Doctoral school of energy and geotechnology

January 16–21, 2006. Kuressaare, Estonia

Control methods of the Dual-Motor AC Traction Drives

Vitali Boiko
Tallinn University of Technology
vitali_b@hotmail.com

Abstract The control unit acquires necessary information

from the sensors. Three kinds of sensors are used in
The paper is devoted to the problem of adaptating this system: current transducers, a voltage transducer
the Field Oriented Control (FOC) to a drive of a and resolvers.
tram with one inverter and two parallel-connected
induction motors. Different situations occurring
during operation of the drive were simulated. The
mathematical model developed in the “Matlab-
Simulink” program is used to compare various
drive control methods.

Keywords
Drive, FOC, Matlab, Simulink, model
Introduction
The multi-converter multi-machine systems as an
extension of the classical drive, constitutes several Fig. 1. Drive system with two parallel-connected
structures, for example, the monoinverter dual motor induction motors.
system working with a common mechanical load.
Each motor has an identical mechanical transmission
The same structure can be used in the traction
line, which provides a traction force transmitted to
applications. In this article, the control methods of
the wheels. The load represents a static and
such drive structures for the tram KT4 are simulated.
dynamical model of a tram.
Different field oriented control methodologies were
used for drive control. Two mechanical and one
electrical perturbation was applied to the system. 2 Mathematical model
Working responses of the systems obtained by
2.1 Matlab model
simulation are studied and analyzed.
The Matlab-Simulink was used for modeling. Motor
1 System description and IGBT-bridge models are built by help of the
POWER-BLOKSET. Calculated forces of rolling
Fig. 1 shows a drive with two parallel-connected resistance, air resistance and moment of inertia on
induction motors, supplied by a pulse width the drive shaft were taken into account when
modulation controlled voltage source inverter. A building a model of a load. One of the used control
digital control system is used to control the drive. structure is shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Mathematical model represents the “Mean FOC algorithm” control structure.

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2.2 Induction motor 4 Simulation
The asynchronous machine block operates in either 4.1 Start
generating or motoring mode. The electrical part of
the machine is represented by a fourth-order state-
The situation describes the beginning of the tram
space model, the mechanical part - by a second-
movement on the horizontal track. Adherence of
order system. All electrical variables and parameters
wheels to rails is idealized. Simulation time is 5
are referred to the stator. The asynchronous machine
seconds. One motor has load of 90% and other
block does not include a representation of the effects
110% from the total load. A driver sets the desirable
of stator and rotor iron saturation [2]. For the
torque to 242 Nm. Voltage of the contact grid is
simulation, the following motor parameters were
rapidly changing from 546 V up to 1014 V.
used:

power: 37.3 kWt,

line-to-line voltage: 460 V,
nominal frequency: 60 Hz.

2.3 Load model

The Load model is simplified. It consists of forces of Fig. 4. Averaging of the speed and currents
rolling resistance and air resistance. For simulation feedbacks.
of the inertial characteristics of the tram, the moment
of inertia coefficient is put in to the motor model. 4.2 Adherence loss

When the tram starts moving, one of the axes

Fig. 3. Load model.
The Load depends on the simulated situation. In case
of normal start the difference in load between two
motors is 20%. When one axis completely loses its
adherence to a rail, load forces are shared among
three other motors.
completely loses its adherence to a rail (idealized).
The load of the first motor then consists only of the
friction force of motor’s and gear’s bearings. The
inertia factor is equal to the inertia factor of a rotor
and a gear. Loading on the second motor then is
133% compared to normal, the inertia factor grows
also on a shaft up to 19.3 kgm2. A driver sets the
desirable torque to 242 Nm. Modeling time is 5
seconds.
5 Simulation results
5.1 Mean Current and Speed

3. Drive control structures The modeling results of the tram drive with Mean
current model control structure are shown in Fig. 5.
3.1 Mean Current and Speed In case of normal start with increasing of speed the
difference between motors produced torque is also
increased. At time point 5 seconds the difference is
The “Mean Current and Speed” control structure has
about 40 N*m. The error is symmetric from the
one current model and one FOC algorithm. Current
torque given by the driver. For mostly loaded motor
and speed feedback signals from the motors are
torque is +20 N*m from given torque and –20 N*m
averaged and then sent to the motor current model.
for less loaded motor. There are no torque ripples in
A part of the control structure is shown in Fig. 4.
either of the motors.
3.2 Mostly loaded
5.2 Mostly loaded
The “Mostly loaded” model consists of two current
The modeling results of the tram drive with control
models and two FOC algorithms, one for each
structure of “Mostly loaded” are shown in Fig. 6. In
induction motor. With the help of a comparator the
case of normal start, motor with good contact to the
mostly loaded motor is determined, so the control
rail produce exactly value of torque that is set by the
voltage goes to the PWM block from the FOC
driver. The output torque from the other motor is
algorithm of this motor.
less and depends on the rotating speed difference.

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6 Comparison of the methods
Comparing simulation results of different control
strategies for a tram we can conclude that the most
suitable method is the “Mostly loaded”. This method
allows for a motor, which has a good contact to the
rail, to provide the best torque response.
Fig. 5. The motor torque responses applying the
“Mean Current and Speed” drive control
structure
Fig. 6. The motor torque responses applying the
“Mostly loaded” drive control structure.
The motor produces a desirable torque with the
smallest error. Torque traces have no large ripples.
The results of the simulation with other control
strategies were worse. With the “Mean Current and
Speed” strategy, the error of the output torque of a
loaded motor is much greater than desired. In case of
wheel slipping the difference between desirable
torque and produced torque reaches 200%.
Conclusion
Results of modeling have shown that FOC can be
used for control of parallel-connected induction
motors in different situations. In the paper, two
situations ware simulated Start with rapid voltage
fluctuation and adherence loss. For drive control
different control strategies were used. However, no
one of these ways of control does not solve all the
problems. Therefore, to improve the characteristics
of a tram drive, further research is needed. Creation
of more complex models and research of all possible
situations arising during tram movement helps to
find an optimal control strategy.
References
1. K. Matsuse, Y. Kouno, H. Kawai and S.
Yokomizo, "A Speed-Sensorless Vector Control
Method of Parallel-Connected Dual Induction
Motor Fed by a Single Inverter", IEEE
Transactions on industry applications, vol. 38,
No. 6, November/December 2002.
2.R. Pena-Eguiluz, M. Pietrzak-David and B. Fronel,
"Comparison of Several Control Strategies for
Parallel Connected Dual Induction Motors", EPE-
PEMC 2002, Dubrovnik & Cavtat, 2002.
3. Matlab R13 Help, SimPowerSystems.
4. "Field Orientated Control of 3-Phase AC-
Motors", Literature number: BPRA073, Texas
Instruments Europe, February 1998.
5. M. Ahmet, Hava y Seung-Ki Sul, J. Russel, T.
Kerkman and A. Lipoy, "Dynamic Over-
modulation Characteristics of TriagleIntersection
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