Speed control of three phase induction motor for Electric Vehicle by hysteresis

current control method

DIPANKAR CHATTERJEE

SUMMARY

There are a number of methods for speed control of three phase induction motor which can be
used in Electric Vehicles. One of the important methods is current regulated voltage source
inverter control. This operation is based on current controlled pulse width modulation
technique. Here induction machine phase current is required to follow a sinusoidal reference
current within a hysteresis band. Thus this method is referred to as hysteresis current control
method. The hysteresis band consists of two bands separated equally from sinusoidal
reference current. One band is above and another band is below the sinusoidal reference
current. Different switches in the three phases are triggered in such a way that actual motor
current remains within the two bands. The upper switch of each is connected to the positive
terminal of the DC voltage source and the lower leg of each source is connected to the
negative terminal of DC voltage source of the three phase inverter. So when upper switch of
any phase is closed the current in that phase starts rising and when lower switch of a phase is
closed the current of that phase starts decreasing. When current of a phase reaches the upper
band the upper switch of that phase is opened and lower switch is closed and when current of
a phase reaches lower band the lower switch is opened and upper switch is closed. When the
band is small,motor current is nearly sinusoidal. As band reduces, harmonic content in phase
current reduces but switching frequency increases.
This paper presents a method of MATLAB simulation of speed control of three phase
induction motor for Electric Vehicle application by hysteresis current control method. Here
the logic of this MATLAB simulation has been discussed in detail. This paper gives a clear
idea of hysteresis current controller operation. Here the hysteresis current controller keeps the
difference between reference current and actual current of the induction motor within a very
small band. Here all the blocks of simulation has been discussed in detail.Here all the required
responses are given as simulation results for clear understanding of the MATLAB simulation.

KEYWORDS
Three phase induction motor, Electric Vehicle, PI controller,hysteresis current controller,
alpha-beta to d-q transformation, d-q to alpha-beta transformation, alpha-beta to abc
transformation, abc to alpha-beta transformation, three phase inverter
 I. INTRODUCTION

In industry three phase induction motor is highly used for Electric Vehicle because it uses
three phase AC supply, it has wide range of speed control. There are a number of methods of
speed control of three phase induction motor. Direction of rotation can also be changed by
changing the phase sequence of the three phase AC supply. A popular method of speed
control of three phase induction motor is by application of hysteresis current controller. Here
in this method rotor flux oriented control is used. Here the reference speed and the reference
current representing the rotor flux, determines the three phase reference currents. The actual
motor current is compared with the reference current in a hysteresis current controller. The
hysteresis current controller keeps the variation of actual motor current within a small band
around the reference current. So the actual speed changes according to the change in reference
speed. In this method three phase to two phase, two phase to three phase, alpha-beta to d-q
and d-q to alpha-beta transformation are required. Here we first give a small description of the
operation of the three phase induction motor, PI controller, hysteresis current controller, three
phase inverter.

II. THEORY OF OPERATION OF THREE PHASE INDUCTION MOTOR, PI

CONTROLLER FOR SPEED CONTROL, PI CONTROLLER FOR CURRENT
CONTROL, HYSTERESIS CURRENT CONTROLLER, THREE PHASE
INVERTER

Three phase induction motor

Three phase induction motor works on Faraday’s laws of electromagnetic induction and
Lenz’s law. Here stator three phase current produces a rotating magnetic field which rotates at
a speed equal to stator supply frequency and its amplitude remains constant. This rotating
magnetic field links with the rotor of the induction motor. Thus an instantaneous emf is
induced in the rotor. Now the rotor tries to reduce the rate of change of the flux which is
producing the emf in the rotor. So the rotor starts rotating in the same direction as the stator
produced rotating magnetic field and its speed is smaller than rotating magnetic field by a
very small amount. This difference in speed is called slip speed.

PI controller for speed control

PI controller tries to make steady state error zero. Here by selecting proper value of
proportional gain Kp and integral gain Ki, the difference between actual speed and reference
speed can be highly reduced so that after changing the reference speed actual speed changes
within a very short time.
Kp = (0.866Jωc) / Ke
Ki = (Jωc2)/2Ke
where J is the inertia constant
ωc is the gain crossover frequency
Ke is a constant

PI controller for current control

Here by selecting proper value of Kp and Ki for current controller, the difference between
reference current and actual current can be highly reduced so that after changing the reference
current the actual current changes within a very short time.
 Kp = τr/ Tdi
Ki = 1/ Tdi
where Tdi is the current loop time constant
τr is electrical time constant of the motor

Hysteresis current controller

Hysteresis current controller is used to keep the actual current of the motor within a very
small band around the reference current. When the actual motor current of one of the phases
reaches the upper limit of the band then the hysteresis current controller sends signal to the
gate terminal of the switch in operation corresponding to the phase to make it Off. When
actual current of one of the phases reaches the lower limit of the band then the hysteresis
current controller sends signal to the gate terminal of the switch corresponding to the phase
current to make it ON. So by this procedure the actual current always changes immediately
with the change of the reference current.

III. MATLAB simulation of speed control of three phase induction motor by

hysteresis current control method

Figure 1: Block diagram representation of the overall system

The above picture represents the overall system. Here two reference speeds are applied at different
instants of time. The reference speed is compared with the actual speed of the three phase induction
motor and the speed error is given as the input to the PI controller for speed control. There is another
input which is reference current imr* which is equivalent to the reference rotor flux. This current is
compared with the current imr equivalent to actual rotor flux. The error is given to the PI controller for
current control as input. The output of the current controller is d-axis reference current isd* whose d-
axis represents the rotor flux. So this is synchronously rotating reference frame. The output of
the speed controller is multiplied with the unit step function which starts after 2sec.This time is given
for the generation of the flux as initially there is negligible amount of flux. Now the q-axis reference
current isq * is generated. The currents isd* and isq* are given as input to the d-q to alpha-beta
transformation block. There is another input ρ to this block. This the angle traversed by the rotating
reference frame axis with respect to stationary axis. Now currents i sα* and isβ* are applied to the
alpha-beta to abc transformation block. The output of this block is three phase reference currents
ia*,ib* and ic*. These currents are given as input to the hysteresis current controller. Here the actual
three phase currents of the induction motor are compared with the three phase reference currents. If
the actual current of one phase is greater than the reference current by an upper limit of the band of the
hysteresis current controller then it sends signal to the gate terminal of the switch in operation in
the leg corresponding to the phase to make it Off. When actual current is lower than the reference
current of one phase by an amount touching the lower limit of the band then it sends signal to the
switch of the leg corresponding to the phase to make it On. Now the pulses are given to the
gate terminals of the three phase inverter and the three phase voltages of required magnitude are
generated. So with the change of the reference speed the stator voltage magnitude changes. The
three phase current is then fed to the abc to alpha-beta transformation block. The output of the abc to
alpha-beta transformation block is given to the alpha-beta to d-q transformation block. So the
output are isd and isq. The current isd goes through a low pass filter block to get actual current i mr. This
is multiplied by the electrical time constant τr and then isq is divided by τrimr to get angular slip
frequency ωsl. There is a switch whose input is an unit step function starting after 2sec.
When input to the switch is 1 then its output is ωsl otherwise the output of the switch is 1. In
this way a time of 2sec is provided for flux generation. Angular slip frequency ωsl is added to the
actual angular motor speed to get the synchronous speed in radian/sec. From this angular
synchronous frequency by putting an integrator the angle ρ traversed by the rotating reference frame
with respect to the stationary reference frame can be obtained.

(a) PI controller for speed control

Figure 2: PI controller for speed control

This is the PI controller for speed control.

Here stator reactance = Ls = 0.272+0.008= 0.28H

Rotor reactance =Lr = 0.272+0.008 = 0.28H

So torque constant = (2/3)x (Lo2/Lr)x(imr)

= 0.9725Nm/Amp

Kp = (1.732x0.01x10)/(2x0.9725) = 0.089

Ki = (0.01x10x10)/(2x0.9725) = 0.514

(b) PI controller for current control

Figure 3: PI controller for current control

Kp = τr/Tdi = 0.235/0.01
=23.5

Ki = 1/Tdi
= 1/0.01
= 100

(c ) d-q to alpha-beta transformation block

Figure 4 : d-q to alpha-beta transformation block

Here we are using the expression

isα = isdcosρ - isqsinρ
isβ = isqcosρ + isdsinρ

(c) Alpha- Beta to abc transformation block

Figure 5:Alpha- Beta to abc transformation block

ia = (2/3)isα
ib = -(1/3)isα+ (1/1.732)isβ
ic = -(1/3)isα – (1/1.732)isβ
 (d) Hysteresis current controller

Figure 6:Hysteresis current controller

The reference currents ia*,ib* and ic* are given as input to the hysteresis controller. Here the actual
three phase currents of the induction motor are compared with the three phase reference currents. If
the actual current of one phase is greater than the reference current by an upper limit of the band of the
hysteresis current controller then it sends signal to the gate terminal of the switch in operation in
the leg corresponding to the phase to make it Off. When actual current is lower than the reference
current of one phase by an amount touching the lower limit of the band then it sends signal to the
switch of the leg corresponding to the phase to make it On. So by this process pulses are generated by
the hysteresis controller for proper operation of the switches of the three phase inverter.

(e) Three phase inverter

Figure 7:Three phase inverter

Here the required pulses from hysteresis current controller are given to the switches to make them On
and Off. Thus accordingly the inverter generates three phase voltage of required magnitude. Thus
voltage changes according to the change in reference current i mr* and reference speed.
 (f) Three phase induction motor

Figure 8: Three phase induction motor

Here three phase voltage is given to the induction machine and a torque representing the load torque is
given as input to the induction motor. Here actual three phase currents and speed and generated torque
are taken as output of the induction motor.

(g) abc to Alpha-Beta transformation block

Here we are using the expression

isα= (3/2)ia
isβ = (1.732/2)(ib-ic)

(h) Alpha-Beta to d-q transformation block

Figure 10 : Alpha-Beta to d-q transformation block

Here we are using the expression
isd = isαcosρ + isβsinρ
isq = isβcosρ – isαcosρ
 Here the current representing the rotor flux is
imr = isd/(1 + sτr)
The angular slip frequency of the rotor is
ωsl = isq/τrimr

IV. MATLAB simulation results

Reference speed and actual speed of the motor Reference current and actual current of one phase

Actual three phase current of the motor Actual q-axis current isq of the motor

Actual current imr representing the rotor flux

Figure 11 : MATLAB simulation results

So here as the reference speed changes the three phase current of the motor changes and thus current
isq changes and slip changes accordingly. Thus the actual speed of the motor changes immediately with
the change in reference speed.