IDENTIFICATIONOF THE MACHINE PARAMETERS IN A VECTOR CONTROLLED INDUCTION MOTOR DRIVE

Joachim Holtz and Thomas Thimm University of Wuppertal, P.O. Box 100 127,5600 Wuppertal - West Germany AbstractLHigh dynamic performance of PWM inverter fed induction motor drives is achieved using the method of field oriented control. This method requires the actual value of the rotor time constant as an essential system information, based on which the magnitude and the position of the rotor flux is calculated. An online identification technique for the rotor time constant and other machine parameters is described. The identification is based on an evaluation of the stator current trajectory as the dynamic response of the induction motor to the PWM switching sequence. An analytical machine model is operated in parallel with the stator voltages and the mechanical speed of the induction motor as input signals. The coincidence of the two stator current trajectories of the model and the machine serves as an error indicator for the parameter identification scheme, permitting repetitive updates of the model parameters. I. Introduction PWM inverter fed induction motor drives are increasingly employed for the operation of all kinds of industrial production and automation processes. If high dynamic performance is required, the method of field orientation is generally used for the control of the motor torque. This control method requires the rotor flux vector y as an input signal, expressed by its magnitude and angle argumeh in stator coordinates. The latter is referred to as the field angle. The accurate identification of the rotor flux vector in rcaltime is a problem which has been given much attention ever since the method of field orientated control of ac drives was introduced. -tor Flux Identification The first proposal for the implementation of a field oriented control scheme was based on the direct measurement of the rotor flux vector. Hall-sensors were used by Blaschke to measure the magnetic field in the air gap of the induction motor I l l . Plunkett and others favoured the use of special search coils, the windings of which were inserted into the stator slots /2,3/. These methods have not survived since they require, among other reasons, specially prepared machines. Such inconvenience is avoided when an indirect method of rotor flux identification is used. Indirect methods employ a mathematical model of the machine which is excited by measurable machine quantities. The model generates signals which represent the components of the stator flux vector. provided that the parameters of the model equal the machine parameters. A parameter mismatch generally produces errors in the computed variables. It is especially the field angle signal which is required with certain accuracy for the proper operation of a field oriented drive. There are basically two types of machine models which are used for the identification of the rotor flux vector. The voltage model uses the stator voltage vector and the stator current vector as input signals. This model produces fairly accurate results as long as the magnitude of the stator voltage vector is large as compared to the voltage drop across the internal impedances of the machine. This is true when the mechanical speed is greater than 5 to 10 96 of its rated value. In a favorable way, the voltage model is rather insensitive to parameter mismatch at higher values of speed. The current model uses the stator current vector and the mechanical speed as input signals. The accuracy of this model does not depend on the operating speed of the drive. This makes the current model applicable in the entire speed range, however, it requires its parameters to be well matched with the machine parameters. 111. Adaptation of the Machine Parameters The parameters of the machine may change during the operation of the drive, causing deviations between the corresponding signals of the model and the machine. The resistance of the stator and rotor windings change with temperature. This is a relatively slow process as the thermal time constants are large. In constrast to that, parameter changes produced by magnetic saturation occur fast. They affect the main inductance of the machine, and the leakage inductance to some extent. Depending on the type of machine model that is used in a field oriented drive, either the stator resistance and the leakage reactance, or the rotor time constant are the decisive parameters. Among the first publications to deal with the problem of parameter adaptation in field oriented drives is the work of Garcts 141. The approach is based on the definition of an auxiliary function which appears as a modified expression of the reactive power. This function depends on the rotor time constant, while it is not influenced by the stator resistance. Computing the auxiliary function from the currents and voltages of both the model and the machine will give identical results if the rotor time constants are matched. It is a special property of the auxiliary function that it tends to assume zero value during steady-state operation. This requires the drive to operate in a transient mode to enable the parameter adaptation. The correct alignment of the rotor flux vector in the model with the actual flux wave in the machine can be detected by correlation as proposed by Gabriel and Leonhard 151. For this purpose, a low level pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) is added to the reference value of the d-axis current of the field orientied control system. The correlation function is computed between the PRBS signal and the q-axis output of the control system. A non-zero value of the correlation function indicates that a cross-coupling between the two axes exists. As this is a consequence of a misalignment between model and machine, the autocorrelation function can be used for tuning the model parameters to their proper values. Parameter identification by signal correlation has not been very widely used. The additional PRBS signal must be injected with considerable amplitude causing undesired interference with the performance of the drive. A proposal to combine the advantages of the voltage and the current model with a view to identify the rotor time constant was made by Schumacher and Leonhard /6/.Here, the voltage model is used at higher values of speed where a mismatch of the model parameters do not deteriorate its accuracy very much. A current model is operated in parallel. Its parameters are tuned to give the same field angle as the voltage model. The alignment between the two models is based on the respective phase angles of the back e.m.f. of the two models. As the voltage model becomes inaccurate at lower speed, the control system has to rely on the current model alone. Changes in the machine parameters cannot be detected during continuous operation in the low speed range. Lorenz uses a similar approach in which the alignment of the models is basedon the computedvaluesof mechanical torque/7/. A concept to measure the rotor time constant in real-time

89CH2792-0/89/01$01.00 0 1989 IEEE

TI

using a Kalman filter was proposed recently by Zai and Lip0 /8/. The approach makes use of the white noise component contained in the three-phase PWM switching sequence. The result is obtained within 60 seconds computing time on the condition that the accurate value of the main inductance is a priori known. The method is limited to situations where the load conditions are changing slowly (quasi-steady-state operation) and also requires a minimum of about 5 76 of rated speed and above. The above overview demonstrates that various methods have been tried during the last decade in an attempt to identify the parameters of an induction motor in an on-line process. Each of these methods has some limiting factor while none of them is suitable to be applied under zero or crawling speed conditions /9/. The present paper describes an approach which seems to be promising in this respect.

model state variables to the operating point of the machine. The solution of the model equations under the influence of the sampled input signals is obtained in the frequency domain, piecewise each of the k samples of the stator voltage vector is interpreted as a step change Aus = n,(k) -u,(k-l) with respect to the previous sample. This approach leads to the following equations:

The analytical solution in the time domain is a superposition of all step responses. It describes the trajectories of the stator current and the rotor current vector as

g n n n h
current traiFig. l shows the block diagram of the identification scheme. A set of samples of the phase voltages, the phase currents and the vectors of the stator are calculated. Their respective components are stored in a memory as functions of time. The measured stator voltages during PWM operation are used as the input signals for an analytical model of the machine. This model describes the dynamic behaviour of the induction machine. It uses only algebraic equations which represent the analytical solution of the corresponding differential equations. The model equations serve to calculate an estimated trajectory of the stator current. The error between the trajec\ory 4 of the measured stator current and the estimated trajectory is reduced by varying the parameters of the machine model. Once a preset minimum error is reached, the rotor time constant of the model is considered equal to the actual rotor time constant of the machine.

V. A m machine model The analytical machine model is derived from the space vector equations of a squirrel cage induction machine in stator coordinates. All the variables are normalized with respect to their nominal values. The normalized time z = a$,where oris the nominal speed. The model equations are:
(la) (1b) (IC) (14 The model is excited by a set of signals that are measured at the actual machine according to the block diagram Fig. 1. These signals are the stator voltages U and currents i and the mechanical speed a.While the stator voftages and the sieed signal control the model equations continuously during a data acquisition interval, the stator currents are required only once at the beginning of this process. They are used to match the initial conditions of the

U, = r j ,
0 = rJr

+ d y i d z - jwYr y s = x j s + xi h. xr= 'his + 'rlr

+ dY,/dz

VI. Description of the identification a o r i t h m It is the objective of the identification algorithm to minimize the error between the measured stator current trajectory and an estimated current trajectory. The latter is obtained by a machine model. The model parameters are adapted using the method of the steepest gradient in a sequence of iterations. Each iteration cycle changes the model parameters such that the estimated stator current trajectory moves towards the measured stator current trajectory. The model parameters assume their final values when the two trajectories coincide within a preset error. Fig. 2 shows the measured trajectory of the stator current

Fig. 1: Block diagram of the identification scheme

--

f the measured stator current is and the Fig. 2: Trajectories o estimated stator current i,

vector and the estimated current trajectory . Before the first iteratior?, the model parameters are set to thei: estimated initial values which are usually taken as the result of the previous identification cycle. In addition, the initial values of the state variables of the machine must be known. Of these, the stator current vector and the mechanical speed are obtained by direct measurement. The rotor current cannot be measured when a squirrel cage machine is used. Hence the initial value of the rotor current vector has to be also estimated. We denote the set of parameters to be identified as the parameter vector i.This vector is composed of the following components The first four components of the parameter vector zl ...2, are the estimated machine parameters: ls ... stator resistance ... rotor resistance x ...stator reactance R : ... rotor reactance and 2, represent the components of the estimated initial value of the rotor current vector, taken at the beginning of the identification interval. During every data acquisition interval, a set of k samples of the stator current vector I,, and the mechanical speed okare taken at equidistant time instants M T ~ We . compute k error vectors

the residual vectors pk. For this purpose the stator current trajectory i (T) is evaluated at all sampling instants I,(T) = is(MZ) = is(k), k =" 1 ... kmaxlwhere AT is the sampling interval. Eqn. 6 can be wntten in a mamx notation
dk'rk

I&

(7)

The residual matrix method. The condition

rk is

minimized using the least square

cr

is me!by

computing the derivative of

from which the Gaussian equation

Iq& + pdk=O
and its solution

each being defined as the difference between the stator current vector and its estimated value at the k-th sampling instant. Some of the error vectors are shown in Fig. 2. The aim of minimizing the distances expressed by the error vectors is achieved in a sequence of iteration cycles. Each iteration improves the location of the estimated stator current trajectory with respect to the measured trajectory as shown in Fig. 3. There will be a residual error after each iteration owing to the nonlinearity of Eqn. 3 and the errors in the data acquisition channel. This error is expressed by a set of k residual vectors pk,Fig. 3. The displacement of the estimated trajectory towards the measured trajectory is decribed by the vector 8, + pk.The actual displacement is shown in Fig. 3 as the sum of the desired displacement 6 , and the residual error p It is computed as the sum of the p m a l derivatives of the anafytical function i , ( ~ )in Eqn. 3 with respect to the components of the parameter vector. Since these parameters are not yet precisely known, the left-hand side of Eqn. 3 must be considered an estimated value, is. We h h A obtain

is obtained. The new parameter vector %n+l, which characterizes the behaviour of the analytical machine model, can now be obtained as the sum of the previous parameter vector in and the vector & from Eqn. 11.

(12) =i , +& The remaining error is expressed by Eqn. 8 and can be written as

zn+l

The identification routine is terminated when a preset minimum error is reached.

Bk +p

ai

Axl

ai +--$

Ax2+

i ... + -a $ A x 6

3x1 3x2 ax 6 The above k complex equations are solved for the increments Axl ... Ax, of the components of the parameter vector, minimizing

is

measured t r a F t o r y

is after one iteration cycle

0 Fig. 3: Stator current trajectories before and after one iteration cycle
603

Eqn. 6 is a first order approximation of a nonlinear function which describes how the estimated stator current trajectory approaches the measured trajectory when the increment h of the parameter vector is properly chosen. This does not necessm$y imply that, in the course of an iteration cycle, a specific point is, of the estimated trajectory is moved closer towards the corresponding point is of the actual trajectory. Such a point, or group of points, may a'fso be displaced more away from their corresponding target points. Fig. 4a explains the situation. The desired displacement vector hk of the point is, is established according to Eqn. 6 as a ... a! , ) linear combination of a set of derivative vector Axs. The six increments Ax, ... Ax6 are common tos 1 k samplikg points of the curve and hence have to satisfy Eqn. 8 for all k points. An individual point I , may end up in a location iskn+l = iskp + 8, + p as indicated in Fig. 4a. The condhons may be worse in a situation according to Fig. 4b where none of the derivative vectors af ,)Ax. has a major component in the direction of the vector 4 , foi a ldger number of the sampling points. Such situation is a consequence of the properties of Eqn. 3, which, in contrast to Eqn. 6, is a nonlinear function of the increments Axl .~ Ax of the parameter vector. One might imagine a situation which the linear approximation Eqn. 6 of Eqn. 3 produces only a weak tendency to reduce

.I

Reli,.tl Fig. 4: Effect of system nonlinearitits a) small step width, b) large step width, linear behaviour nonlinear behaviour , between the estimated and the measured trajecthe differences 5 tory. The precise displacement 5 , + pk,of which Eqn. 6 is a linear approximation, is actually composed of nonlinear contributions of the parameter changes Axi. This is indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 4b. Consequently, an iteration cycle may compute p as the minimized residual error on the basis of the linearized +qn. 6. This may locate the new value i, , at point A in Fig. 4b. However, the subsequent computation ofthis value using the correct expression Eqn. 3a may locate this point at location B, in which the difference between the estimated and measured value is greater than it had been before the iteration cycle. If this is true for a larger number of sampled points, the global error expressed as the sum of k individual errors increases as well. Hence, besides reducing the linearized residual error Em. 8, one has to c o n f i i that the actual error

components of the parameter vector. The redundancy contained in the number of samples serves to minimize the influences of measurement errors, quantization, and of the discrepancies between the structure of the model and that of the actual system. It is true that the accuracy of the result is achieved at the expense of computation time when a larger number of samples is evaluated. Various methods have been tried in order to speed up the identification process. It is advantageous, for example, to take only a small fraction of the required samples for the initial iteration cycles. This produces a fast preliminary result, the accuracy of which is subsequently improved by increasing the number of evaluated samples step by step, each time the error criterion in Eqn. 8 and the condition enonlin e elin, Eqns. 13 and 14, are satisfied. Another approach of saving computation time is based on the fact that in a process of quasi-continuous identification of the parameter vector the actual values of the machine parameters, being expressed as the first four components 2 ... g4 of the parameter vector, do not change very much. This does not apply, however, for the remaining parameter vector components g5 and i,, which represent the initial value of the rotor current vector at the beginning of the identification interval. This value is totally different from that of the previous identification cycle since the rotor current vector is located in any arbitrary position when a new set of samples is acquired. The initial rotor current can be only roughly determined from the measured initial value of the stator current vector. Its value depends, in addition, on the actual load condition of the machine and on the instantaneous harmonic stator current. Finally, the identification becomes faster when only the initial rotor current vector is identified during the first few iteration cycles. Here, the machine parameters are held constant at values as estimated during the previous identification.

&sThe current trajectories of Fig. 5 illustrate the performance of the parameter identification scheme. The results were obtained by computer simulation. The curves in Fig. 5a show the initial situation before the identification process is started. The curve is(z) represents the stator current trajectory of a PWM inverter fed machine. This curve is obtained in the present case by the simulation of a controlled induction machine, the parameters of which are to be identified. Specifically, the value of the normalized rotor time constant of this machine is z = 100. With a view to a more realishc representation of a practical system, statistical errors of 2 2 % magnitude have been added to the simulated stator currents. This is reflected in a considerable distortion of the trajectory of the machine currents in Fig. 5 . The curve i (7) is the current trajectory obtained from the machine model. h i s model is defined by a set of parameters that differ considerably from the actual machine parameters. In the case considered in Fig. 5, the values of all inductances are reduced by 10 %, while the rotor resistance is reduced by 50 4% and the stator resistance is increased by 50 %, all with respect to the actual parameters of the simulated machine. These assumptions result in a 80 % error in the rotor time constant. Owing to the large initial error in the model parameters, the current trajectory Fig. 5a produced by the model is completely different from that of the actual machine. This portion of the trajectories is composed of 150 samples. Fig. 5b shows the situation after the first short iteration cycles, during which only the initial value i, of the rotor current vector is identified. At the end of these 10 cycles the two trajectories coincide fairly well, although the machine parameters have not yet been changed at all. In continuation, another 150 samples of the stator current are included in the identification cycles. The next minimum error situation, now computed on the basis of 300 samples, is shown in Fig. 5c. Fig. 5d shows the final result after the evaluation of all 450 samples. A very good coincidence of the two trajectories is reached, taking into account the input data errors. The estimated rotor
604

computed on the basis of Eqn. 3, has not increased as the result of the iteration cycle. It should be noted that the above differences between the linearized and nonlinearized equations disappear when only small increments Axi of the parameter vector components are permitted. This, however, would unnecessarely increase the number of iteration cycles. It has been preferred, instead, to circumvent the problem by introducing sets of modified parameter vectors. The components of the modified vectors are defined as

contains the polar &preseiiation of The modified vector the stator impedance instead of the values of the stator resistance and stator reactance. Another combination of the machine parameters defines the modified parameter vector The initial rotor current vector enters here in its polar representation in stator coordinates, in addition to the magnitudes of the resistive and a specific inductive voltage drop in the rotor circuit. Finally, i , is composed of the respective representations of the stator impedance and the initial rotor current vector in polar coordinates.

&,.

B. Reduction of computation tims

Usually a large number of samples of the stator current trajectory (e. g. 1 O O O ) must be taken for the identification of the six

~~

a) i, = 180.00
=0.059 ;,=0.011 is= 1.940 ; , = I 963 L rrrlln = L 730

Lo

20
0

-20

10

1 5 2 0

n-

bl
;,=0.059

; , = 0.011
x,=L.940 = I. 963 e rorlln = 0.029

c,

Fig. 6: a) Rotor time constant error versus the number n of iteration cycles; simulation result based on 450 samples with a statistical error of 2.0 % b) type of parameter vector used for the iteration known when the parameters of a real machine are identified. In such case, it is not the parameter error Fig. 6 which indicates the quality of the result, but the coincidence between the two trajectories, as expressed by Eqn. 14. The latter quantity is not an absolut error indicator, as can been seen when comparing Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. enmlin is as low as 3 96 after 10 iteration cycles, with the parameter error still at 80 96. Obviously, the information contained in 150 erroneous samples does not suffice to identify the parameters accurately.
VIII. ExDerimental results The described identification scheme was tested with a 7.5 kW induction motor drive. The machine is fed by a PWM inverter using a predictive current controller /lo/ to generate on-line optimized pulse patterns. A speed loop with a field oriented control system is superimposed. Fig. 8 shows the measured components of the stator voltage and the stator current at about rated speed and 50 % of rated load. The measured data consist of 2048 samples of the stator current vector. They are acquired during a time interval of 19 ms. The initial parameter vector was computed from name plate data of the machine. Fig. 9 shows the measured stator current trajectory in which the quantization errors of the !-bit A/D converters are clearly seen. The estimated trajectory d is smooth, being a computed function. Fig. 9a shows the situat&n immediatly after a second set of data totaling to lo00 samples were included in the computation. The evaluation of the first set of 5 0 0 samples has led to a fairly good coincidence of the two curves. Note that the second set of 500 samples has not yet undergone the identification algorithm

C)

Fig. 5 : Trajectories of the stator current vector a) at the beginning of an identification process b) after the identification of the initial rotor current vector c) after 16 identification cycles d) at the end of the identification routine time constant of the model matches the actual rotor time constant of the machine with an error of 2.05 %, a value which cannot be further improved in view of the 2 % accuracy of the sampled data. Fig. 6 shows how the error of the rotor time constant vanes with the number of iterations. The error of 80 % is constant during the initial 10 iterations. Here, only the initial value i of the rotor current vector is identified, an operation which ha?no effect on the rotor time constant. During all following iterations both the model parameters and the initial rotor current vector are under control of the identification algorithm. The step-like change in the error curve corresponds to the instance where more points of the stator current trajectory are included in the evaluation. The lower trace of Fig. 6 shows which parameter vector has been made use of by the program. Naturally, the correct value of the rotor time constant is not
605

n-

Fig. 7: Computed error E versus the number n of iteration cycles; sirnulationf?&ult based on 450 samples with a statistical error of 2.0 9%.

a)
= 0.387 rr=O.1l5
I,

Edin

= 0.058

I
SP

00

b)
oo
T -

60

oo

T -

60

;,=0.345 = 0.039 ; ,= 2.361

; ,

Fig. 8: Measured stator voltages and currents during an identification interval and hence the two trajectories tend to diverge towards their ends, starting in the second half of their extension. Even so, the error according to Eqn. 13 is as low as 5.8 %. The error is further reduced to 3.8 % when all 2048 samples are evaluated. Fig. 9b shows the trajectories at this final stage of the identification. The identified values of the machine parameters are given in the inset of Fig. 9b. According to the result obtained, the value of the rotor time constant under the actual operating conditions differs by 59 % as compared to the value which corresponds to the nominal machine data. Changes of the rotor time constant of an induction motor are due to the effects of magnetic saturation and machine temperature. The state of magnetic exitation is governed by the control system according to the given set-points and, hence, need not be identified. Changes of temperature occur slower which enables their identification by on-line procedures. If the identification scheme is fast enough it C M rely on rather accurate initial values of the unknown parameters which are provided by the previous identification cycle. The computation time in a repetitive identification process is about 60 seconds on a 68020 microprocessor system. We have used a separate processor system in our experimental set-up which acquires the data at equidistant time intervals. However, the irregular shape of a current trajectory can be characterized with less samples if additional samples are taken at the very instants at which the inverter switches. Such scheme would have to process less data and hence would be even faster.

;,=la27

e d,n

= a 038

7-

Fig. 9: Measured and estimated stator current trajectories a) after the evaluation of 500 samples b) after the evaluation of 2048 samples 2. A. B. Plunkett, J. D. DArtre and T. A. Lipo, Synchronous Control of a Static A.C. Induction Motor Drive, presented at the IEEE Industrial Application Society Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, pp. 600-615, 1977. R. Gabriel, W, Leonhard, C. Nordby, Microprocessor Control of the Converter-Fed Induction Motor, Rocess Automation I, pp. 35, 1980. L. J. Garcts. Parameter Adaption for the Speed-Controlled Static AC Drive with a Squirrel-Cage Induction Motor, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Applications, Vol. IA-16, pp. 173178, 1980. R. Gabriel, W. Leonhard, Microprocessor Control of Induction Motor, presented at the International Power Electronic Conference IPEC, Orlando, pp. 385-396, 1982. W. Schumacher and W. Leonhard, AC-Servo Drive with Microprocessor Control, presented at the International Power Electronic Conference IPEC, Tokyo, pp. 1465- 1476, 1983. R. D. Lorenz and D. B. Lawson, A Simplifield Approach to Continuous, On-Line Tuning of Field Oriented Induction Machine Drives, presented at the IEEE Indusmal Application Society Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, pp. 444-449, 1988. L. C. Zai and T. A. Lipo, An Extended Kalman Filter Approach to Rotor Time Constant Measurement in PWM Induction Motor Drives, IEEE Transactions on Indusmal Applications, pp. 177-183. 1987. T. A. Lipo, Recent Progress in the Development of SolidState AC Motor Drives. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 3, pp. 105-117, 1988. J. Holtz and S . Stadtfeld, A PWM Inverter Drive System With On-Line Optimized Pulse Patterns, presented at the European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications EPE, Brusse1s.p~. 3.21-3.25, 1985. W. Leonhard, Control Of Electrical Drives, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Tokyo, 1985. C. Wang, D. W. Novotny and T. A. Lipo, An Automated Rotor Time Constant Measurement System for Indirect FieldOriented Drives, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Application, Vol.IA-24, pp. 151-159, 1988. R. Krishnan and F. C. Doran, A Method of Sensing Line Voltages for Parameter Adaption of Inerter-Fed Induction Motor Servo Drives, IEEE Transaction on Industrial Applications, Vol. IA-23, pp. 617-621. 1987.

3.
4.

5.

6.

Summarv
A method for the on-line identification of the parameters of an induction machine is described. It evaluates piecewise trajectories of the stator current vector, being measured over time intervals of about 10 to 20 milliseconds. A real time model of the machine, being excited by the measured signals, produces a similar current trajectory. Differences between the two trajectories are a consequence of mismatched model parameters. The method of the steepest gradient serves to align the two curves, tuning the model parameters to equal the corresponding of the machine. The influence of measurement errors is minimized by a least square algorithm. The method produces the desired result under all operating conditions of the machine including the operation at zero frequency or zero speed. The computation time is less than 60 seconds. Acknowledeement The authors would like to express their thanks to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for the financial support of their work. References 1. F. Blaschke, The Principle of Field Orientation as Applied to the New Transvector Closed Loop Control System for Rotating Machines, Siemens Review, Vol. 39, pp. 217-220,1972.
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