A Speed-Sensorless Startup Method of an

Induction Motor Driven by a

Modular Multilevel Cascade Inverter (MMCI-DSCC)
Yuhei Okazaki, Student Member, IEEE, Makoto Hagiwara, Member, IEEE, and Hirofumi Akagi, Fellow, IEEE
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
E-mail: akagi@ee.titech.ac.jp
AbstractThe modular multilevel cascade inverter based on
double-star chopper-cells (MMCI-DSCC) has been expected as
one of the next-generation multilevel PWM inverters for mediumvoltage motor drives. This paper has theoretical and experimental
discussions on a practical speed-sensorless startup method for an
induction motor driven by the MMCI-DSCC from the standstill
to a middle speed. This motor drive is suitable, especially for
large-capacity fan-/blower-like loads, the torque of which is
proportional to a square of the motor mechanical speed. Unlike
the so-called voltz-per-heltz or slip-frequency controls, threephase stator currents are based on feedback control, whereas
their amplitude and frequency are based on feedforward
control. Although the motor drive has no speed sensor attached
to the motor shaft, this method makes a slow startup stable with
the help of a stator-current feedback loop. Experimental results
obtained from a 400-V, 15-kW downscaled system verify stable
operating performance from the standstill to a middle speed of
588 min1 loaded with 60%.
Keywords Modular multilevel cascade inverters, mediumvoltage induction motor drives, speed-sensorless startup

I.

I NTRODUCTION

Attention has been paid to medium-voltage motor drives

for energy savings without regenerative braking [1], [2].
The modular multilevel cascade inverter based on double-star
chopper-cells (MMCI-DSCC) has been expected as one of the
next-generation medium-voltage multilevel PWM inverters for
such motor drives [3][11]. For the sake of simplicity, the
MMCI-DSCC is referred to as the DSCC in this paper. Each
leg of the DSCC consists of two arms and a center-tapped
inductor sitting between the two arms. Each arm consists of
multiple bidirectional dc/dc choppers called just as choppercells. The low-voltage sides of the chopper-cells are connected
in cascade, while the high-voltage side of each chopper-cell is
equipped with a dc capacitor and a voltage sensor. A synergy
effect of lower voltage steps and phase-shifted PWM leads
to lower harmonic voltage and current as well as lower EMI
emissions as the number of cascaded chopper-cells increases.
The design of the power conversion circuit is so flexible that
any number of cascaded chopper-cells is theoretically possible
[4].
Although the DSCC has such advantages, the motor drive
would suffer from ac-voltage fluctuation of the dc capacitor
in each chopper-cell, because the ac-voltage fluctuation gets

978-1-4799-0336-8/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE

more serious as the motor mechanical speed gets lower [5].

Several papers have addressed a startup method for the motor
drive equipped with or without a speed sensor [7][11].
The authors of [7] have proposed a simple startup method
without a speed sensor, in which the DSCC was operated at an
appropriate constant frequency, e.g., 30 Hz, and an appropriate
constant voltage for the purpose of reducing the ac-voltage
fluctuation and getting a startup torque. A slip frequency,
which is much higher than the rated one, would bring an
overcurrent to both DSCC and motor in a low-speed range.
Moreover, it is accompanied by producing a reduced motor
torque.
Other startup method from the standstill has been discussed
for the motor drive with a speed sensor [8][11]. A serious
ac-voltage fluctuation in a low-speed range can be mitigated
by injecting a common-mode voltage and a circulating current
into each leg of the DSCC [10], [11]. However, it is desirable to
eliminate a speed sensor from the motor drive, especially when
the motor drive is introduced to a hostile environment [12],
when a new DSCC is applied to an already-existing constantspeed motor without a speed sensor, or when a long lead cable
is required to connect a new DSCC and a new motor.
The aim of this paper is to verify the effectiveness and
practicability of the DSCC-based induction motor drive without a speed sensor, in which the motor starts rotating from
the standstill to a middle speed under a ramp change. The
speed control method proposed in this paper is somewhat
similar in basic idea to the conventional volt-per-hertz, or
shortly V/f and slip-frequency controls, but different in
terms of combining these controls together. The proposed
motor drive is based on the feedback control of the stator
current as in the slip-frequency control, whereas the commands
for the stator-current amplitude and frequency are based on
the feedforward control in consideration of the load-torque
change, as in the V/f control. Therefore, nether the motor
parameters nor the speed sensor are required. Furthermore,
the proposed startup method can be applied to any inverter
equipped with current sensors in ac terminals. This paper
describes a design consideration for the DSCC-based motor
drive when the proposed speed control method is applied. Experimental waveforms obtained from a downscaled induction
motor drive rated at 400 V and 15 kW verify the stable speedsensorless startup from the standstill to a middle speed of
588 min1 loaded with 60%.

1473

u-phase
cell 1u

vC1u

cell 4u

v-phase

w-phase

cell 1v

cell 1w

cell 4v

cell 4w

The dc-capacitor voltage in each chopper-cell consists of

the dc component and the ac component causing ac-voltage
fluctuation. The peak-to-peak ac-voltage fluctuation, vCju ,
is approximated as follows [7]:

2I1
,
(4)
vCju
4f C

iP u
vdc iZu

iN u

i1u

v1uv

i1w
vC5u

cell 8u

where I1 is the rms value of the stator current, f is the

frequency of the stator current, and C is the capacitance value
of each dc capacitor. According to (4), vCju is inversely proportional to f , and proportional to I1 . Hence, vCju increases
as the stator-current frequency decreases. The increase in the
ac-voltage fluctuation is not desirable due to the following
reasons [11]:

v1v

i1v

cell 5u

v1u

cell 5v

cell 5w

cell 8v

cell 8w

v1w

(a) Power circuit.

It affects the voltage rating of IGBTs.

It causes overmodulation of each chopper-cell.

It makes the system unstable because the ac-voltage

fluctuation can be considered as a disturbance to the
control system.

vCju

lab

Therefore, the ac-voltage fluctuation should be mitigated to an

acceptable level.

(j : 1 8)
b

(b) Chopper-cell.

B. DC-Capacitor Voltage Control

(c) Center-tapped inductor.

Fig. 1. Circuit configuration for a modular multilevel cascade inverter based

on double-star chopper-cells (MMCI-DSCC).

II.

C IRCUIT AND C ONTROL OF THE DSCC

A. Circuit Configuration
Fig. 1(a) shows the main circuit configuration for the DSCC
discussed in this paper. Each leg consists of eight cascaded
bidirectional chopper-cells shown in Fig. 1(b), and a centertapped inductor per phase, as shown in Fig. 1(c). The center-tap
of each inductor, named c is connected directly to each of
the stator terminals of an induction motor, where i1u is the
u-phase stator current. iP u and iN u are the u-phase positive
and negative arm currents, respectively. iZu is the u-phase
circulating current, defined as follows [5]:
1
(iP u + iN u ).
(1)
2
iZu has dc- and ac-components to be used for dc-capacitor
voltage control. The dc component flows from the common
dc link to each leg, while the ac component flows among
the three legs. The individual ac components included in the
three circulating currents cancel each other out, so that no ac
component appears in either the motor current or the dc-link
current.

This paper employs two kinds of existing capacitor voltage

controls to mitigate the ac-voltage fluctuation and to regulate
the dc mean voltage of each dc capacitor. The dc mean voltage
is regulated by using the dc component of the circulating
current [5], while the ac-voltage fluctuation is mitigated by
using the common-mode voltage superimposed on three centertap terminals of the DSCC and the ac components of the
circulating currents flowing inside the three legs [8][11]. As
a result, the ac-voltage fluctuation is independent of the timevarying frequencies of the stator current, but dependent on a
fixed frequency of the common-mode voltage.
Finally, this paper switches over the control method according to the stator-current frequency.

iZu

i1u
+ iZu
2
i1u
+ iZu .
=
2

(2)

iN u

(3)

At the low-speed range of f 12 Hz, the commonmode voltage and the ac components of the circulating
currents are controlled actively to mitigate the acvoltage fluctuation of each dc-capacitor voltage.

When f 20 Hz, the common-mode voltage and the

ac components of the circulating currents are set to
zero.

During a transient speed range of 12 f 20 Hz, the

common-mode voltage and the ac components of the circulating currents decrease linearly in their amplitudes. Note that
the dc component of the circulating current is used to regulate
the dc mean voltage of each dc capacitor through all frequency
ranges.

iP u and iN u can be expressed by using i1u and iZu as

follows [5]:
iP u =

III.

S TATOR -C URRENT C ONTROL

This paper proposes a speed control based on a feedback

control of the stator current for achieving stable startup of an
induction motor. For the sake of simplicity, it is simply referred
as the speed control in this paper. Firstly, the control principles

1474

id
i1uvw

dq

iq

PI

id (= 3/2I1 )

dq 1

I0k

v1uvw

PI

iq (= 3/2I1 )

I1k

I1j

I0j

I1i <I1j <I1k

fsi >fsj >fsk

I1i

I0i
Fig. 2. Block diagrams for the speed control based on a feedback control of
the stator current.

I1

R1

Fig. 4. Phasor diagrams for the stator currents with different amplitudes and
the same torque.

L1 M 2 /L2
(L2 /M )I2

I0
V 1

I2k I2j I2i

M 2 /L2

the torque phasor current. I0 and I2 are orthogonal each other

in steady-state conditions. The rms value of I1 , I1 is given as
follows:

L2
(6)
I1 = I02 + ( I2 )2 .
M

(M/L2 )2 R2 /s

Fig. 3. Per-phase equivalent circuit based on the total linkage-flux of the

secondary windings [13].

of the speed control are discussed. Secondly, comparisons

among the conventional speed controls, i.e., voltz-per-heltz
and slip-frequency controls, are discussed.
A. Control Principles
The speed control forms a feedback control of the threephase stator currents to realize a stable speed-sensorless startup
from the standstill. This means that the current sensors are
required to realize the feedback control. The DSCC has six
current sensors to detect each of the arm currents, so that the
stator currents can be calculated from (2) and (3) by using the
detected arm currents. This means that no additional current
sensor is required.
Fig. 2 shows the block diagrams for the stator-current
control. The three-phase stator currents are transformed into dc
quantities by using the d-q transformation to enhance current
controllability. In Fig. 2, is the phase information used
for the d-q transformation, while id and iq are the current
commands given by

id = iq =
I ,
(5)
2 1
where I1 is the command of the stator rms current. Note that
I1 and f are given not by feedback control but by feedforward
control.
Fig. 3 shows a per-phase equivalent circuit of an induction
motor based on the total linkage flux of the secondary windings
[13]. Although this circuit is valid only under steady-state
conditions, it is applicable to a fan-/blower-like load in which
motor speed changes slowly enough to be considered as the
continuity of steady-state conditions. Here, I1 is the stator
phasor current, I0 is the magnetizing phasor current, and I2 is

The motor torque TM is expressed by using I0 and I2 ,

which are the rms values of I0 and I2 , respectively, as follows
[13]:
TM = 3P M I0 I2 ,
(7)
where P is the pole-pair number.
Fig. 4 shows phasor diagrams for the three stator currents
under the same torque, in which the relation of I1i < I1j < I1k
holds. The imaginary flame I corresponds to the magnetizing
current I0 , and the real flame R corresponds to the torque
current I2 . It is obvious from (7) and Fig. 4 that the motor
torque TM is proportional to the area of triangle surrounded
by I1 , I2 , and I0 .
When the stator phasor current increases from I1i to I1j
under a constant torque condition, the torque current decreases
from I2i to I2j , while the magnetizing current increases from
I0i to I0j , respectively, to keep the area of the triangle constant.
In other words, the magnetizing current and torque current
change their amplitudes automatically, when I1 increases in
amplitudes.
The slip frequency fs is described by using I2 and I0 as
follows [13]:
R 2 I2
fs =
.
(8)
2M I0
A relation of fsi > fsj > fsk exists in Fig. 4, which are the slip
frequencies at different operating points. The slip frequency is
determined unambiguously when TM and I1 are given.
B. Comparison of the Three Speed Controls
A similarity exists between the speed control proposed in
this paper and the conventional voltz-par-heltz, or shortly
V/f and slip-frequency controls.
Table I summarizes the comparison among the three control
methods. The V/f control has two independent variables, i.e.,
V1 and f , in which V1 is the stator voltage and f is the stator

1475

TABLE I.

C OMPARISON AMONG THE CONVENTIONAL VOLT- PER - HELTZ AND SLIP - FREQUENCY CONTROLS , AND THE SPEED CONTROL PROPOSED IN
THIS PAPER .
Independent variables
Dependent variables
Voltage control
Current control
Speed sensor

Volt-per-heltz control
V1 and f
I1 and fs
Feedforward
No

Slip-frequency control
I1 and fs
V1 and f
Feedback
Yes

frequency. On the other hand, the dependent variables are the

stator current I1 and the slip frequency fs . The V/f control
is a straightforward speed control method requiring no speed
sensor, which is based on feedforward control of V1 and f .
However, the system may suffer from overcurrent during a
motor startup or when a rapid change in torque occurs because
it has no capability to achieve fast torque control.
The slip-frequency control has two independent variables,
i.e., I1 and fs , and V1 and f are the dependent variables.
Here, the commands for I1 and fs are determined by feedback
control of the motor speed, thus requiring a speed sensor
attached to the motor shaft. The slip-frequency control can
achieve faster torque-response speed than the V/f control
owing to the feedback control of the motor speed.
The speed control proposed in this paper has two independent variables, i.e., I1 and f , and V1 and fs are the dependent
variables. Unlike the slip-frequency control, the speed control
requires no speed sensor because the commands for I1 and
f , i.e., I1 and f , are given not by feedback control, but
by feedforward control as in the V/f control. This implies
that the speed control proposed in this paper is inferior to
the slip-frequency control in terms of torque controllability.
However, it is applicable to a fan-/blower-like load where the
change in torque is relatively slow. Moreover, no overcurrent
occurs during a motor startup owing to feedback control of
the stator current. For these characteristics, the speed control
is considered as the combination of the V/f and slip-frequency
controls.
IV.

The first condition should be met because the larger I1 is,

the larger vCju is, as predicted from (4). In other words,
it is possible to minimize vCju by minimizing I1 . The
second condition should be met because the increase in the
arm currents causes an additional loss to the converter, and
making the size and weight of the inductor larger and heavier.
Note that the increase in the arm currents occurs especially
at low-speed operation where a large amount of ac circulating
current is superimposed on the arm current. The ac circulating
current is superimposed to suppress the ac-voltage fluctuation
in the dc-capacitor voltage of each chopper-cell. Hence, I1
should be minimized because the maximum value of the arm
current is proportional to I1 [11].
B. The Method Determining the Commands by Using Fig. 3
When the load-torque characteristics is already known, the
equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 3 can be used to determine I1
and f , which is characterized by using the motor parameters
such as the moment of load inertia and the mutual inductance
between stator and rotor windings. The motor torque should
satisfy the following equation for the startup:
drm
,
(9)
dt
where TL is the load torque, JM is the moment of inertia of
the motor, JL is that of the load, and rm is the mechanicalangular velocity. The right hand term on (9) corresponds to an
acceleration torque for the startup.
TM TL > (JM + JL )

For making analysis simple and easy, the following reasonable approximations are made:

C URRENT C OMMANDS

This section describes how to determine I1 and f , which

are commands for the stator rms current I1 and the stator
frequency f , respectively. The following two methods can be
used to determine I1 and f :

the method determining the commands by using

Fig. 3,
and the method experimentally determining the commands.

A. Design Considerations
I1 :

Speed control proposed in this paper

I1 and f
V1 and fs
Feedback
No

The following conditions should be considered in designing

I1 should be a minimum value to produce a desired

motor torque TM ;

the maximum value of the arm currents is less than

the amplitude of the rated stator current.

The stator-current frequency f agrees well with its

reference f (i.e., f = f ).

The slip frequency fs is much smaller than f (i.e.,

fs f ).

The moment of inertia of the load is much larger than

that of the motor (i.e., JM JL ).

The first assumption is valid under the condition that the

motor is applied to a fan-/blower-like load in which the motor
frequency, or the motor mechanical speed, is controlled slowly,
e.g., spending a few or several minutes, to complete its startup
procedure. The third assumption is valid when the motor is
applied to the fan-/blower-like load where JL is typically fifty
or hundred times larger than JM .

1476

Finally, (9) is simplified as follows:

TM TL > JL

2 df
,
P dt

(10)

Regenerative load

[min1 ] 750
IG

vdc
200V/400V
VC

400V/200V
200V

IM

vC
6
24
48
MUX
gate
6 iP
iN signals

I1

DSP
(TMS320C6713)

v1uv
Fig. 1

Nrm

375

[V]

0
400

vuv

[A]

-400
30

Nrm
L

iu

FPGA(Altera Cyclone II)

MUX: Multiplexer

Fig. 5.

TABLE II.

C IRCUIT PARAMETERS USED

iP u
iN u

IN EXPERIMENTS .

Rated active power

15 kW
Rated line-to-line rms voltage
VS
400 V
Rated dc-link voltage
Vdc
560 V
Center-tapped inductor
lab
4.0 mH(12%)
DC capacitor of chopper-cell
C
3.3 mF
DC-capacitor voltage
VC
140 V
Unit capacitance constant
H
52 ms [14]
Cell count per leg
N
8
Triangular-wave-carrier frequency
fC
2 kHz
Equivalent carrier frequency
N fC
16 kHz
*The value in () is on a 400-V, 15-kW, and 50-Hz base.

TABLE III.

[V]
vC1u
vC5u

V
Nrm
I1
P
JM
JL

Substituting (11) into (7) yields

TM L2
I2 =
.
3P M

t1

t2

I1 =6.4 Arms
(20% of 32-A base)

50

16 Apeak
(36% of 45-A base)

0
-50
180
90

29 V
(21% of 140-V base)

Finally, I1 is obtained by substituting (12) into (6) as follows:

2L2 TM
I1 =
.
(13)
3P M 2

15 kW
50 Hz
380 V
1460 min1
32 A
2
0.1 kgm2
0.1 kgm2

C. The Method Experimentally Determining the Commands

The current command I1 should be determined experimentally when the load torque is unknown; the initial value of I1 is
set to zero. Then, it is increased gradually to find a minimum
value where the motor can start up. This method is similar to
the V/f control in that the motor parameters are unnecessarily
and that the slope of V /f is adjusted experimentally to produce
a desired motor torque.

(11)

It is difficult to apply the speed control method proposed

in this paper to applications where the load-torque change
is steep and unpredictable, because this method is based on
feedforward control with no capability of fast torque control.
However, this method is applicable to a fan-/blower-like load
where the torque-change speed is relatively slow, and the load
torque of which is proportional to a square of the motor
mechanical speed. In this case, I1 should be given so that it is
proportional to the motor mechanical speed, as predicted from
(13). I1 is also proportional to the stator-current frequency f ,
because the slip frequency fs is typically negligible compared
to the stator-current frequency (fs f ).

(12)

Finally, the adjustment of the slope of I1 /f (= I1 /f ) by

experiment is required to achieve stable startup of the motor.
The initial value of I1 when f = 0 should be increased when
a startup torque is required. This method is similar to the socalled torque boost function in the V/f control.

The motor torque TM in Fig. 3 is propotinal to the area

surrounded by I1 , I2 , and I0 . The stator rms current I1 to
produce a required motor torque TM becomes minimal when
the following relation is met:
L2
I2 .
M

t = t0

Fig. 6. Experimental startup waveforms when I1 = 6.4 A (20%)

and L = 0%.

where rm = 2f /P . Equation (10) means that the acceleration torque is proportional to the slope of change in f . This
suggests the minimum torque required for the motor startup
is TM = TL when the term on the right hand side in (10) is
small enough to be negligible. In other words, the slope of f
should be set as small as possible to reduce the acceleration
torque.

I0 =

600 min1

M OTOR PARAMETERS USED IN EXPERIMENTS .

Rated output power

Rated frequency
Rated line-to-line rms voltage
Rated mechanical speed
Rated stator rms current
Pole-pair number
Moment of motor inertia
Moment of load inertia

20 s

0
-30

[A]

The 400-V 15-kW downscaled system used in experiments.

1477

[min1 ] 750
Nrm

375

[V]

0
400

vuv

[A]

-400
30

iu

20 s

591 min1

[min1 ] 750

t = t0

I1 =10 Arms (31% of 32-A base)

Nrm

375

[V]

0
400

vuv

[A]

-400
30

iu

-30
[A]
iP u
iN u
[V]
vC1u
vC5u

20 s

[A]
iP u
iN u

0
-50
180

34 V (24% of 140-V base)

[V]
vC1u
vC5u

90
0

t = t0

I1 =14 Arms (44% of 32-A base)

0
-30

23 Apeak (51% of 45-A base)

50

590 min1

50

34 Apeak (76% of 45-A base)

0
-50
180
90

38 V (27% of 140-V base)

Fig. 7. Experimental startup waveforms when I1 = 10 A (31%)

and L = 20%.

V.

Fig. 8. Experimental startup waveforms when I1 = 14 A (44%),

and L = 40%.

E XPERIMENT

for measurement.

A. Experimental System Configuration

Fig. 5 shows the system configuration of the 400-V 15-kW
downscaled system. Table II summarizes the circuit parameters
used in experiments. Table III summarizes the specifications
of a 380-V 15-kW induction motor tested. Here, a 12-pulse
diode rectifier, consisting of a three-winding transformer with
a Y connection and two six-pulse diode rectifiers, is
used as the front end. When the supply voltage matches the
motor voltage, a transformerless medium voltage motor drive
can be achieved by replacing the 12-pulse diode rectifier with
a six-pulse diode rectifier. Neither an electrolytic capacitor nor
a film capacitor is connected to the common dc link.

The dc-capacitor voltage command was set to VC = 140 V.

A square-wave common-mode voltage and square-wave circulating currents are used to mitigate the ac-voltage fluctuation
of each dc capacitor [11], in which the rms value of the
common-mode voltage and its frequence, Vcom and fcom , were
set to Vcom = 180 V and fcom = 50 Hz, respectively. The
command for the stator rms current, I1 , was determined by
the experiment-based method mentioned above.
B. Startup Performance

The ac output terminals of the inverter are directly connected to an induction motor rated at 380 V and 15 kW.
The regenerative load in Fig. 5 consists of an induction
generator rated at 190 V and 15 kW and two identical PWM
converters connected back to back. The field-oriented control is
applied to the induction generator, which enables an arbitrary
instantaneous torque L to be loaded on the induction motor.

Figs. 69 shows the experimental startup performance with

different load torque. The harmonic voltages included in the
line-to-line voltage of the DSCC, vuv , were cut off by using
a low-pass filter with a cut-off frequency of 400 Hz. The
command for the stator-current frequency, f , was changed
from zero to 20 Hz under a ramp change rate of 1 Hz/s. The
acceleration torque is obtained from Table III and (10) as 0.7%
of the rated torque, which is small enough to be negligible.
Hence, the relation of TM TL holds.

The control system shown in Fig. 5 detects each dccapacitor voltage vC , both positive- and negative-arm currents
iP and iN , and a dc-link voltage. These are input signals to the
A/D converters. Here, the multiplexer unit is used to reduce
the number of the analog signals from 24 to six. A digital
signal processor unit using a Texas Instrument TMS320C6713
takes in the digital signals from the A/D converters and
produces the voltage command of each chopper-cell. Note
that the motor mechanical speed, Nrm is obtained from a
tachogenerator attached to the motor shaft, not for control but

Fig. 6 shows the experimental startup performance with no

load torque. Here, I1 was set to 6.4 A, which is 20% of the
rated stator rms current of 32 A. The motor mechanical speed
increased from zero to the synchronous speed of 600 min1
without overshoot or undershoot. The rms value of the stator
current i1u is regulated at 6.4 A without any steady-state error
by applying the feedback control shown in Fig. 2. The relation
of I1 = I0 exists in Fig. 4 because the load torque including the
acceleration torque is zero from a practical point of view. The
amplitude of vuv increased linearly as Nrm increased because

1478

[min1 ] 750
Nrm

375

[V]

0
400

vuv

[A]

-400
30

iu

iP u
iN u
[V]
vC1u
vC5u

20 s

588 min1

[min1 ] 750
Nrm

t = t0

[V]
vuv
vvw
vwu

I1 =17 Arms (53% of 32-A base)

[A]
iu
iv
iw

0
-30

[A]

50

46 Apeak
(102% of 45-A base)

[A]
iP u
iN u

0
-50
180
90

51 V (36% of 140-V base)

[V]

375
0
400
0
-400
30

1s

0
-30
50

38 Apeak (84% of 45-A base)

0
-50
180

vC1u
140
vC5u

19 min1

34 V (24% of 140-V base)

100

Fig. 9. Experimental startup waveforms when I1 = 17 A (53%),

and L = 60%.

Fig. 10. Experimental steady-state waveforms when I1 = 17 A (53%),

f = 1 Hz, and L = 60%.

I0 (= I1 ) is regulated at a constant value, which is predicted

from Fig. 3.

and vC5u is 38 V, which is 27% of 140 V.

A square-wave common-mode voltage with Vcom = 180 V

and fcom = 50 Hz and square-wave circulating currents are
superimposed during t0 t t1 to mitigate the ac-voltage
fluctuation of each dc-capacitor voltage. During t1 t t2 ,
the amplitudes of the common-mode voltage and the ac
circulating currents were decreased linearly, and they were set
to zero when t2 t. As a result, the amplitudes of iP u and
iN u during t0 t t1 are larger than those during t2 t.
However, the peak value of the arm currents are smaller
than

the amplitude of the rated stator current of 45 A (= 232 A).

The maximum amplitude of the arm currents is 16 A, which
is 36% of 45 A. The dc-mean voltages of vC1u and vC5u are
regulated at the command value of 140 V. The maximum acvoltage fluctuation of vC1u and vC5u is 29 V, which is 21%
of 140 V.

Fig. 9 shows the experimental startup

performance with

L = 60%. I1 was set to 17 A (= 3 10 A, 53%). The

motor mechanical speed increased up to 588 min1 ; hence,
the slip frequency is fs = 0.4 Hz. The maximum amplitude
of the arm currents is 46 A, which is almost 100% of 45 A.
The maximum ac-voltage fluctuation of vC1u and vC5u is 51 V,
which is 36% of 140 V.
C. Steady-State Performance
Figs. 1012 show the experimental steady-state performance for different frequencies of operation. Here, I1 and L
were set to I1 = 17 A (53%) and L = 60%, respectively.

Fig. 7 shows the experimental startup performance with

L = 20%. I1 was set to 10 A (31%), which is the minimal
value to produce a motor torque of 20%. The motor mechanical
speed increased up to 591 min1 ; hence, the slip frequency is
fs = 0.30 Hz. The maximum amplitude of the arm currents
is 23 A, which is 51% of 45 A. The maximum ac-voltage
fluctuation of vC1u and vC5u is 34 V, which is 24% of 140 V.

Fig. 10 shows the experimental steady-state performance

under an ultralow-speed operation at f = 1 Hz. Here, the
common-mode voltage with Vcom = 180 V and fcom = 50 Hz
and the square-wave circulating currents are superimposed.
The motor mechanical speed and the slip frequency are obtained as Nrm = 19 min1 and fs = 0.38 Hz, respectively.
The maximum amplitude of the arm currents is 38 A, which
is 84% of 45 A. The ac-voltage fluctuation of vC1u and vC5u
is 34 V, which is 24% of 140 V.

Fig. 8 shows the experimental startup

performance with
L = 40%. I1 should be increased to 2 times compared to
when L = 20%, because I1 is proportional to a square root
of torque,
according to (13). Hence, I1 was changed to 14 A

(= 2 10 A, 44%). The motor mechanical speed increased

up to 590 min1 ; hence, the slip frequency is fs = 0.33 Hz.
The maximum amplitude of the arm currents is 34 A, which
is 76% of 45 A. The maximum ac-voltage fluctuation of vC1u

Fig. 11 shows the experimental steady-state performance

at f = 15 Hz. Here, Vcom was reduced to 113 V, and the
amplitude of the square-wave circulating currents were reduced
simultaneously. The motor mechanical speed and the slip
frequency are obtained as Nrm = 438 min1 and fs = 0.4 Hz,
respectively. The maximum amplitude of the arm currents is
31 A, which is 69% of 45 A. The ac-voltage fluctuation of
vC1u and vC5u is 43 V, which is 31% of 140 V.

1479

[min1 ] 750
Nrm

[V]
vuv
vvw
vwu
[A]
iu
iv
iw
[A]
iP u
iN u
[V]

[min1 ] 750

438 min1

Nrm

375
0
400

[V]
vuv
vvw
vwu

0
-400
30

67 ms

[A]
iu
iv
iw

0
-30
50

[A]

31 Apeak (69% of 45-A base)

iP u
iN u

0
-50
180

43 V (31% of 140-V base)

vC1u
140
vC5u

[V]

375
0
400
0
-400
30

50 ms

0
-30
50

19 Apeak (42% of 45-A base)

0
-50
180

vC1u
140
vC5u

100

588 min1

50 V (36% of 140-V base)

100

Fig. 11. Experimental steady-state waveforms when I1 = 17 A (53%),

f = 15 Hz, and L = 60%.

Fig. 12. Experimental steady-state waveforms with I1 = 17 A (53%),

f = 20 Hz, and L = 60%.

Fig. 12 shows the experimental steady-state performance

under a middle-speed operation at f = 20 Hz. Here, Vcom
and the amplitude of the square-wave circulating currents were
reduced to zero, because the ac-voltage fluctuation of each
dc-capacitor voltage is not serious in this frequency range.
Although the peak value of the arm currents can be reduced
to 19 A, which is 42% of 45 A, they contain the 40-Hz secondorder frequency component resulting from the control system
[7]. The ac-voltage fluctuation of vC1u and vC5u is 50 V, which
is 36% of 140 V.
VI.

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

C ONCLUTION

[8]

This paper has proposed a practical startup method for

an induction motor driven by the MMCI-DSCC from the
standstill to a middle speed which requires no speed sensor.
This method is characterized by controlling the stator current
by feedback control; but its amplitude and frequency are
given by feedforward control. A 400-V 15-kW downscaled
system has shown that the motor loaded with 60% can achieve
a stable startup from the standstill to a middle speed of
Nrm = 588 min1 without overvoltage and overcurrent. This
method is especially suitable for a fan-/blower-like load to
achieve energy savings.

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

R EFERENCES
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[3] H. Akagi, Classification, terminology, and application of the modular
multilevel cascade converter (MMCC), IEEE Trans. Power Electron.,
vol. 26, no. 11, pp. 31193130, Nov. 2011.

[13]

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