Electr Eng

DOI 10.1007/s00202-011-0220-8
ORIGINAL PAPER
Torque ripple minimization with optimized i
sx
estimation
in vector control of current source inverter induction motor
Mehdi Babaei Mohammad Karimi
Mehrdad Ahmadi Kamarposhti Soodabeh Soleymani
Received: 4 April 2010 / Accepted: 6 June 2011
Springer-Verlag 2011
Abstract In variable speed applications of high-power
induction motors, current source inverters are usually used
instead of voltage source inverters. Power switches delay and
switching losses in high-power ranges, prevents inverters to
operate properly in high frequencies. So the voltage and cur-
rent waveforms of the motor supply consist of high harmonic
content causing a high-torque ripple. One of the parameters
that inuences the torque ripple most is the stator ux refer-
ence value. Motors do not usually operate in their nominal
load. Therefore, the optimum value of the ux is not equal to
the nominal value. In this paper, an optimal i
sx
reference for
vector control systemof current source inverter fed induction
motor is produced by applying a simple estimator. Simulation
results show that torque ripple has been reduced, especially
in the loads less than their nominal power, as significantly as
power factor has been improved. Also ux reduction causes
to noticeable reduction in core and switching losses.
Keywords Current source inverter Space vector
modulation Vector control
M. Babaei M. A. Kamarposhti (B)
Young Researches Club, Jouybar Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Jouybar, Iran
e-mail: m.ahmadi@jouybariau.ac.ir; mehrdad.ahmadi.k@gmail.com
M. Karimi
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
S. Soleymani
Department of Electrical Engineering, Science and Research Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
1 Introduction
For variable speed electric motor applications in lowto mod-
erate power, pulse-width modulation with voltage source
inverters (PWM-VSI) is usually used. However, the switched
voltages yield high-voltage slopes over the stator windings,
which stresses the insulations and causes bearing current
problems. A possible solution is to use pulse-width mod-
ulation with current source inverters (PWM-CSIs). In this
case, both stator current and voltage waveforms are close to
sinusoidal waveform and the aforementioned problem does
not occur [1].
Fig. 1 shows main circuit of the PWM-CSI-fed induction
motor drive. In current source inverters, there is a ltering
capacitor that is added between the inverter and the motor.
The main function of this capacitor is to decrease the current
harmonics. The capacitor lter and motors inductances form
a resonance circuit altogether. When the Inverters generated
current vector is suddenly changed, this resonance circuit is
excited and causes a lot of oscillations on the motor current
[1]. It causes a lot of ripple in the motor torque and increases
motor harmonic losses.
In induction motor vector control, torque and ux are con-
trolled separately [2]. In current source inverter fed induction
motor control, i
sy
, the imaginary component and i
sx
, the real
component of stator current vector in rotor ux-oriented ref-
erence frame (x y), regulate torque and ux, respectively
[1, 3]. In most applications, i
sx
has a xed value (nominal
value) and motor produces its maximum torque by regulat-
ing i
sy
. However, motors do not generally operate in their
nominal power, whereas i
sx
has been xed in its nominal
value. So the motor will not work in an optimal operating
point [4]. On the other hand, in high-power applications the
switching frequency is not high due to power switch delay
and high switching losses [5]. It results in high harmonic
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Fig. 1 Main circuit of the PWM-CSI-fed induction motor drive
components in power source current and voltage waveforms
and then the motor suffers from rather high-torque ripple.
Torque ripple reduces the motor useful life and its load and
can cause mechanical resonance in motor-load system [6].
With regulating i
sx
in an optimal value, motor operates in
a proper operation point and torque ripple will be reduced
noticeably. In this paper the optimal value of i
sx
reference is
calculated for vector control system using a simple estima-
tor. The equations show that one of the two terms of torque
ripple is affected by ux value. The ux reduction decreases
the maximum torque of motor and ripple torque.
The next section includes a brief introduction about vec-
tor control of induction motor with current source inverter.
In Sect. 3 the effect of ux value on motor torque ripple has
been explained. The new control system that utilizes i
sx
ref-
erence estimator is presented in Sect. 4. Simulation results in
Sect. 5 show that torque ripple has been noticeably reduced
especially in the loads less than nominal power, and power
factor has been considerably improved that causes core and
switching losses decrease.
2 Vector control of the PWM-CSI-FED induction motor
drive
Figure 1 shows the main circuit of the PWM-CSI-fed induc-
tion motor drive. L
lif
and C
lif
are the inductance and capac-
itance of the line lter and U
sup
the supply voltage [6]. C
lof
is the load lter capacitance. The line and load bridges are
identical. Both bridges consist of six controllable switches
such as insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). Antipar-
allel diodes of the IGBTs in the commercial power modules
are also shown in the gure. Because of these diodes and the
very low reverse voltage-blocking capability of traditional
IGBTs, additional diodes have to be connected in series with
the transistors. However, the new IGBTs with reverse block-
ing capability are being launched on the markets, which make
the series diodes unnecessary [1]. L
dc
is a smoothing induc-
tor which is often split in two and connected in both bars of
the dc circuit to minimize the bearing current problems of
the motor drive [7].
Fig. 2 Control system of the PWM-CSI-fed induction motor drive
In the PWM-CSI drives the line converter is used to con-
trol the dc-link current. The function of the line converter
is synchronized with the supply voltages. By changing a
modulation index in the line bridge, the dc-link voltage, i.e.,
the dc-link current, can be controlled.
In the vector control strategies, the ac motors are con-
trolled like dc motors which have independent channels for
ux and torque control. The electromagnetic torque of the
induction motor in the rotor-ux-oriented reference frame
can be written as [8]
t
c
=
3
2
p
L
2
m
L
r
|i
mr
| i
sy
(1)
where p is the number of pole pairs, L
m
magnetizing induc-
tance, L
r
rotor self-inductance, i
mr
rotor magnetizingcurrent,
and i
sy
the imaginary axis component of the stator current
vector inthe rotor-ux-basedcoordinate system. Belownom-
inal rotor speed, i
mr
is kept constant and the electromagnetic
torque is controlled with i
sy
. Above nominal rotor speed, the
reference value of the magnetizing current is reduced to keep
the stator voltage at an acceptable level. In the rotor-ux-
oriented reference frame i
mr
can be controlled with the real
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Electr Eng
axis component of the stator current vector i
sx
as follows:
i
sx
= T
r
d
dt
|i
mr
| +|i
mr
| (2)
where T
r
is rotor time constant.
Figure 2 shows the block diagram of load converter con-
trol system. The vector control systemof the induction motor
is realized in the rotor-ux-oriented reference frame and is
based on an indirect vector control scheme [8]. The y com-
ponent of the stator current reference vector is i

sy
obtained as
the output signal of the speed controller. The x component of
the stator current reference vector i

sx
is generated according
to magnetizing current reference using (2). These two vec-
tors formthe inverter current reference vector i
mr
inv
expressed
in the rotor-ux-oriented reference frame. It is transformed
to the stationary reference frame as follows:

inv
= i
mr
inv
e
j
mr
(3)
The magnetizingcurrent reference value is generatedbyFG1.
i

mr
is kept constant below nominal rotor speed, and above
nominal speed the magnetizing current reference value is
inversely proportional to the rotor speed.
In the indirect vector control system the rotor ux angle

mr
is calculated as a sum of the measured rotor angle and
the reference value of the slip angle in the following way [8]:

mr
=
r
+

sl
=
r
+
_

sl
dt =
r
+
_
i

sy
T
r
i

mr
dt (4)
If the angular rotor speeds
r
instead of
r
is measured,
as is the case in Fig. 2, (4) can be written as

mr
=
_

mr
dt =
_
_

r
+

sl
_
dt =
_
_

r
+
i

sy
T
r

mr

_
dt
(5)
After coordinate transformation the inverter current refer-
ence vector is fed to the modulator. Reference current vector
(Eq. 3) must be rst generated in the current source inverter
and then applied to the motor after removing its harmonics
with ltering capacitor. This current has a nearly sinusoidal
waveformwhich leads to a nearly sinusoidal voltage in motor
terminals after feeding the motor and passing through motor
impedances.
As mentionedbefore, rapidchanges of inverter current ref-
erence excites the resonance circuit (combination of capaci-
tor and motor inductances) and causes intense oscillations on
the stator current and motor torque. Therefore, a digital l-
ter can be used to modify the reference current components.
This lter uses previous sample values of currents reference
to generate modied current values. This adjustment must be
accomplished so that two conditions are satised at the same
time: First, the resonance circuit should not be excited and
second the response of system also should not be too slow or
unstable. Assuming that k is number of sampling period and
Table 1 Characteristics of induction motor
Parameters Value
Stator rated phase voltage 220 V
Stator rated current 6.2 A
Rated power 2.2 KW
Number of poles 3
Rated speed 940 rpm
Magnetizing inductance 155 mH
Stator inductance 7.2 mH
Rotor inductance 7.2 mH
Stator resistance 2.3
Rotor resistance 1.8
Fig. 3 Realization of the inverter current reference vector with two
switching vectors
n is the number of previous samples, the modied current
will be as follows:

k
= (i

k
+i

k1
+ +i

k(n1)
)/n (6)
As an example, if n is equal to 10, the modied current will
be equal to the summation of the current reference value at
present and the nine values corresponding to previous periods
divided by ten. This lter decreases the slope of the reference
current signals which have sudden step changes.
In current source inverter, output inverter current after l-
tering by capacitor has approximately sinusoidal waveform.
After applying this current to an electrical load, load voltage
is approximately sinusoidal too. The current source PWM
converter has sixactive andthree switchingvectors [1]. These
vectors are like
i
n
=
2

3
i
dc
e
j (2n1) /6
, for n = 1, 2, . . . , 6 (7)
i
n
= 0, for n = 7, 8, 9 (8)
Current source inverter Switching state of these nine vectors
is shown in Table 1. The reference vector is realized using the
two limiting active vectors of the sector as shown in Fig. 3.
The modulation times of the active switching vectors within
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Electr Eng
the modulation period T
m
can be calculated as follows:
T

inv
i
dc

sin
_

_
T
m
= msin
_

_
T
m
(9)
T

inv
i
dc

sin (

) T
m
= msin (

) T
m
(10)
and for the zero switching vector, we have
T
0
= T
m
T

(11)
According to Fig. 3

in Eqs. (9) and (10) is calculated as [9]

inv
+

6
(n 1)

3
(12)
Where n is number of active sector and

inv
is inverter refer-
ence current in stationary reference frame.
The dc-link current reference value is generated in Fig. 2
by FG2 as follows:
i

dc
= c i
mr
inv
= c
_
_
i

invx
_
2
+
_
i

invy
_
2
(13)
where the constant c 1, i.e., the magnitude of the
dc-link current should be equal or greater than the length
of the inverter current reference vector in order to keep the
modulation in the linear region [1].
3 Induction motor torque ripple
In vector control in which the relations are represented in
rotor ux-oriented coordinates (x y), induction motor is
controlled such as a dc motor. On the other words, there are
separate controls on torque and ux, and equations shown
below are used [1, 3]:
|
s
| = k
x
i
m
|
s
| i
m
(14)
T
e
= k
y
i
sy
T
e
i
sy
(15)
The basic relation between torque T, stator ux
s
and rotor
ux
r
is [7]:
T =
3
2
P

L
r

r
sin (16)
where is the angle between the stator and rotor ux vec-
tors, P is pole pairs number, L
s
and L
r
are stator and rotor
self inductances, L
m
is the magnetization inductance, and
is total leakage factor, = 1 L
2
m
/(L
s
L
r
) and =
L
m
L
s
.
Torque ripple is composed of two terms [4]:
T = T
1
+T
2
(17)
T
1
= T
_
1

s
+
1

r
_
T
S

(18)
T
2
=
3
2
P

L
r
[(V
s
j
m

s
). j
r
]T
S
(19)
Fig. 4 Block diagram of vector control with i
sx
reference estimator
where
m
is rotor speed and
s
and
r
are stator and rotor time
constants respectively. The rst term that is proportional to
the torque value and is independent of motor voltage is due
to stator and rotor resistances and acts in order to reduce
the torque value. The second term represents the effect of
the stator voltage on the torque variation and depends on the
operating conditions [4]. It is obvious from(16) and (17) that
the rotor ux has not any effect on torque rst term, whereas
it has a high effect on the second one.
4 Optimum i
sx
reference estimation
In steady-state conditions, these relations below are valid in
induction motor [10]:

r
=
s
cos (20)
tan =
r
(
s

m
) (21)
where
s
is stator angular frequency. Substituting (20) and
(21) in (16), torque is given by
T = k
T

2
s
sin 2 (22)
where
k
T
=
3
4
P

2
L
r
(23)
Equation 22 represents torque in respect to stator ux
s
and
(the angel between stator and rotor uxes). If the magni-
tude of stator ux remains constant and torque reaches its
maximum value, that is,
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Electr Eng
Fig. 5 Reference speed and
measured speed (rpm)
Fig. 6 Vector control without i
sx
estimator
T
max
= k
T

2
s
(24)
The angular frequency corresponding this angel is

s,max
=
m
+
1

r
(25)
So when the motor torque is lower than nominal value, the
stator ux magnitude can be reduced according to [4]:
T
max1
T
max2
=
|
s1
|
2
|
s2
|
2
(26)
Considering (14), (15) and (26) equation below can be
written:
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Electr Eng
Fig. 7 Vector control with i
sx
estimator
T
max1
T
max2
=
i
sy1
i
sy2
=
|
s1
|
2
|
s2
|
2
=
i
2
m1
i
2
m2
i
m2
= i
m1
_
i
sy2
_
i
sy1
(27)
Considering (2) and (27) consequently:
i
sx,op
= T
r
d
dt

i
m,op

i
m,op

(28)
Above equation shows that the optimal value of i
sx
can be
estimated whit having reference current i
sy
and operation
point (nominal point for example).
The calculated value is limited to maximumand minimum
values. The upper band of this controller is determined from
the maximum value of the motor ux and its lower band is
equal to the minimum value of the ux, which is necessary
for generating the rotational torque [4].
Figure 4 shows the block diagram of proposed method. In
this gure an estimator is used to calculate the optimal value
of reference current i
sx
using (27) and (28).
5 Simulation results
Vector control of current source inverter fed induction motor
has been simulated with and without i
sx
reference estima-
tor using MATLAB software. Switching frequency for space
vector modulation is 2 kHz. Table 1 shows the parameters
of the induction motor used in the study. For this motor the
maximumi
sy
is 13Athat PI speed controller is limited to this
value. At rst the vector control without i
sx
estimator is used
to drive induction motor. Reference speed changes from 0 to
1,000 rpm at 0.15 s (Fig. 5) and a 11 Nm load that is half
nominal value is put on motor shaft at 0.6 s.
Figure 6 shows simulation results without using current
estimator. Similar simulations are done for vector control
of induction motor using i
sx
reference estimator. Figure 7
shows the results of these simulations. Comparison of Figs. 6
and 7 demonstrates the improvement of results in each part.
Torque ripple has been considerably reduced particularly in
no load condition. So, motor useful life and its load have
1 3
Electr Eng
been increased as well as motor harmonic losses decreased.
Figure 7b and c show i
sy
and i
sx
in proposed system, respec-
tively. Figure 7d shows that in no-load condition the stator
current has been decreased considerably. It is obvious from
comparing Fig. 6e with Fig. 7e that the stator voltage is lower
in proposed method in all conditions and it implies that the
motor power factor has had noticeable improvement. Stator
voltage reduction leads to decreasing in core and isolation
losses. Also in this condition the switching losses are lower
in current source inverter and its rectier, because the motor
operates in higher power factor.
6 Conclusion
In this paper a simple estimator for i
sx
reference, for vec-
tor control of current source inverter fed induction motor
has been proposed that provides an optimal operating point
for motor. Simulation results demonstrate significant reduc-
tion in torque ripple in high-power application using the
i
sx
estimator. So, motor useful life and its load have been
increased as well as motor harmonic losses decreased. Also
motor power factor has been improved that reduces core and
inverter switching losses.
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