundamental three-phase system
independently. Such control necessarily
stimulates a transient process thereby vio-
lating the basis of the optimization app-
roach.
FIELD ORIENTATION

A traditional way of generating pulse pat- The introduction of space vectors is an ex-
terns is the well known suboscillation pedient approach for the dynamic analysiS of
technique (Schonung and Stemmler, 1964). A an induction motor. It is customary to ne-
periodic carrier signal of frequency glect space harmonics and iron losses. Con-
fs = Nfl defines the period time of a pulse sidering a reference frame that rotates syn-
chronously with the magnetic field we obtain
train while the width of the individual pul-
the voltage equation of a squirrel cage
ses is modulated by a reference signal of
rotor in the following form:
frequency f .
l
d~
As the period time of the pulse train is
o r i + ~ + jw ~ (1)
dependent on f , the only remaining degree r-r dT r-r
l
of freedom is the pulsewidth. This restric-
where
tion leads to comparatively high harmonic
distortion (Holtz and Stadtfeld, 1983).
Special sampling techniques (Jayne, Bowes,
~
-r
= I i
h-s
+ 1 i
r-r
(2)
and Bird, 1977) have been proposed to over-
come this defect without gaining much im- is the rotor flux linkage. All quantities
portance, however. Instead, the original are normalized, Appendix I: We define the
suboscillation method is still being used magnetizing current of the rotor as
in most modern equipment (Moschetti, 1982),
obviously because other methods cannot com-
i = !r/~ ( 3)
pete with respect to the dynamic performance
of the inverter control.
-=
or using Eq. (2)
Those other methods are optimal inverter
control strategies which have been largely i i + (1+0 H. (4)
-mr -s r -r
discussed during the past decade: The har-
monic elimination technique (Daum, 1972),
the minimization of the rms value of the
o
r
11 is the leakage coefficient of
I
ro Ih
harmonic currents (Buja and Indri, 1977), the rotor. From Eqs. (1) and (4) we obtain
and the minimization of the peak current the differential equation of the rotor
(Holtz, Stadtfeld, and Wurm, 1983). All
methods are based on an off-line computa- di
tion of optimal pulse patterns for steady T ~ + (1 + jw T)i i (5)
r dT r r -mr -s
state operation of the drive; as a conse-
quence, only in the steady state do these
where T = I Ir is the rotor time constant.
patterns comply with the respective optimum r r r
criterion, while the benefits of the opti- In order to effect the desired field orien-
mization concept are being lost at transient tation, the reference frame is now being
operation. It could be even imagined that aligned with the rotor flux vector !r
the performance at transient operation is
(Blaschke, 1972). Considering Eq. (3) we can
worse than that of the suboscillation
write
method - a proof of the contrary has not
 Field-Oriented Control 105

i imr exp(jO) (6) commanded va lues of the stator current

-mr
components into signals which represent the
stator voltages (Blaschke, 1972; Gabriel
The new orientation of the reference frame
and Leonhard, 1982). These signals are used
permits a decomposition of Eq. (5) into its
to control the pulsewidth modulator. Decoup-
real and its imaginary part
ling is performed by two additional control
loops, one for each vector component. The
di
~+ i
dynamics of the decoupling system are gene-
T i ( 7)
r d1 mr sa rally improved by feed-forward control ,
using signals derived from a machine model.
(8) As is customary with linear cont r ollers, a
compromise has to be made between response
time and damping.
The machine torque is defined by

t - '¥ x i (9)
m -r -r
PREDICTIVE CONTROLLER
Using Eqs. (3) , (4) and (6) we obtain

( 10) The predictive controller replaces the

dynamic decoupling system and the pulsewidth
modulator.
The mechanical system is governed by the
differential equation
It is assumed that a superimposed drive
contr~l *
system supplies two signals isa
t (11 )
m and isb which are the field oriented compo-
nents of the commanded stator current vector
where tL is the load torque.
*
~s' Fig. 2. The vector ~s* defines the loca-
The dynamic block diagram Fig. 1 is drawn
tion of a boundary area of arbitrary shape,
on the basis of Eqs. (7), (10) and (11).
its circumferential line being described by

*
~S(T) + i (<,0,1) exp(j(j)),
5
( 12 )

jb

<

h
;: - ~ -
!s
Fig. 1. Dynamic block diagram of the induc-
tion motor. k1 = 1/ 1+o )
r isb

is:
It shows that the rotor flux '¥
r
is excited
Fig. 2. Current vectors ~s * and ~s in a
by the in-field stator current component isa
field oriented reference frame;
through a first order delay of large time B: boundary line
constant 1 . The machine torque tm is pro-
r
portional to the quadrature stator current
component i ' According to the concept of
sb
The boundary line B is used as an indicator
field oriented control the two stator cur-
of whether the spatial error between the
rent components are being separately ad-
justed such that the desired values of ro- current command i * and the actual stator
-s
tor flux and torque will result.
current vector ~s can be accepted or not.
Conventional field oriented control of a In the first case, ~s is located somewhere
voltage fed inverter drive requires a dyna-
inside the boundary area, in the second
mic decoupling system to convert the
106 J. Holtz and S. Stadtfeld

case i is outside B.
-s
The transition of the vector i from inside
-s
the boundary area across the boundary line
B initiates a next switching state k of the
inverter to be computed. The switching state
k is characterized by one out of seven pos-
sible locations of the stator voltage vec-
tor. Referred to a stator-fixed reference
frame we have
Fig. 4. Predicted trajectories and actual
k 1. .. 6
_ {TT /3 . eoxp(jkTT/ 3), trajectory of the stator current
u (k)
-s
(13 )
vector at steady state * = const.
~s
k = 0
Boundary area rectangular.
The discrete locations u (k) are shown in
-s
Fig. 3.
The predicted trajectories of the stator
After a transition has been detected at
, = '0' seven possible trajectories of the current vector i ("k) and the future loca-
-s
current vector ~s("k) are predicted using tion of the boundary line ~(, - '0) are now
being used to calculate k different tLme
the linear approximation
intervals ~ ,(k) = 'k - '0 where 'k is the
time at which the trajectory ~s("k) will
i
-s
(, ,k) , o . (, ,o )
again intersect the boundary line. The new
switching state is selected on the basis of
(14 ) the predicted time intervals ~'(k). There
are two cases:

1. Slow transition of the boundary line

k • 1
After the transition has been detected, the
vector ~s is still remaining in the neigh-
bourhood of the boundary line. This is the
n a
normal case of steady state operation or of
3 slowly changing operating conditions. The
new switching state k is chosen such that

6T (k)
-+ max (16 )
n (k)
c

where n (k) is the number of commutations

Fig. 3. Locations of the stator voltage vec-
c
required by the inverter to change from the
tor u (k) in a stator fixed reference
-s previous switching state k (, ,,: , ) to the
o
frame
new switching state k(, ~ '0). This algo-
rithm minimizes the switching frequency of
the inverter.
The trajectories are shown in Fig. 4. In a
2. Rapid transition of the boundary line
Similar manner, the trajectory of the com-
manded vector ~s * is predicted: A steep gradient of the commanded vector
i * or of a disturbance will cause a rapid

i * (T) i * (, ) +- --
*
d~s (,) I .(, - , )(15)
-s
movement of the current vector i
-s
across
-s -s 0 d, , , 0
o the boundary line. The vector will be loca-
ted at a certain distance from the boundary
*
~s(') and Eq. (12) define the future loca- area, shortly after the transition of the
boundary line has been detected. In this
tion of the boundary line B(, - '0)' Fig. 4.
case, the new switching state k is chosen
such that
 Field-Oriented Control 107

di
tn (k) -+ min. (17) T -mr + (1 - jWT ) i = i . (22 )
r dT r - mr -s
This algorithm minimizes the response time
Eqs. (19) , (20) and (22) are represented in
at large-signal transients.
the block diagram of the machine model
Fig. 5. !s is the measured stator current
Note that in any case the load current mag-
nitude is strictly kept within preset boun- referred to in stator coordinates, W is the
daries. Hence as a supplementary condition measured speed. The signal ~s(k) is gene-
to the optimum criterion Eqs. (16) and (17)
rated by the control algorithm cyclically
the rms value of the harmonic distortion
for k = 0 ... 6 each time a new inverter
currents is maintained below a preset level
switching state k is being searched.
(Holtz and Stadtfeld, 198 3). Also the maxi-
mum peak inverter current is being limited
to a predeterminable value. This is a unique
quality of the predictive controller which
permits operation at reduced current safety
margin. There are no current overshoots that
must be accounted for , neither from the
drive controllers nor from the switching
control of the inverter.

MACHINE MODEL ~
dT

A model of the induction motor is used to

serve the following purposes:
Fig . 5. Block diagram of the machine model
1. Find the diretion ej~ of the rotor flux in a stator-fixed reference frame.
vector fr (Field orientation). k2 = Ih/(1+0 )
r

2. Compute the derivatives d!s(T,k)/dT for

the evaluation of Eq. (14).

Consider the stator voltage equation in a DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEM

stator-fixed reference frame

di (k) di The block diagram of the drive control

-s -r
u (k) r i + 1 ( 18) system is shown in Fig. 6. It contains the
-s s-s s dT dT
machine model, the predictive controller
and two PI-controllers for torque and flux,
The rotor current vector i is eliminated
-r respectively. The machine model operates in
using Eq. (4). We neglect the stator resis- stator coordinates, denoted by (S), the
tance r and solve for the derivative of the predictive controller in field-oriented
s
coordinates, marked (F). Two coordinate
stator current vector
converters perform the necessary transfor-
mation S -+ F. The transformation angle ~ is
di (k)
-s supplied by the machine model. The signal
(u (k) - u .). (19)
dT 01 -s -~ ~s(k) is being generated in stator coordi-
s
nates and needs no transformation.
~i is the voltage induced by the rotor flux
The input to the predictive controller is
di
-mr * The compo-
the stator current reference !s.
u. (20)
-~ dT
nents of this signal are derived from the
flux controller and the speed controller,
Consider now the rotor voltage equation in
a stator-fixed reference frame: * - channel
respectively. The gain in the isb
is increased at field-weakening operation
d'l'
-r according to Eq. (10).
o r i
r-r
+ -- (21 )
dT
A dynamic representation of the drive con-
Substituting the rotor flux form Eq. (2) trol system is given in Fig. 7 . As the pre -
and introducing the magnetizing current dictive controller forces the stator cur-
from Eq. (4) we obtain rent vector i to trace the time variant
-s
108 J. Holtz and S. Stadtfeld
locus of its commanded value i * at zero
-s
error with respect to its fundamental compo-
nents, the two vectors can be considered
equal but for a small time delay introduced
by the inverter switching. The transporta-
tion delay time constants Ta and Tb may be
different for the individual vector compo-
nents depending on the shape of the boun-
dary area ~. It is obvious that Ta and Tb
decrease as the area B reduces in size, as
this cause the switching frequency to in-
crease.
w'
Fig . 6 . Drive control system
Fig. 7 . Dynamic block diagram of the drive.
k2 = \ / (1+o )
r while the switching frequency is reduced
RESULTS
In a first step, the predictive controller
and the field o riented control system were
simulated on a digital computer. Steady
state operation using a boundary area of
circular shape is shown in Fig. 8. The
diameter of the boundary circle sets the
switching frequency to 550 Hz. The rrns
value of the distortion currents can be
considered minimized (Holtz and Stadtfeld,
1982) •
t ,_
'sa
b)
'sb
+--------;r - - - - - r - - -------,
2n 3n
-- - lOms
Fig. 8. Steady state operati on, circular
boundary area
a) line current
b) field oriented current compo-
nents
A different approach to the optimization
problem is made by taking advantage of a
special property of the induction motor.
While the instantaneous torque depends
directly on the instantaneous value of the
quadrature current component i , the in-
sb
field component isa is passing through a
first order delay of large time constant
before affecting the torque via the rotor
flux !r' Fig. 1. TIlis suggests the use of
a boundary area of rectangular shape, being
aligned with the field axis as shown in
Fig. 4. Such boundary area leaves the
quadrature current isb unaffected while
permitting high ripple of the isa component.
Fig. 9 shows that the rotor flux is free of
ripple, nevertheless. Hence we have the
same amount of torque ripple as in Fig. 8,
to 320 Hz.
The isa current ripple is reflected on the
line current in a very favorable way. At
rated load, Fig. 4, the large isa-error
0
adds at an angle of about 60 to the vector
i in the worst case. Its contribution to
-s
 Field-Oriented Control 109

the peak inverter current is almost as low time at 1,5 times rated torque is 37 ms.
as that of the smaller isb-error. This re- 'Ihe average switching frequency during this
period is only 202 HZ, the ratio peak
sults in curren~ waveforms similar to those
torque by average torque 1,08.
obtained by an I ~ min algorithm (Holtz,
Stadtfeld, and Wurm, 1983), in which the
largest c urrents peaks look like being
clipped, Fig. 9. Further improvement can be
achieved by cutting the upper right corner
o f the boundary area in Fig. 4.
'0

'b
o+---""'-~

-1

a)

'c

-1
a)

!1~ ~ ~
ol
'c "~2nN 'so
1

J -1
]n
T _

I 1
'sb
o'-N""'I'I-~-

-1 T -
b)

'!<l+------.------",-------"
-1
2n
T _
3n

~r J+------.------",------"
2n 3rt
c)

T_

Fig. 10. Speed reversal at t 1.5

max
a) line currents
Fig. 9. Steady state operation, rectangular b) field oriented currents
boundary area components
a) line currents c) speed
b) field oriented current components
c) rotor fl ill(

A Z 8000 microprocessor system employing an

external arithmethic hardware processor is
'Ihe dynamic behaviour of the drive control
presently being constructed for the practical
system at speed reversal is shown in Fig. 10.
implementation of this new control strategy.
After the input step has been applied to the
speed controller, the torque forming current
component isb rises at its steepest gradient,
reaching its rated value within only 0.5 InS. CONCLUSION
Near 2 _ro stator frequency the switching
frequency is also zero. While operating at
limited torque an integrator reset Signal A predictive controller forces the stator
r is generated for the speed controller current space vector of an induction motor
(Figs. 6 and 7), which eliminates the over- to trace the time-variant locus of a current
shoot of the speed signal. Total reversing reference vector in a field-oriented coordi-
110 J. Holtz and S. Stadtfeld

nate frame. This is achieved by direct con- REFERENCES

trol of the switching state of the inverter
whereby the conventional pulsewidth modula-
tor as well as the dynamic decoupling system Appun, P., and others (1982). Die elektri -
are eliminated. An on-line optimization al- sche Auslegung der Stromrichterausrustung
gorithm ensures minimum switcning frequency der BR 120 der DB. Elektrische Bahnen ,
at preset current ripple or selects the Germany, 80 , 290-294 , 314 - 317 .
steepest current gradient at large-signal Blaschke, F. (1972). Das Verfahren der Feld-
transients, if required. A commanded torque orientierung zur Regelung der Asynchron-
step of rated magnitude is executed in only maschine. Siemens Forsch.- u. Entwickl.-
0,5 - 2 ms, depending on the operating point. Ber., Germany, l, 184 - 193 .
Further reduction of the switching frequency Buja, G. S., and Indri, G. B. (1977) . Opti-
is obtained by permitting higher ripple of mal pulsewidth modulation for feeding
the in-field stator current component. This ac motors. IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., USA,
neither deteriorates the torque harmonics IA-13, 38-44.
nor does it increase the peak inverter cur- Daum, D. (1972) . Unterdruckung von Ober-
rent too much. The optimal control is also schwingungen durch Pulsbreitensteuerung.
effective during transients and at zero ETZ-A, Germany, ~, 528-533.
stator frequency. Gabriel, R., and Leonhard, W., (1982). Micro-
processor control of induction motor.
IEEE/IAS, International Semiconductor
Power Converter Conference ISPCC, Orlando ,
APPENDIX I USA, 385 395.
Holtz, J., and Wurm, H. P. (1982) . A new
type of voltage fed inverter for the me-
All quantities are normalized using the gawatt range. Elektrische Bahnen, Germany ,
following constants: 80, 213- 2 21 .
Holtz, J., Stadtfeld, S., and Wurm, H. P.
voltage f:2 x rated phase voltage (1983). A novel PWM techni que minimizing
the peak inverter current at steady-sta-
current i2 x rated phase current te and transient operation. Elektrische
Bahnen, Germany, ~, 55-61.
frequency rated angular frequency Holtz, J., and Stadtfeld, S. (1983). A pre-
dictive controller for the stator cur-
speed rated angular frequency/number of rent vector of ac machines fed from a
pole pairs switched voltage source. International
Power Electronics Conference IPEC, Tokio,
torque rated torque Japan.
Jayne, M. G., Bowes, S. R. and Bird, B. M.
time 1/(rated angular frequency) (1977). Developments in sinusoidal PWM
inverters. 2nd IFAC Symposium Dusseldorf,
Control in Power Electronic~ and Elec-
trical Drives, Germany , 145-154.
APPENDIX I I Moschetti, A. (1982). Microprocessor-based
PWM system for inverter-fed squirrel-
cage motor traction drives. ETG-Fachbe-
The results in this paper were obtained richte Mikroelektronik in der Strom-
using the following machine data: richtertechnik und bei elektrischen An-
trieben, Darmstadt , Germany, 425-4 31 .
x
s
= xr 3.0 r
s
r
r
0.02 Po 1 lmann, A. (1982). A digital pulse width
modulator employing advanced modulation
x x
ra
= 0.12 a 0.08 techniques. IEEE/ IAS International Semi-
sa
conductor power converter conference
ISPCC, Orlando, USA, 116 -1 21.
Sch6nung, A., and Stemmler, H. (1974). Gere -
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT gelter Drehstrom-Umkehrantrieb mit ge-
steuertem Umrichter nach dem Unter-
schwingungsverfahren. BBC-Nachrichten,
Germany, 699-721.
This research is being supported by a grant
of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.