.. . . _ , i .

,
IEEE 1999 International Conference on Power Electronics and Drive Systems, PEDS’99, July 1999, Hong Kong.

An Improved Two-stage Control Scheme for an Induction Motor

K. L. Shi, T. F. Chan, Y. K. Wong, and S . L. Ho

Department of Electrical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract - In this paper, an improved two-stage control

scheme (previously developed by the authors) is presented. A
slip-frequency controller operates together with a current-
magnitude controller to yield the desired values of current and
frequency during the acceleration/deceleration stage and the Stator phase current magnitude I i,$I can be expressed by:
steady-state stage. Simulation studies on a 7.5kW induction
motor are performed using Matlab/Simulink. The simulation
results indicate that the performance of the two-stage control
scheme is comparable with that obtained using field-oriented
control. Besides, the improved control scheme is much simpler
to implement and the performance is less sensitive to machine Substituting Eqs.(2) and (3) into Eq.(4),
parameter changes.

I. INTRODUCTION

In order to control accurately the magnitude and phase of

the stator current, field-oriented control has to depend on the When the torque command T* and flux command Xdr*
motor parameters and the complicated calculations involved are both constant, Eq.(5) becomes:
[I]. In practice, accurate current-phase control is impossible,
due to uncertainty in motor parameters and controller’s time .‘_
delay. Two features of field-oriented control, however, I i.,I= 2 &5$ = const.
deserve attention. Firstly, although the field-oriented
controller does not control the frequency directly, its slip The above two features of field-oriented control have been
frequency is constant during the acceleration1 deceleration employed by the authors to design a two-stage controller [3]
period. Secondly, when the torque command is constant, the for an induction motor. In this paper, the two-stage controller
supply current magnitude will remain constant. The first is improved with a simpler slip frequency control.
feature may be explained using the slip frequency
formulation of field orientation [2]:
11. TWO-STAGE CONTROL STRATEGY FOR AN
INDUCTION MOTOR

The current-input induction motor model [4]-[5] shown in

Fig. 1 has three inputs, namely the stator current magnitude
where w, is slip frequency, R, is the rotor resistance, P is the
number of poles, T* denotes the torque command, and Xdr*
Zs,supply frequency w, and load torque TL.It has an output,
namely the rotor speed U,,. The relationship between the
denotes rotor flux command. If r* and AF1,,* are maintained
output and inputs may be expressed as:
constant during acceleration, w,is also constant.

The second feature may be proved using the field

orientation conditions. The fl,,s
may be expressed as:

where k,,=PLM/3Lr, LM is mutual inductance, and L, is rotor

Current - speed
inductance. Induction
~...
motor

The equation of the stator flux vector in the excitation

reference frame can be written as [2]: Fig. 1 An induction motor model with current input

1999IEEE
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 The speed response of the motor may be divided into two
stages, an initial acceleration/ deceleration stage (the speed
response to rise from about 3% to about 97% of speed
command), and a final steady-state stage (the speed response
error is during about 3%), as shown in Fig.2.
1.5 2 2.5
k the steady-state stage, the torque command has a smaller
Acceleration period Final steady state period
Fig2 Typical speed response of an induction motor
The basic principle of the two-stage controller may be
described as follows.
1)During the accelerationldeceleration stage, the stator
current magnitude is maintained constant and the input
frequency depends on the slip frequency orand the rotor
speed.
2)During the final steady-state stage, the input frequency U
is held constant and the speed of rotor U ,is maintained
constant by controlling the stator current magnitude IZJ.
In the two-stage speed control scheme, the relationship
between inputs and outputs is described by Table 1.
Steady-state Constant change :onstant
I
In this paper, the control strategy between the two stages
is designed as follows.
When (wl,*-ml, (13,control is from a steady-state stage to
an acceleration stage.
When 2.5<lu,,* l<3,
-0, control stage is unchanged.
When Jw,*-w,,l9.5,control is from an acceleration stage
to a steady-state stage.
A problem arises as how to vary the supply frequency
from zero to the final frequency of the command speed. If
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the supply frequency rises too fast, the torque will produce
oscillations so that the acceleratioddeceleration period is
longer, but if the supply frequency rises too slowly, the
torque will be so small that the acceleration/deceleration
period is again prolonged. To tackle this problem, a
frequency saturation controller is designed using the
equations of field-oriented control.
111. CONTROL OF SLIP FREQUENCY
3 3.5
During the acceleratioddeceleration stage, the torque
command has a larger value denoted as rod,whereas during
value, Ts,eo+
From Eq.( I), the slip frequency of field-oriented control is
For the induction motor to be studied, R,=O.ISIR, and
P=6. If the acceleration/deceleration torque is k180 N.m,
X,Ir*=0.6Wb, and substituting the motor parameters into
Eq.(8), then
* 37.8 accelerationI deceleration stage
(9)
0.2 l ~ , c , 4 v steady - state stage
In the simulation studies of a FOC controller and the two-
stage controller, the following variable load [6] is assumed
I eliminate
I oscillations
where coefficient p = 0.43 N.m/(radsec).
When the load characteristic of Eq.(lO) is assumed,
Eq.(9) becomes
f 37.8 acceleratbnldeceleratwn stage
(1 1)
0.090,, stea& - state stage
In this paper, a constant load is also used to investigate a
closed-loop V/Hz controller and the two-stage controller.
When a constant load is assumed, Eq.(9) becomes
406
 o,= { k 37.8
q.
0.2 1
accelerationldeceleratbt?, stage
steady - state stage
(12)
400 ~

The slip-frequency control scheme to implement Eq.(l1)

can be constructed by a simple controller whose output is
limited to k37.8 by an output saturation [7]. For the variable
load of Eq.(lO), simulation program of the slip-frequency
controller consists of the blocks Suml, Sum2, Gain, and
Saturationl, as illustrated in Fig.3.

m
c
r
Speed
command SumZ Saturation1 Slip
frequency

04rc
Rotor

speed
Suml
Fig5 Speed is controlled by stator current amplitude.

The following proportional-and-integral(PI) control with

Fig. 3. Simulation blocks of slip-frequency control for the varied load output saturation is used in the nonlinear control.

Similarly, for a constant load, simulation program of the

slip-frequency controller expressed by Eq.( 12) can be
constructed as shown in Fig.4.

command Saturation1 Slip

frequency
In this paper, coordination of the current magnitude
control for the two stages is achieved using the following
strategy:
Rdcr Sum1
speed
1) When l0,*-w,~123, the current magnitude control
changes from a steady-state stage to an acceleration
stage.
Fig. 4. Simulation blocks of slip-frequency control for a constant load
2) When 2.5<lwl,* -w,, 1<3, the control pattern is
unchanged.

3) When lw,,*-wf,l,112.5, the current magnitude control

IV. CURRENT MAGNITUDE SATURATION changes from an acceleration stage to a steady-state
CONTROL stage.

During the steady-state period, the slip frequency is

maintained constant, while the stator current magnitude is
adjusted to control the rotor speed. Fig.9 shows the process
of controlling the speed w , (a', b' c') by stator current
amplitude according to the speed error. The decaying
oscillations of speed about the final operating point have
been eliminated.
During the steady-state stage, stator current 1,has a small
value. When I w,,*-wl,/13, the current magnitude control
changes from the steady-state stage to an acceleration stage.
If we let Kp(w,,*-w,,)>lOO, i.e., Kp>33, then [,of Eq.(13) is
larger than lOOA, hence the proportional coefficient K p may
be chosen as 35.

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 The maximum value of the integral part of Eq.( 13) can be Fig. 7. Sirnulink blocks of the two-stage controller for the variable load
estimated from an acceleration process with U,,*= IZO,
w,,(t=Os)=O, assuming that the rotor speed rises at uniform
For a constant load, the model of two-stage speed
acceleration and w,(t=O.Zs)=IZO, i.e.,
controller for the induction motor can be constructed using
0.2
Simulink as shown in Fig.8.
j(o,, * -w,,)d.r = 12
r=O

r
L

When the current magnitude control changes from an command SumZ Saturation1 Slip
frequency
acceleration stage to a steady-state stage, substituting (U,, *-
w,,)=2.5, Kf,=35, and Eq.(15) into Eq.(13), and let Z,<IOO,
then K, < I . Therefore the integral coefficient Kl is chosen as
0.8.
, A current-magnitude controller is designed as shown in
Fig.6. It consists of a sum block to calculate speed error, a Fig. 8. Sirnulink blocks of the two-stage controller for a constant load
PI block to implement Eq.(13), and a saturation block to
implement Eq.( 14).
VI. SIMULATION RESULTS

A computer simulation was performed on the two-stage

controller with a current-input induction motor model [4].
command
The inputs of the motor are the current magnitude I.,, the
frequency u=u,+(P/Z)U,, and the load TL. Four
investigations were undertaken: 1) comparison with field-
oriented control, 2) comparison with a closed-loop V/Hz
controller, 3) effects of parameter variations, and 4) effects
Fig. 6. Current magnitude controller of noise in the measured speed and input current. Following
are the parameters of the induction motor chosen for the
simulation studies:

V. TWO-STAGE CONTROLLER FOR AN Type: three-phase, 7.5kW, 220 V, 60Hz, 6-pole, wye-
INDUCTION MOTOR connected, squirrel-cage, induction motor

Combining the slip-frequency controller and the current- Stator resistance: R.,=O .282Wph
magnitude controller, a two-stage controller may be Stator inductance: L,v=0.044Wph
designed. During the acceleration or deceleration period, the Rotor resistance referred to stator: R i o . 15 1n/ph
current-magnitude controller outputs the maximum Rotor inductance: Lr=0.043Wph
permissible current. During the steady-state period, the slip- Mutual inductance: Ln,=0.042Wph
frequency controller outputs the slip-frequency that Moment of inertia of the rotor: J p 0 . 2 kg.m'
corresponds to the speed command. For the variable load, Moment of inertia of the load: J p 0 . 2 kg.m2
the model of two-stage speed controller for the induction Coefficient of friction: C,= 0.065
motor is constructed using Simulink as shown in Fig.7.
I) Comparison with field-oriented control: In this
simulation study, the load is assumed to be variable and the
two-stage controller model of Fig.7 is used. It is assumed
w that the induction motor is taken through the following
control cycle:
S ! T * - F 2
command
Gain
:E
Saturation1 Slip
frequency

SPEED COMMAND PERIOD

otl*= 120(rad/sec) osstas

U,,* = - 120(rad/sec) 2sIt<4s
ofI*= 40(rad/sec) 4sIt<6s

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 2) Comparison with closed-loop V/Hz control: In this
simulation study, the load is assumed as constant at 20N.m
and the two-stage controller model of Fig.8 is used. Because
the voltage-frequency relationship of a general V/Hz
controller has a dead area around zero frequency, it can not
work well from a positive speed command to a negative
0 I A 6 1 1 0
L
2
I4 6
I
I
I
1
I
0 1
1
2
1 speed command. From a consideration of the characteristic
Tlrn. (..conel lul. (..sondl
of the V/Hz controller, it is assumed that the induction
9a. Two-stage controller 96. FOC controller motor is taken through the following control cycle of
positive speed commands:
- 0 o.

g- ::
0
30
20
SPEED COMMAND PERIOD
10 10

C O 0 U(,* = 120(rad/sec) Oslt<2s

5 -90 -10
U(,* = 20(rad/sec) 2srt<4s
2C
.a0 20

.-n .so .SO U(,* = 120(rad/sec) 4slt<6s

z 40
0 2 4 6 1 IO
40
2 4 6 8 1 0 1 2 U(,* = 20(rad/sec) 6s<t<8s
1m. (..c*nd, Tim. (..CO"d)

U(,* = 120(rad/sec) 8s<t< 1os

9c. Two-stage controller 9d. FOC controller
Fig.IOu, IOc, IOe, and IOg show the simulation results of
300 a00
the two-stage controller. In order to compare the two-stage
100 200
controller with a V/Hz controller, a closed-loop V/Hz
F
- 100 IO0
controller [5] was investigated. Fig.IOb, I O 4 IOJ and IOh
Ei 0 show the simulation results of a closed-loop V/Hz
g -100 -100
controller. The speed response of the two-stage controller is
r
-200 -200
obviously faster than the closed-loop V/Hz controller. As
-300 -300
shown in Fig.IO6, maximum value of the stator current
0 2 4 6
Tim. (..<O"d)
1 1 0
1 , m . (..=and) magnitude of the V/Hz controller is not limited and is over
lOOA during the starting period. Fig.IOf shows that the
9e. Two-stage controller 9J FOC controller
V/Hz controller produces oscillating torques during the
steady-state stage. A comparison of the two controllers
shows that the new controller has distinct advantages in the
100 speed response, torque characteristic, and current
50 characteristicthan the closed-loop V/Hz controller.
0

.50

2 4 6 8 1 0 1 2
lul. I..S.W

9g. Two-stage controller 9b. FOC controller

Fig.9. Simulation results of two-stage controller and FOC controller

IOa. Two-stage controller /Ob. VMz controller
F i g . 9 ~9c, 9e, and 9g show the simulation results of the
two-stage controller. Very fast speed response is obtained
with the two-stage control method. Due to the current
control in the steady-state stage, the oscillations of speed
about the final operating point are completely eliminated. In
order to compare the new controller with a field-oriented
controller, an indirect rotor flux field-oriented controller [2]
was investigated. Fig.96, 94 9f;and 9h show the simulation
results of the indirect FOC controller. Tlrn. I..so"dI
1
100 * . 6

Tim. (*.condl
I (0
I
1,

IOc. Two-stage controller IOd. VMz controller

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Tom. (..son41
1 Oe. Two-stage controller
I
Tim. (%.and)
1 Og. Two-stage controller
Fig.10. Simulation results of two-stage controller and VWz controller
3) Efects ofparameter variations: The simulation of the
two-stage controller for the variable load is repeated with the
rotor resistance and mutual inductance changed to 2R, and
0.7LM respectively. A comparison between Fig. 11 and
Fig.9g shows that the speed response of the two-stage
controller is insensitive to parameter variations.
Fig.1 1. Speed response with Fig.12. Speed response with
motor parameter variation speed and current noises
4) Effects of noise in the measured speed and input
current: In order to evaluate the effects of the noise of speed
sensor and the noise of the input current, distributed random
noises are added into the feedback speed and input current
of the two-stage controller in Fig.7. The simulation is
achieved using the random number blocks of Simulink,
which generates a pseudo-random, normally distributed
(Gaussian) number [6]. As shown in Fig.12, the speed
response with the measured speed noise (mean of zero and
variance of 3) and with the current noise (mean of zero and
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variance of 10) demonstrates that the two-stage controller has
good disturbance rejection.
VII. CONCLUSION
The improved two-stage controller has almost the same
frequency and current characteristics as the field-oriented
controller. During the acceleratioddeceleration stage, the
stator current magnitude is maintained at the maximum
permissible value to give a large torque, and during the
steady-state stage, the stator current magnitude is adjusted to
control the rotor speed. Because the two features of field-
oriented control are exploited, the performance of the
improved two-stage controller is obviously superior to a
scalar controller [SI. Besides, the new controller has the
advantages of simplicity and insensitivity to motor
parameter changes. Very encouraging results are obtained
from a computer simulation using Matlab/Simulink.
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The work reported in this paper was funded by the Hong
Kong Polytechnic University research grant V157.
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Induction Motors, Kluwer Academic Publishen, 1994.
9
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