280 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 25, NO.

2, MARCHIAPRIL 1989

Analysis and Application of Three-phase

Induction Motor Voltage Controller with
Improved Transient Performance
WERNER DELEROI, JOHAN B. WOUDSTRA, AND AZZA A. FAHIM, MEMBER, IEEE

Abstract-An improved transient performance of three-phase induc- I L1

tion machines with controlled thyristor triggering is presented. A newly
developed dynamic function for the thyristor triggering angle is utilized.
The triggering angle function influences the phase modulation of the
machine-supplied voltage, such that the normal transient problems are
avoided. Simulation of transients, based on the analytical solution of the
machine differential equations, for all modes of operation is provided.
The beneficial effect of the suggested function in smoothing the transient
flux, currents, and torque is illustrated. Application of the function to
different switching conditions is performed with actual laboratory tests.

I. INTRODUCTION
HE SWITCHING of three-phase induction machine un-
T der different operation conditions is one of the processes
frequently performed through speed control, soft starting,
energy-saving, and in wind energy applications [ 11. It is well-
known that the transient behavior associated with frequent
switching of induction machines is characterized by high cur- Fig. 1. Basic circuit of voltage controller.
rent peaks and pulsating torques [2]. Such performance is
most undesirable for both electrical supply and mechanical
gearing systems. To verify the effectiveness of the suggested triggering func-
In this paper, a solution for the aforementioned problem tion, theoretical and experimental results are reported. The
is suggested. It utilizes a common form of voltage controller improvement achieved in transient performance is shown by
with back-to-back thyristors in each supply line, with a new comparing it to a direct switching process.
time-varying function for the thyristor triggering angle. By
the use of this special function, the building up of the rotating II. VOLTAGE CONTROLLER CIRCUIT ANALYSIS
main flux is delayed for some time period and the normally The basic circuit used for the controller is shown in Fig. 1 .
existing pulsating torque is reduced. The number of stator The circuit shows the commonly used back-to-back thyristors
phases connected to the supply can change through the whole in each supply line. The assumptions in the analysis are as
operational time, according to the state of the thyristors. The follows.
analysis of the machine performance is provided in this paper
1) The three-phase supply is balanced sinusoidal voltage.
for the various modes of connection.
For the general application of the suggested triggering func- 2) For the motor, the windings are assumed to be symmet-
tion, different switching conditions were taken into consider- rical and star-connected. Saturation and eddy currents
ation, including the possibility of switching the machine from are neglected.
standstill or at any running speed. This is done for both gen- 3) For the controller, the six thyristors are assumed to
erator and motor operational modes. be ideal and symmetrical. The forward voltage is com-
pletely blocked from the instant the thyristor anode is
Paper IPCSD 87-42, approved by the Electric Machines Committee of the positive to the instant at which it is fired, and conduction
IEEE Industry Applications Society for presentation at the 1987 Industry Ap- continues only till the phase current reaches zero.
plications Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, October 19-23. Manuscript 4) For the switching process, the machine speed is assumed
released for publication December 14, 1988.
W. Deleroi and J. B. Woudstra are with the Faculty of Electrical Engi- not to change at the instant of switching.
neering. Technical University of Delft, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The
Netherlands. Thyristor Triggering Angles
A . A. Fahim is with the National Research Center, Electrical and Electronic
Research Institute, El-Tahir st. Dokki, Cairo, Egypt. Taking the thyristor firing angle a to be a constant angle
IEEE Log Number 882531 1 . from the point of zero crossing of each phase voltage, the

0093-9994/89/03OO-O280$01.OO 0 1989 IEEE

DELEROI et al.: INDUCTION MOTOR VOLTAGE CONTROLLER 28 1
Tlme
+ I 1 2 3
0"

60 2 Aa

gate 2
pulses 2

Fig. 2. Triggering pulses for a ( t ) = 010

12d'Aa

Fig. 4. Sequence of changing mode of operation

in a synchronous rotating two-axis frame are [4]

gate-
pulses

Fig. 3. Triggering pulses for a(t) = 010 k Aa.

train of triggering pulses required for the whole three-phase Ls 0 Lm 0

system will be separated by an angle of 60" as shown in
0 Ls 0 Lm
Fig. 2. To allow variation in the value of a with time, i.e.,
a ( t ) = a. fA a ( t ) , the train of the triggering pulses required
+
L, 0 L, 0
will be separated by 60" +Aa(t)as shown in Fig. 3. (Symbols
are defined in the Nomenclature at the end of the paper.) 0 Lm 0 Lr
For normal steady-state operation, with current continu- where
ously flowing in the three phases, the triggering angle a is
ct = cp, where cp, is the load-dependent phase-shift angle. For xs = ~ ( L S+I Lm)wLs
a < cp, the thyristor conduction requirements are not satis-
fied, because I p h < 0 and v t h > 0. So the constraint for the Xr = + + m)wL,.
w(L,~ L
triggering angle a is (Y 2 cp. The solution of (1) is obtained analytically by computing the
system eigenvalues and eigenvectors [5], [6]. The total solu-
111. THEORETICAL
ANALYSIS tion for the transient stator and rotor currents are calculated
It is important to note that, by implementing the thyris- by combining the particular and the homogeneous solutions
tor controller, the number of machine phases connected to as follows:
the supply can change during operation time. The different j(t>= jpart(t) -k j h o m ( t ) .
operational modes of the machine are
To allow continuity between the solutions of different modes
a) symmetrical three-phase operation (M3); of operation, the current vector computed in the rotating (d-
b) unsymmetrical two-phase operation (M2); q) reference frame is transformed to a fixed reference frame
c) disconnected mode (MO). (a-b) by multiplying with the transformation coordinate ma-
trix.
Changing of the mode of operation is observed when 1) two
thyristor firing pulses are provided (every 60" kAa(t));2) one B. Two-Phase Operation Mode
of the phase currents becomes zero. The sequence of changing
For the two-phase operational mode, (1) must be modified.
of the mode of operation is shown in Fig. 4, where ( t l - t 3 )
Since the two operating phases have the same current, their
are the time instants of providing the two triggering pulses.
effect can be represented by an equivalent single winding.
Further, to simplify calculations by keeping the rotor equa-
A. Three-phase Operation Mode
tions unchanged, the mutual inductance between the rotor and
Using the generalized theory of ac machines, [3], the three- the equivalent single-phase winding (i.e, the main flux) is
phase stator and rotor voltage differential equations described taken to be the same as that between the original windings.
282 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, MARCHiAPRIL 1989

It is also assumed that the system is power invariant. The

values for the stator voltage, the current vectors, and the ma-
chine parameters, in relation to the original values used in the
symmetrical two-phase systems, are as follows [7]:
v:= v,
I:= &I.
R,*= (2/3)R, a-
x,*l= (2/3)Xs1 Fig. 5 . First peaks of stator current versus switching angle 01

where the asterisk indicates the two-phase system. It must be

remembered that the rotor parameters and the mutual induc- TABLE I
tance are kept the same. For the resultant modified system of
Machine Parameters (per unit)
the equations, the solution for the currents is obtained in the
same manner as for three-phase system, by computing the R, = 0.042 R , = 0.040
X,, = 0.085 X,, = 0.113
particular and the homogeneous solutions. X , = 1.500
C. Disconnected Mode
When the stator current in mode M2 drops to zero, the
machine is in the disconnected mode. In this mode, the rotor
currents start with their values at the end of the previous mode
and decay to zero with the rotor time constant ( 7 , ) . The time-
varying solution of the currents for the disconnected mode are
1 1.0

I
as follows: -
1,
Isd(t) = 0.0
08
Is&) = 0.0
I r d ( t ) = e-r'Tr{Zrd(T2)
cos((1 - s>t>
06
- Irq(T2) sin((1 - s>t>>)

Irq(t) = e-"'r{Zrd(T2) sin((1 - s>t>

+ Irq(T2) cos((1 - s>t>>l 04
where
r, = X J R ,

OItI60" +AcY-T~ Oi

and T2 is the instant of time when stator current drops to

zero.
D. Continuity of the Current Solution
To ensure the continuity of the solutions when the oper-
ational mode changes, the initial value of the currents at a
certain mode is taken to be the same as the final value of the
currents at the mode advanced to it.
IV. TRIGGERING FUNCTION
ANGLE
The main objective of this work is to provide a function for
the triggering angle a ( t ) ,which allows smooth switching for
the three-phase induction machine during both motor and gen-
erator operational modes. Since the aforementioned function
is applied between two fixed operation points, the initial value
cyo and the final value c y f , the machine performance must be
studied first under operation with constant values of C Y .
A . Operation with Constant Triggering Angle CY
The constraint in this paper for the value of CYO is that the
first stator current peak does not exceed the rated value. Note
C
wt -
Fig. 6. Half-cycle of stator current waveform for different values of a.
that this restriction on the first peak does not guarantee that
the following peaks of the current will not exceed this limita-
tion. However, the overall performance is improved, as will
be shown. By plotting the relationship between the values of
the first peaks obtained for different switching processes with
different values of ( Y O (Fig. 5), the theoretical calculations
with the motor parameters of Table I show that, for Zpeak =
1.0 pu, the range of CYO lies between 110" and 120". This
range appears to be acceptable for most motor parameters.
On the other hand, the final value of CY (i.e., ay) is defined up
to the constraint that af 2 p. For c y f = cp, continuous current
flow will be provided at the end of the transient; while for
af > p, periods of current interruption will be recognized
in the current waveform which could be utilized for motor
speed control. In Fig. 6 a half-cycle of the steady-state current
DELEROI el al.: INDUCTION MOTOR VOLTAGE CONTROLLER
I
6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 1%)
- 5
Fig, 7. Range of C I ~ values for motor and generator operation
waveform is shown for different values of a and for s = 4
percent. For a > cp, three parts of the three-phase mode and
two parts of the single-phase mode are recognized. The rest of
the time interval has a zero current. By increasing the firing
angle, the parts of single-phase mode are increased, the limit
where a = 95" and the whole region is covered with the
single-phase mode.
If af is chosen to be greater than cp, there are two cases to
be studied. These are the motor and generator operational
modes. For motor operation, with symmetrical phase voltage
and af L 150", the conduction requirements are not satisfied.
This is due to a change in polarity of the line voltage across
the operating thyristors. In the generator region, the stability
requirements have to be satisfied for the chosen value of af.
To check the stability, the final stator current should behave
in a steady-state manner.
Accordingly, in Fig. 7 the chosen region of af for motor
operation is between the value of a = cp and the upper limit
(a-b), where a = 150", while in the generator region, the
upper limit (6-c) is defined from the stability requirements. It
is important to mention that, if af exceeds the upper limit in
the generator mode, the stator current will exhibit an unduly
high peak before decaying to zero. To avoid such a case, af
should not exceed cp at the corresponding operating slip.
As a further calculation step, before defining the time-
varying switching function, the torque-speed characteristics
of the motor under investigation are provided for different
constant values of a (Fig. 8). Comparing the normal torque-
speed characteristics of the induction motor, it is observed
that, for constant values of the firing angle, the breakdown
torque peak has disappeared. The conclusion is that it is possi-
ble to start (s = 1) an induction motor with a constant torque.
It is necessary to use more than one time-varying switching
function. Switching while the machine already rotates with
a speed corresponding to a slip between -sn Is Is, can
be done with one switching function, because the breakdown
torque peak is passed in the torque-speed characteristic.
B. Operation with Time- Variable Switching Function
To define the time-varying function a ( t ) , it is preferable to af(s)is defined (Fig. 10). Using a previously chosen value
consider the possibility of switching while the machine rotates of fa,, which satisfies smooth switching at s = sl, a new
283
o b '
0.6 ' 0.4
'
c
'
s
'2
0. ' i
Fig. 8. Torque-speed characteristic for constant values of a.
wt -
Fig. 9. i versus time for different values of triggering frequency fa.
(without excitation current) with a speed corresponding to
a slip between -sn Is Isn. The constraint utilized for
smoothing the switching process is chosen as
Is II , = 1 pu.
As a first trial, a straight line relation for a ( t ) between the
two endpoints a0 and af is employed. However, the results
showed that smoothness of the transient current is not sat-
isfied. By allowing variation of a in small steps such that
for every new value of a the corresponding transient current
does not exceed the permissible value, it was found that the
variation of CY with time behaves in a cosine function form.
From the preceding, the triggering function can be written
as
a(t) = a + b cos(ct)
where a , b , and c are constants. To calculate a, b , and c, the
two defined values of a0 and af and the rate of change of
the function fa are utilized. To determine fa (frequency of
the triggering function), the time variation of I,,, (transient
current peaks) is plotted for different trial values of fa and at
s = -4 percent (see Fig. 9). It was found that, for the motor
under investigation, the frequency fa = 3.5 Hz provides the
most smooth Imax variation (curve b). Since the value of fa
is dependent on the value of the switching slip, the relation
between fa and the slip is defined. The main idea of defining
fa@) is to relate two cases of switching with different values
of slip. Knowing the variation of the power angle cp with the
slip, and with the assumption that af = cp, the relationship
2 84 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 2 5 , NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 1989

value of triggering frequency fo2 for switching at s = s2 is

determined: (fol/fa2) = ( A B / A C ) ,where A B and AC are
as shown in Fig. 10.
Using the two preceding calculated points (f a l ,s l ) and
(fa2,s2),a straight line relation for variation of fa@) is ob-
tained (Fig. 11). From this relation, the triggering function
frequency can be determined at the desired value of switching
slip as shown in Fig. 12.
v. EVALUATION
OF THE CONTROLLER

To confirm the effectiveness of the controller with the pro- J ' , ; , : , ,

posed triggering function, computational and experimental re- 0"
sults are provided. The transient performance of a three-phase
induction machine with the parameters of Table I was com-
0 -4 -8
- -12
s (%)

Fig. 10. Final triggering angle CY, versus slip.

puted. To allow comparison, the performances of both the di-
rect switching process and the controller implementation are
provided.
The time variations of the stator current, torque, and the
speed, for switching processes carried out at slip s = 0, are
shown in Figs. 13 and 14. For the direct switching process, the
maximum transient current approaches a value of 5 pu, while
for controlled switching, the maximum amplitude is around 1
pu. Also, from torque variation, the direct switching process 0 -A -8
S-
-12 (%)

shows a considerable torque peak with a nonzero average. For

Fig. 11. Triggering frequency fa versus slip.
the same case, by using the controller, the amplitude of the
transient pulsating torque is quite improved, with an average
tending to zero. Further, the frequency of the pulsating torque
is in the range of 300 Hz, which makes the torque pulsation - i
t
unrecognized by the load. IN

For more detailed explanation of the transient behavior, the 18-

vector trajectory of the air-gap flux during the transient is pro- 16.
vided in Fig. 15, where every half-cycle a is marked. For the
direct switching process (the continuous-line plot), the field "-
buildup is remarkably fast. After the first half-cycle, the flux 12-
exceeds the steady-state value and a dc flux component is rec- .
ognized. This peak value of flux corresponds to the maximum
current peak of 5 pu, which is shown in Fig. 12. The final
steady-state value of the flux is almost approached within two
cycles (4a).Comparing the same situation with the controlled
switching (the dotted-line plot), the flux buildup is quite grad-
0 2n Ln 6n 8n 10n 1211 1411
wt - 16n 18n

ual, and the steady-state value is achieved within a reasonable Fig. 12. Time variation of i for different slip values.
number of cycles, which makes the variation in the flux con-
siderably smoother.
To emphasize the advantage of the suggested switching
function, Fig. 16 shows a switching process in the genera-
tor operational mode at s = -0.04. By using the switching
function, the average transient torque is gradually decreased
from zero to the desired steady-state value, while the current
varies smoothly between the range of 1.0-0.8 pu.
To justify the range of accuracy achieved in practical ap-
a wlthout
>controller
plication by using the suggested controlled switching, the fol- b with
lowing experimental results are reported. In Fig. 17, the time
variation of the switching function a(t)and the corresponding
phase current is provided for the same case (s = 0) as in Fig.
12. 0

From the current values of both results, it can be seen that

0 2n 4n 6n Br 1011 1211 1411 16r
ut -181-1 2 0 ~

the experimental and theoretical results are in good agree- Fig. 13. Stator current for switching at s = 0.0. (a) Without controller.
ment. Fig. 18 shows the experimental results for the controlled (b) With controller.
DELEROI et al.: INDUCTION MOTOR VOLTAGE CONTROLLER 285

S. 0

I " \ / \
n

I
0 ' 40 80 120 (ms)160
t-

a
t
a= wothout
~= w,th >controller 40 80 120 (ms) 160
t-

"'..-
980
L Fig. 17. (a) Trigger function. (b) Corresponding phase current.
in 4n 6n 8n 10n 1211 1Ln 16n l8n
wt - 20n 2in 26n

Fig. 14. Torque and speed variation for switching at s = 0.0.(a) Without
controller. (b) With controller.
a,

500

0 t-

Fig. 18. Experimental results for triggering angle and stator current for
controlled switching at s = 0.04.
without controller
7

! !I
Fig. 15. Air-gap flux vector trajectory.

s=-004
" :C
0

0 5 10 15 (sec)
t-

12001

n
600

300
wt -
Fig. 16. Torque and stator current variation for controlled switching at s =
-0.04.
wt - (sec)

Fig. 19. Experimental results for current and speed variation for controlled
switching at s = 1.0.
switching at s = 4 percent. For a controlled switching process
at s = 1.0, the experimental results (Fig. 19) show the time
variations of both the stator current and the mechanical speed. VI. CONCLUSION
Noting these results, it is clear that transient speed measure- The switching of a three-phase induction machine is
ment is possible with the standard equipments when the con- achieved without the transient problems associated with high
troller is employed, since the variation in the speed is quite currents and pulsating torque. Utilizing a dynamic function
smooth and no more abrupt variations are recognized. for the triggering angle of the voltage-controlled thyristors
286 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 25, NO. 2, MARCHIAPRIL 1989
proves to be a simple and effective way to improve transient
performance. By employing the proper triggering function,
the rate at which the main flux builds up is decreased, and
transient torque is smoothed. Defining a value for the max-
imum required transient current is possible by choosing the
starting angle of the triggering function.
Simulation of the transient performance, based on the an-
alytical solution of the machine differential equation under
different modes of operation, is established. The simulation
model results show that a smooth switching process for an
induction machine, running at any speed, for both motor and
generator operation, is achievable. Also, results from the prac-
tical realization of the suggested function proved the validity
of this technique. The authors will discuss in the future the
problem of the switching process with a remainder flux.
NOMENCLATURE
CY Firing angle (rad).
cp Current phase shift (rad).
r, Rotor time constant ( S K I ) .
Triggering frequency (Hz) .
Phase current (pu).
Rated current (pu).
Speed (r/min).
Stator resistance (pu).
Rotor resistance (pu).
Slip.
Rated slip.
Thyristor voltage (pu).
X , Stator reactance (pu).
X , Rotor reactance (pu).
X,, Stator leakage reactance (pu).
X,, Rotor leakage reactance (pu).
REFERENCES
111 V. R. Stefanovic, “Present trends in variable speed ac drives,” in
Conf. Rec. 1983 Int. Power Elec. Conf., pp. 3 3 8 4 9 .
121 H. Rehaoulia and M. Poloujadoff, “Transient behavior of the resultant
airgap field during run up of an induction machine,” IEEE Trans.
Energy Conversion, vol. EC-I, no. 4, Dec. 1986.
r31 C. V. Jones, The Unified Theory of ElectricalMachines. London:
Butterworth, 1967.
141 B. Adkins and R. G. Harley, The General Theory of Alternating
Current Machine, Application to Practical Problems. London:
Chapman & Hall, 1975.
[5] W. Deleroi, “Ausgleichsvorgange der symmetrische Drehfeldmas-
chine der Asynchronmaschine, beschrieben durch frie Ausgleich-
swellen,” Arch. Elektrotech., vol. 65, pp. 1-10, 1982.
[6] D. W. Novotny and J. J. A. Melkebeek, “Dynamic response of volt-
age driven induction machine,” Elec. Machines Power Syst., vol.
10, pp. 149-179, 1985.
171 W. Deleroi J. B. Woudstra, and A. A. Fahim, “Analysis of induction
machine operation with changing number of stator phases,” to be
published.
Werner Deleroi received the following degrees in
electrical engineering from the Technical University
of Braunschweig, Germany: M.Sc. (1963), Ph.D.
(1968).
He was appointed to the Chair of Power Electron-
ics at the University of Hamburg in 1975. The next
appointment led him, in 1978, to his present field
of activity as an electrical engineering Professor at
the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands.
Dr. Deleroi received an award for literature from
the German Association of Electrical Engineers,
Power Systems Division.
Johan B. Woudstra received the B A . degree from
the Technical High School in Alkmaar (1978) and
the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from
the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands
(1986).
He is a member of the scientific staff of the Power
Electronics and Electrical Machines Division of the
Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Technical
University of Delft. His research work is on elec-
trical drives control and power electronics.
Azza A. Fahim (M’88) received the B.Sc., M.Sc.,
and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from
Cairo University in 1973, 1977, and 1984, respec-
tively.
Since 1974 she has been with the National Re-
search Center, Cairo, Egypt, where she is presently
an Associate Research Scientist. She has been a
graduate Visitor Scholar at Iowa State University
and the University of Wisconsin-Madison from
1981 to 1984. She has also been a Postdoctoral Re-
search Fellow at the Technical Universih, of Delft,
The Netherlands, from 1986 to 1987. She has conducted a numbe; of studies
on tubular induction motors. Her current research interests include power
electronic control and the transient analysis of electrical machines.