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Soft starting of large induction motors at constant current with minimized

starting torque pulsations

Article  in  IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications · October 2001

DOI: 10.1109/28.952509 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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1334 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001
Soft Starting of Large Induction Motors at Constant
Current With Minimized Starting Torque Pulsations
Gürkan Zenginobuz, Işık Çadırcı, Member, IEEE, Muammer Ermiş, Member, IEEE, and Cüneyt Barlak
Abstract—The performance of a voltage-controlled large in-
duction motor soft starter has been improved, resulting in nearly
perfect current and torque profiles. The performance analysis of
the soft-starter motor–load combination has been carried out in
the dynamic state using a hybrid induction machine model which
takes account of disconnected two-phase and three-phase opera-
tional modes of the machine. Some simple control strategies have
been proposed to keep the current constant at any preset value
during starting, and to eliminate supply-frequency starting torque
pulsations. These are shown to be very effective in the elimination
of reclosing transient torque and current components at any speed
at the reconnection instant to the supply after an interruption, or
at the instant of bus transfer. The proposed strategies have been
verified experimentally on a laboratory machine using a special
torque measurement system in the dynamic state.
Index Terms—Induction motor, soft starter, torque pulsations.
I. INTRODUCTION
D IRECT-ONLINE starting of large ac motors may present
difficulties for the motor itself and the loads supplied from
the common coupling point because of the voltage dips in the
supply during starting, especially if the supply to which the
motor belongs is weak [1]–[4]. An uncontrolled starting may
cause a trip in either overload or undervoltage relay, resulting in
starting failure. This is troublesome for field engineers since the
motor cannot be reenergized until it cools down to an allowable
temperature in a long time period. Furthermore, the number of
starts per day is limited to only a few attempts. Therefore, the
current and torque profiles of the motor during starting are to be
carefully tailored according to the needs of the load [4], [5].
AC motor starters employing power semiconductors are
being increasingly used to replace electromagnetic line starters
and conventional reduced voltage starters because of their
controlled soft-start capability with limited starting current.
Paper IPCSD 01–041, presented at the 2000 Industry Applications Society
Annual Meeting, Rome, Italy, October 8–12, and approved for publication in
the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the Industrial Drives
Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. Manuscript submitted for
review May 1, 2000 and released for publication June 28, 2001. This work was
supported by the Electrical, Electronics and Informatic Research Group of the
Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey under Project EEEAG-65,
for the procurement of the test bed.
G. Zenginobuz, I. Çadırcı, and M. Ermiş are with the TÜBİTAK-METU
Information Technologies and Electronics Research Institute, TR 06531
Ankara, Turkey, and also with the Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Department, Middle East Technical University, TR-06531 Ankara, Turkey.
(e-mail: gurkan.zenginobuz@bilten.metu.edu.tr; cadirci@bilten.metu.edu.tr;
ermis@metu.edu.tr;
C. Barlak is with the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department,
Middle East Technical University, TR-06531 Ankara, Turkey.
Publisher Item Identifier S 0093-9994(01)08301-3.
0093–9994/01$10.00 © 2001 IEEE
Among these, thyristorized soft starters which apply reduced
voltage to the motor are cheap, simple, reliable, and occupy less
volume, and hence, their use is a viable solution to the starting
problem of medium-voltage large ac motors in applications
where the starting torque requirement of the load is not high.
When the motor in service is continuously supplied from the
thyristorized soft starter, it also serves to the minimization of a
wide variety of electric transients that the motor is exposed due
to disturbances in electric supply system. These disturbances
can be as small as momentary voltage fluctuations to as large as
actual voltage interruptions. If the voltage depression is severe,
the main circuit breaker or the soft starter will disconnect the
motor from the electrical supply. The stoppage of an essential
service motor in a continuous process may result in a costly
shutdown. Therefore, before the motor reaches zero speed, it
should be immediately connected to a new bus, backup supply
(usually, a motor–generator set), or back to the electrical supply
after its recovery. In conventional systems, this will lead to
severe reclosing transients in torque and current. The prediction
of these transients and optimum reclosing instants have been
addressed by several authors [6]–[11]. A satisfactory reclosing
performance requires controlled switching of motor terminals
to the electrical supply.
Besides the developments and progress in commercial
soft-starter technology [5], [12], numerous attempts have been
made on the performance analyses and control techniques of
three-phase induction motors (IMs) fed from a thyristorized
voltage controller [13]–[21]. Utilizing a dynamic function
for the triggering angle of thyristors in the voltage controller
proves to be a simple and effective way to improve transient
performance [21]. By employing a proper triggering function,
the rate at which main flux builds up is decreased and transient
torque is smoothed. An IM may produce severe pulsations in
electromechanical torque [6]–[8], [22]–[24] depending upon
initial switching instants of all three phases to the supply, re-
gardless of whether it is controlled by a direct-online starter or
a soft starter. The amount of electromagnetic torque pulsations
reflected to the shaft at starting and reclosing instants depends
upon the parameters of the mechanical subsystem. These
may cause shocks to the driven equipment, and damage in
mechanical system components such as shafts, couplings, and
gears immediately if the strength of materials are exceeded, or
in the long term owing to fatigue.
In this paper, some control strategies are proposed to elimi-
nate electromagnetic torque pulsations both at starting and re-
closing, and to keep the line current nearly constant at a preset
value over the entire starting period. The torque pulsation elim-
ination strategy defines the triggering instants of the soft-starter
ZENGINOBUZ et al.: SOFT STARTING OF LARGE IMs
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of soft starter.
thyristors on the first supply voltage cycle just after energizing
the motor. The proposed current control strategy is composed
of successive cosinusoidal and constant function segments of
triggering angle of thyristors. All control, protection, and mon-
itoring functions are implemented on an 8-bit microcontroller.
Transient performance analyses of the resulting soft starter are
carried out by means of a hybrid ABC/dq model which takes into
account three-phase, two-phase, and disconnected modes of op-
eration in terms of actual stator variables. Simulations have been
carried out on both a medium-voltage large IM driving a cen-
trifugal pump and a low-voltage universal machine set. Theo-
retical results are verified experimentally on a custom-designed
test bed composed of a universal machine set and a shaft torque
measuring system.
II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION PRINCIPLES
The schematic diagram of the IM soft starter is given in
Fig. 1. It is composed of three pairs of back-to-back-connected
thyristors, a microcontroller ( C)-based control and protection
circuitry, pulse shaping and firing circuits, and the analog
interface circuit. The analog interface circuit receives the three
line-to-line voltage and two line current signals via potential
transformers and Hall-effect current transducers, respectively.
Only one of these current signals is used as the feedback signal
in order to keep the current constant at the preset value during
the starting period.
Current in the third line can be deduced from the two signals by
the C. These will then be used for protection purposes against
overload, unbalanced operation and faults. The three line-to-line
voltage signals are used only for zero-voltage detection, and pro-
tection against under and overvoltages. For a phase sequence RST
1335
TABLE I
DEFINITION OF OPERATION MODES
of supply voltages (Fig. 1), thyristors of the voltage controller are
to be triggered in a sequence as marked in Fig. 1, resulting in a
phase difference of 60 between consecutive switchings during
starting as well as in the steady state, excluding the first energiza-
tion cycle. In order to eliminate supply frequency pulsations in
electromagnetic torque, different switching strategies have been
used for T1, T2, and T3, on the first supply voltage cycle for
continuous and discontinuous line current cases, depending on
whether triggering angle is less or greater than the power factor
(pf) angle of the machine at unity slip. In order to ensure constant
current during starting, a simple control strategy composed of
successive cosinusoidal and constant function segments of firing
angle is employed, as will be described in Section IV.
III. MATHEMATICAL MODEL
The mathematical models used in digital simulation of the
system are given in this section. Numerical solution method and
the necessary transitions between various operation modes of
the starter will also be described. At any time, the IM operates
in one of the operation modes defined in Table I.
The validity of this type of mathematical model has been
tested for medium-voltage large IMs in [24], from the viewpoint
of starting current waveform and starting time.
A. Three-Phase Model
Starting with the mathematical model of the IM in terms of
ABC/abc axes quantities, all space-angle and, hence, time varia-
tions in inductances are eliminated by applying the well-known
three-phase-to-two-phase and commutator transformations (
and ), only to the rotor side. This results in a hybrid math-
ematical model in terms of ABC/dq-axes quantities for which
the rotor reference frame is fixed in the stator. The impedance
matrix after the necessary transformations is as given in (1) in
compound matrix form.
The matrix voltage equation can then be written as in (2),
shown at the bottom of the next page. After adding the torque-
balance equation for dynamic operation, the hybrid model is
brought into the state-space form for digital simulation as given
in (3), shown at the bottom of the next page. The fourth row and
column of (2) are deleted in this model since zero-sequence cur-
rents cannot flow in a Y-connected machine without a neutral
wire. Also, on the right-hand side of (2) can be replaced by
. The number of equations can be reduced by one by
making row operations i.e., the second row is subtracted from
the first row, and the third from the first. By this way, elec-
trical performance of the stator side is expressed in terms of
1336 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001
line-to-line voltages and . This new form of mathe-
matical model is considered to be more suitable for the digital
simulation of two-phase operation as well.
(1)
B. Two-Phase Models
Mode 1: When only motor terminals and are connected
to the supply, the two-phase model in (4) is to be used. Since
, and , the third row and column of (2) are
deleted, and the second row is subtracted from the first to ex-
press the behavior of the motor in terms of line-to-line voltage
.
Mode 2: This operation mode arises when motor terminals
and are connected to the supply. By substituting and
into (2), and making the necessary row operations,
the mathematical model in (5) is obtained.
Mode 3: This operation mode arises when motor terminals
and are connected to the supply. By substituting and
into (2), and making the necessary row operations,
the mathematical model in (6) is obtained.
where
and
C. No-Phase Operation (Disconnected Mode)
The mathematical model in (7) is used for the case where
none of the motor terminals is connected to the supply. Since
, only the rotor voltage equations are to be
solved in the transient state.
D. Numerical Solution Method
To solve the nonlinear first-order differential equation sets
given above, a fourth-order Runge–Kutta integration algorithm
is used. To ensure continuity of solutions when a change in op-
eration mode takes place, final values of the previous mode are
to be taken as initial values of the next mode.
IV. PULSATING TORQUE ELIMINATION AND
CURRENT CONTROL
A firing-angle control strategy which yields a nearly per-
fect starting current envelope and an initial thyristor triggering
strategy which nearly eliminates the torque pulsations will be
described in this section. These strategies are deduced from the
results of digital simulation studies and verified by experimental
(2)
(3)
ZENGINOBUZ et al.: SOFT STARTING OF LARGE IMs 1337

work. The proposed strategies are applicable with minor mod- TABLE II
ifications to both medium-voltage large squirrel-cage IMs and TRIGGERING INSTANTS OF THYRISTORS ON THE FIRST CYCLE FOR
ELIMINATION OF TORQUE PULSATIONS
low-voltage ones.

A. Elimination of Starting Torque Pulsations

The cause of pulsations in electromechanical torque at supply
frequency is the uncontrolled switching of three motor phases
to the supply on the first voltage cycle. Simultaneous switching
of the three motor phases always gives rise to considerable
pulsating torque component [22]. In solid-state starters for
medium-voltage IMs, the switching strategy reported in [24]
nearly eliminates torque pulsations which is a special case of
torque pulsation elimination strategy applicable to solid-state
soft starters. In Table II, the initial switching strategies that
can be used in solid-state soft starters are given for continuous
and discontinuous line current cases. To eliminate torque
pulsations, the six thyristors in Fig. 1 should receive firing
pulses in turn (in the numbered sequence 1–6) at prespecified Continuity of line current waveform is largely dictated by
points of the first supply voltage cycle, as illustrated in Fig. 2. initial setting of firing angle , which adjusts the starting

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)
1338 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001

Fig. 3. Simultaneous switching of three phases ( = 0).

Fig. 2. Torque pulsation elimination strategy.

current to the preset value. For the discontinuous line current

case, two different initial switching strategies would arise
depending upon whether triggering angle is less or greater
than pf angle of the machine at unity slip, . For most of
the squirrel-cage IMs, the pf at unity slip is in the range from
0.2 to 0.3, which corresponds to a pf angle around 75 . In
Table II, firing angles of all thyristors are defined with respect
to the zero-crossing point on the ascending portion of phase R
voltage. First, T1 receives a firing pulse at , but it does not
trigger into conduction until T2 receives a firing pulse at 120
for Case 1, for Case 2, and for Case 3. This
initiates two-phase operation.
Next, the thyristor which is going to be triggered into con-
duction is T3, which receives a firing pulse with a delay of
90 for Cases 1 and 2, and for Case 3. In the elimi-
nation of torque pulsations, only these two switching instants
for T2 and T3 are important; the remaining thyristors T4–T6 Fig. 4. Best case switching (constant  = 80 causing discontinuous current
will receive firing pulses in the normal sequence with delays and, hence, torque ripple in the steady state.)
of 180 , 240 , and 300 with respect to . Expressions of
and are given in Table II. The coefficients of in Table II). For a loaded motor, as the speed increases during
these straight lines have been found from the results of simula- starting, motor pf increases too. However, this will not be the case
tion studies by curve-fitting techniques. For this purpose, several if the motor is going to be accelerated at no-load or light-load.
trials have been made in order to eliminate torque pulsations for The transition between continuous and discontinuous line cur-
different initial firing-angle settings. Major changes in the co- rent waveforms occurs for an range smaller than but close to
efficients of straight lines given above have not been observed pf angle at any operating speed, (Case 2 in Table II).
from low-voltage IMs to medium-voltage large ones. Therefore, Critical angle at unity slip is found to be 63 and 65 , respec-
a common set of straight-line equations for optimum firing in- tively, for the low-voltage and medium-voltage large IM’s.
stants of T2 and T3 can be used. These would nearly eliminate Typical waveforms obtained by digital simulation and illus-
pulsating torque component for machines of different sizes. trating the variations in electromagnetic torque for a medium-
Initial values which are considerably smaller than pf angle voltage large IM (see the Appendix) and stator phase current
at unity slip yield continuous line current waveforms (Case 1 against time are given in Figs. 3 and 4. The waveforms in Fig. 3
ZENGINOBUZ et al.: SOFT STARTING OF LARGE IMs 1339

are obtained for simultaneous switching of stator phases to the

supply, and firing angle is kept constant at 0 during starting,
and in the steady state. Simultaneous switching gives rise to sig-
nificant pulsations in torque and to a low-frequency envelope in
the starting current. Fig. 4 shows the same variations with the
torque pulsation elimination strategy for Case 3, in which firing
angle is kept constant at , both during starting and in
the steady state. Since is greater than the pf angle in the steady
state (nearly 35 at full load), line currents are discontinuous, re-
sulting in significant pulsations in electromagnetic torque only
in the steady state.
For the elimination of supply-frequency torque pulsations,
the soft starter selects one of the control strategies which are
defined as Cases 1–3 in Table II, by comparing with the
boundaries and , between the three operating regions, i.e.,
Case 1: , Case 2: , and Case 3: .
Since minor changes occur in the values of and from one
motor to another, torque pulsations will be nearly eliminated
by using fixed values such as and for all
standard motors. Motor-dependent adjustment of and , e.g.,
and , however, eliminates the torque pulsa-
tions entirely. There remains determination of by the C for
the given motor, and the set value of the current limit. This can Fig. 5. Illustration of proposed starting current limiting strategy.
be achieved by using one of the following methods, given in the
order of complexity: In Fig. 5, is the initial firing angle estimated by the con-
1) starting with a sufficiently large value, e.g., troller, and gives the preset value of starting current just at the
, and using closed-loop current control strategy; switching instants. is the period of the quarter of cosinusoidal
2) motor-dependent lookup table; variation, and 0.95 is the lower limit of the band defined for
3) calculating from the per-phase equivalent circuit by the the starting current.
use of motor parameters; After energizing the motor at , the firing angle is varied
4) parameter estimation based on one-cycle energization of by the controller cosinusoidally until the current reaches and
the motor. then tends to exceed the lower limit of the band [0.95 ]
at . The current controller then keeps the firing angle
B. Current Control Strategy
constant at until current returns to 0.95 after
A simple current control strategy is proposed to keep the making an overshoot.
starting current constant at the preset value. This closed-loop At time , the controller replaces constant by cosinusoidal
current control strategy is implemented by the use of a C, and variation, resulting in an undershoot in starting current envelope
gives nearly level envelopes for the starting current waveforms. in the time period from to . The controller action repeats
As illustrated in Fig. 5, the proposed current control strategy itself in this manner until the motor reaches full speed. It is worth
is composed of successive cosinusoidal and constant function noting that the variations in Fig. 5 are not drawn to scale and
segments of triggering angle in accordance with the feed-
are exaggerated in order to illustrate the operation principles of
back signal taken from one of the line currents. The starting
the current controller. At the final speed, reaches zero. Line
current limit can be set to any value in the range from
current waveforms during starting of the same medium-voltage
to by the operator, where and are the peak
IM are given in Fig. 6(a) and (b), respectively, for current limit
value of rated motor current and index indicating the limit value
values of and . The following observations can be
of starting current, respectively. Since direct-online starting cur-
made on these waveforms.
rent of various motors is in the range from five to eight times
rated current depending on the motor type, the maximum value 1) Starting current remains nearly constant at the preset
of also varies in this range. The controller acts with respect value.
to a limit value which is chosen only a few percent smaller than 2) Starting torque pulsations at supply frequency are suc-
. Here, the purpose is to keep the fluctuations in current cessfully eliminated.
around . In Fig. 5, this lower limit value at which the 3) Since the line currents are discontinuous during starting,
controller acts has been chosen as 0.95 . and 0.95 torque pulsations with relatively low amplitudes at six
can also be reprogrammed by the application engineer using the times the supply frequency are produced.
field experience and depending upon the size of the motor and 4) Since too many transitions would occur between cosine
load characteristics, if necessary. These adjustments approxi- and constant function segments, and the control band
mate the starting current waveform more closely to a waveform –0.95 is narrow, versus , and
with ideal envelopes. versus variations are not as marked as in Fig. 5.
1340 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001
(a)
Fig. 6. (a) Line current and electromagnetic torque versus time for I
Implementation of the current control strategy described
above is summarized in the flowchart given in Fig. 7. For
the sake of simplicity, protection and monitoring facilities are
not shown in the flowchart. Initial setting of the soft starter
corresponding to the current limit value is set to the worst case
of 120 for the new machine, to keep the starting current at a
reasonably low value. The microcontroller stores the starting
current pattern of the new machine at the EEPROM, and im-
proves this pattern in the following startups. At each startup,
the soft starter uses the best initial value from the EEPROM,
according to the current limit setting . This approach
also minimizes the starting time of the machine–load combi-
nation. During the whole starting period, is then reduced
to zero according to the results of a comparison between line
current and 0.95 times the current limit setting [0.95 ],
using successive cosinusoidal and constant function segments
of .
(b)
=33
: I . (b) Line current and electromagnetic torque versus time for I = 2:5I .
C. Elimination of Reclosing Transient Torque
Transient electromechanical torque produced when an IM is
connected onto a power system depends upon the speed at which
the motor shaft is rotating, and is influenced by the flux which may
have been trapped in the core as a result of prior disconnection of
the motor [6], [8]. After disconnecting the motor from the supply,
terminal voltage of the motor owing to trapped flux decays ex-
ponentially in a relatively short time period. The decay time de-
pends on the disconnection instant of the motor from the supply.
A sample waveform for the motor terminal voltage recorded on
the test machine with a moderate decay time ( 25–30 cycles for
50-Hz excitation) is given in Fig. 8. At the reclosing instant, the
potential difference between induced motor voltage and supply
voltage would have a significant effect on the transient current and
torque component as pointed out in [8]–[10]. The frequencies and
amplitudes of reclosing transient torques are very different when
the motor is reclosed at different speeds [9].
ZENGINOBUZ et al.: SOFT STARTING OF LARGE IMs
Fig. 7. Implementation of current control strategy.
1341
Fig. 8. Motor terminal voltage at disconnection (500 V/div).
Fig. 9. Torque and speed measuring system.
Fig. 10. Direct online starting (Ch3: line current, 60 A/div; Ch4: shaft torque,
50 N1m/div).
From this point of view, the supply is reclosed on the motor by
the following:
1) fast reclosing in which trapped flux has not yet decayed;
2) reclosing at moderate speeds with no trapped flux;
3) reclosing at low speeds.
The soft starter described in this paper can detect the occur-
rence of a voltage sag or supply interruption, thus blocking the
firing pulses of thyristors. The reclosing delay time can be pro-
grammed on a C-based controller, and its numerical value de-
pends on experience by simple voltage records in the field. In
a thyristor soft starter, since the switching instants and magni-
tude of applied voltage are controllable, reclosing torque tran-
sients can be nearly eliminated. For that purpose, the soft starter
automatically adjusts the starting current setting to a relatively
low value,for example, 2 , and applies the torque elimination
strategy defined as Case 3 in Table II. This can be achieved by
starting with sufficiently high initial value, e.g., 90 .
1342 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001

(a) (b)

(c)
Fig. 11. Starting performance of the system with proposed current control method (Ch4: shaft torque, 50 N1m/div; Ch3: line current, 60 A/div; Ch2: speed, 1500
=
r/min/div). (a) Simultaneous switching. (b) All phases switched at  72 , (c) Proposed pulsating torque elimination strategy.

V. EXPERIMENTAL WORK . Since is brought nearly to 165 Hz, shaft torque

A. Experimental Setup
The performance of the developed soft starter is tested in
the laboratory on a 5-kVA 0.4-kV 8.1-A universal machine set
equipped with a custom-designed shaft torque and speed mea-
suring system in the dynamic state. The torque and speed mea-
suring system between the IM and the driven machine is shown
in Fig. 9. The torque transducer is coupled to the shaft of the IM
by using double Rigiflex couplings, and to the driven machine
by a flexible coupling. The equipment is installed to the test
bed with baseplate mounting (Fig. 9). The ratings of two inter-
changeable strain-gauge-type measuring elements of the torque
transducer with slipringless transmission by rotary coils are 100
and 1000 N m.
In order to avoid magnification and reduction of shaft torque
pulsations in the dynamic state, the stiffness coefficients and
moment of inertia of the torque measuring element, couplings,
and shafts used in the torque measuring system are chosen care-
fully by taking into account parameters of the shafts and ro-
tors of the IM and the driven machine. In this way, the ratio of
forcing frequency to resonance frequency has been adjusted to
pulsations in the range 0–60 Hz can be successfully measured
with unity magnification factor.
B. Results
Shaft torque and line current records during direct-online
starting of the motor are shown in Fig. 10 for comparison
purposes. Fig. 11 shows the variations in the shaft torque and
starting current of the soft starter for a current setting. As
can be understood from Fig. 11(a), simultaneous connection of
three motor terminals to the supply produces severe pulsations
in shaft torque. If the thyristors of the soft starter were triggered
at on the first applied voltage
cycle, the response of the system would be as in Fig. 11(b).
This switching strategy yields less pulsations in shaft torque
in comparison with simultaneous switching. The switching
strategy proposed in this paper, however, eliminates entirely
the shaft torque pulsations and reduces the starting time of the
motor–load combination, as shown in Fig. 11(c).
A set of starting current versus time waveforms is presented
in Fig. 12 for a comparative assessment of the known open-loop
ZENGINOBUZ et al.: SOFT STARTING OF LARGE IMs
(a)
(c)
Fig. 12. Comparison of starting performance of various current control strategies with pulsating torque elimination. (Ch4: shaft torque, 50 N1m/div; Ch3: line
current, 60 A/div; Ch2: speed,1500 r/min/div). (a) Ramp triggering. (b) Cosine triggering. (c) Cosine triggering with period T 7 s. (d) Cosine-constant triggering
function method.
triggering strategies (ramp and cosinusoidal triggering func-
tions) with the strategies proposed in this work. In these case
studies, the pulsating torque elimination strategy has been
applied, and the output of the driven machine is adjusted to
nominal value at steady state.
In Fig. 12(a) and (b), firing angle of the soft starter thyris-
tors is varied respectively as ramp and cosine functions during
starting. Implementation of these control strategies using a mi-
crocontroller is achieved by forming a lookup table for values
at all instants.
The following observations are made on these waveforms.
• The starting current does not remain constant and, espe-
cially for the ramp triggering function, may follow the di-
rect-online starting current envelope as the motor speed
increases.
• The periods of ramp and cosinusoidal triggering functions
in which is varied from to zero, are dependent on
motor and load characteristics. For the load considered in
Fig. 12, longer time periods would approximate the starting
current more closely to a constant current waveform.
1343
(b)
(d)
=
However, for the current control strategy proposed in this
paper, the starting current can be successfully kept constant with
nearly level envelopes at a preset value during the starting pe-
riod [Fig. 12(d)]. Since the control exercised on the starting
current is closed-loop control, the proposed control system in-
herently takes account of load characteristics. Note that the pe-
riods of ramp [Fig. 12(a)] and cosinusoidal [Fig. 12(b)] vari-
ations are adjusted to the starting period of cosine-constant trig-
gering function [Fig. 12(d)], which is 4.2 s. In order to approxi-
mate starting current envelopes to ideal ones for ramp and cos-
inusoidal triggering functions, several trials have been made.
The optimum case for cosinusoidal variation is as given in
Fig. 12(c). The corresponding variation period is 7 s, which is
longer than the variation period of the proposed current con-
trol strategy. For heavy to start loads with a high initial torque
requirement, starting with an initial voltage boost may be neces-
sary. In that case, considerable torque pulsations at supply fre-
quency may occur, even if all phases are switched at , as can be
observed from Fig. 13(a). With the application of the pulsating
torque minimization strategy, however, the starting torque pul-
sations can be successfully eliminated [Fig. 13(b)].
1344 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001

(a) (b)
Fig. 13. Adjustable starting torque, voltage ramp with voltage boost strategy. (Ch3: line current, 60 A/div; Ch4: shaft torque, 40 N1m/div). (a) Without pulsating
torque elimination. (b) With pulsating torque elimination strategy.

(a) (b)

(c)
Fig. 14. Reclosing transients at  rated n after t 1 =05 : s power supply interruption. (Ch1: line current, 30 A/div; Ch2: shaft torque, 20 N1m/div; Ch3: speed,
( = 89
600 r/min/div). (a) Direct online reclosing. (b) Soft reclosing with simultaneous   ;I =22 ): I . (c) Soft reclosing with transient torque elimination
( = 89
 ;I = 22 )
:I .

The success of the soft starter in eliminating reclosing torque power system after several different lengths of interruption
transients has been tested by reconnecting the motor to the times ( ), and reclosing transients were recorded. For com-
ZENGINOBUZ et al.: SOFT STARTING OF LARGE IMs 1345

(a) (b)
Fig. 15. Reclosing transients at n  1200 1 = 10
r/min after t s power supply interruption. (Ch1: line current, 30 A/div; Ch2: shaft torque, 20 N1m/div; Ch3:
speed, 600 r/min/div). (a) Direct online reclosing. (b) Soft reclosing at = 89 ;I =22 :I .

(a) (b)

(c)
Fig. 16. Reclosing transients at n 450 1 = 18
r/min after t s power supply interruption (Ch1: line current, 30 A/div; Ch2: shaft torque, 20 N1m/div; Ch3:
speed, 600 r/min/div). (a) Direct online reclosing. (b) Soft reclosing with simultaneous  ( = 89 ;I = 22 )
: I . (c) soft reclosing with transient torque
( = 89
elimination  ;I = 22 )
:I .

parison purposes, the same tests are repeated at full voltage records of reclosing shaft torque and line current variations
by using a conventional mechanical switching element. The for a short supply interruption ( is nearly the rated speed of
1346 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 37, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001
1490 r/min and s) are given in Fig. 14. As can be ob-
served from this figure, reclosing by a conventional switching
element gives rise to a very large negative torque transient,
the magnitude of which is in excess of positive peak transients
at direct-online starting. This can be eliminated by reducing
the applied motor voltage at the reclosing instant. The torque
elimination strategy proposed in this paper makes no consider-
able contribution to this fact. This is because soft reclosing at
simultaneous as given in Fig. 14(b) and soft reclosing with
pulsating torque elimination in Fig. 14(c) give nearly the same
response. Another observation is that the soft starter cannot
keep the current constant because the current limit setting is
even higher than the transient current which can flow through
the machine at rated speed. Reclosing transients at a moderate
speed of 1200 r/min ( s) are as shown in Fig. 15.
Here, again, the transient component of electromagnetic torque
is successfully eliminated by the soft starter. Fig. 16 shows
the reclosing transients at a low speed of 450 r/min, which
corresponds to a supply interruption time s. Soft
reclosing with the pulsating torque elimination strategy is
shown to be very effective in eliminating reclosing transients
[Fig. 16(c)]. Soft reclosing with simultaneous [Fig. 16(b)] is
not as effective as the proposed strategy in eliminating positive
peak transient torque component.
It can be concluded from these results that reclosing by a con-
ventional switching element produces both positive and nega-
tive peak torque transients. As the shaft speed corresponding to
the reclosing time instant is reduced, the negative peak transient
torque component decreases while the positive peak component
increases. The strategies proposed in this paper give quite satis-
factory results in eliminating reclosing transients over the entire
speed range.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
Performance optimization of a voltage-controlled thyristor-
ized IM soft starter is achieved by using some simple control
strategies implementable on a microcontroller at no additional
cost. Nearly perfect current and torque profiles can be obtained
during starting for better utilization of available starting facili-
ties. Using the proposed strategies, a good acceleration profile
can be tailored by smooth pulsation-free torques over the en-
tire starting period. Reclosing transient torque and current com-
ponents at the reconnection instant of the motor to the supply
after an interruption or at the instant of bus transfer always
present difficulties for design and application engineers because
the switching instant and the magnitude of the corresponding
applied voltage are both uncontrolled. Since the thyristorized
soft starter inherently has these capabilities, by applying proper
reclosing transient elimination strategies, large negative tran-
sient torques at low slips and positive ones at high slips are
shown to be successfully eliminated. This ability will minimize
costly shutdowns due to supply voltage interruptions and sags.
APPENDIX
A. Medium-Voltage Motor Data
Three-phase Y-connected 50-Hz eight-pole 250-kW IM;
supply voltage: 6 kV l–l; rated current: 31 A; pf 0.82.
Parameters Referred to Stator Side:
B. Load Torque
C. Low-Voltage Laboratory Motor
Parameters per-phase wye: ; ;
; ;
at rated operating voltage.
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Gürkan Zenginobuz received the B.Sc. and M.Sc.
degrees in electrical and electronics engineering in
1997 and 2000, respectively, from Middle East Tech-
nical University, Ankara, Turkey, where he is cur-
rently working toward the Ph.D. degree.
He is also a Research and Development Engineer
in the TÜBİTAK-METU Information Technologies
and Electronics Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey.
His areas of research are induction motor soft starters
at medium voltage and microprocessor control of
motor drives.
View publication stats
1347
Işık Çadırcı (M’98) received the B.Sc., M.Sc.,
and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and electronics
engineering from Middle East Technical University,
Ankara, Turkey, in 1987, 1988, and 1994, respec-
tively.
She is currently an Instructor in the Electrical and
Electronics Engineering Department, Middle East
Technical University, and also a Senior Researcher
with the TÜBİTAK-METU Information Technolo-
gies and Electronics Research Institute, Ankara,
Turkey. Her areas of interest include electric motor
drives and switch-mode power supplies.
Muammer Ermiş (M’98) received the B.Sc., M.Sc.,
and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from
Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey,
in 1972, 1976, and 1982, respectively, and the M.BA.
degree in production management from Ankara
Academy of Commercial and Economic Sciences,
Ankara, Turkey, in 1974.
He is currently a Professor of Electrical Engi-
neering at Middle East Technical University and
also the Director of the Power Electronics Group,
TÜBİTAK-METU Information Technologies and
Electronics Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey. His current research interests
are high-power medium-voltage motor drives and static reactive power
compensation systems.
Cüneyt Barlak received the B.Sc. degree from
Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey, and the
M.Sc. degree from Middle East Technical Univer-
sity, Ankara, Turkey, in 1994 and 1996, respectively,
both in electrical and electronics engineering.
His areas of interest include power electronic ap-
plications for electric motor drives.
Mr. Barlak is a member of the Institute of Electrical
Engineers in Turkey.