A MODERN APPROACH TO INDUCTION MACHINE

PARAMETER IDENTIFICATION

J. F. Lindsay Thomas H. Barton

Sir George Williams University McGill University
Montreal, Canada Montreal, Canada

Abstract This paper describes the application of a modem data

- all quantities are referred to the primary. The representation of the core
acquisition system to the measurement of induction machine character-
istics and the use of digital techniques for the identification of circuit
parameters from this data. Direct analytical methods of data reduction
are compared with parameter optimizing techniques.
INTRODUCTION
Although the formulation of induction motor equivalent circuits
and the determination of parameters is a well explored problem, its re-
consideration is justified by the current availability of automatic data
acquisition and reduction systems. The facility and rapidity with which
such systems can accurately acquire and store large quantities of in-
formation have the following effects:
(i) a much wider range of experimental data can be analysed,
(ii) effects of temperature rise on performance may more
accurately be considered,
(iii) second and third order effects can be considered by the use of
a more detailed model.
The application of a powerful data acquisition system having a
digital voltmeter and multiplexer controlled by a process control com-
puter, to induction machine studies is described. The present discus-
sion is limited to wound rotor machines to emphasise basic effects with-
out the complication of harmonics and skin effect which will be the
subject of a later communication.
CIRCUIT MODELS
The conventional model for balanced operation of the polyphase
induction machine is essentially that of a transformer having relative
motion between primary and secondary windings. The twd most com-
mon circuit representations are shown in Figure I where, for simplicity,
RI X,,, Xt
loss in Figure 1 a corresponds more closely to physical reality but, if the
excitation frequency is constant, the use of the series equivalent mag-
netizing impedance of Figure b results in somewhat simpler expressions.
This elementary model has certain deficiencies which are related to
core losses and saturation of the leakage flux paths in an actual machine.
Core Losses
In a transformer the conductance Go or resistance Ro of Figure 1
represents the total core loss. In an induction motor, because of the
energy conversion process applied to all power crossing the air gap, it is
necessary to consider separately the stator and rotor core losses. The
latest discussion of this topic is that of O'Kelly (1 ] who represents the
rotor core loss by a conductance,
Gc = Gh +
Ge s (I)
as shown in Figure 2, the component Gn representing the loss due to
hysteresis and Ge representing that due to eddy currents. Gh changes
sign at synchronous speed. Such a formulation, while superficially
attractive, is not in accord with observed iron loss behaviour since it
suggests that, at constant peak flux density, the eddy current loss in-
creases without limit as the frequency increases. If the frequency de-
pendence of the losses in magnetic sheet steel is to be modelled without
any inductance parameter, the series resistance arrangement of Figure
2b,
Rc =
Rh +
Re/s (2)
appears to fit the observed behaviour more closely and this representa-
tion is employed here. As for Gh, the hysteresis component of resistance,
Rh, changes sign at synchronous speed, being positive for positive slip
and negative for negative slip.

Rt RI XI, Xggr

(a) B0

(a)
R,I X,, X2,

RI Xlgr X3,
x0 ?R
XO
Ru
(b) .~~~~~h
Fig. 1. The simple equivalent circuit.
Paper 71 C 1-IGA, recommended and approved by the Rotating Machinery
(b)
Committee of the IEEE Power Engineering Society for presentation at the 1971 Fig. 2. The additional core loss parameters.
Sixth Annual Meeting of the IEEE Industry and General Applications Group,
Cleveland, Ohio, October 18-23, 1971. Manuscript submitted September 10, 1970;
made available for printing March 28, 1972. Gc Gh + Ges, Rc= Rh + Re/s
1493
Losses Associated with the Leakage Fluxes
Since the leakage fields produce significant flux densities in the
teeth, a small core loss is associated with them. This can be included in
the equivalent circuit by a resistor such as Rh of Figure 2b in parallel
with the leakage reactance. However this is a small effect and it is more
convenient to employ a series equivalent. Again, because the effect is of
second or third order, the loss may be assumed to be due primarily to
hysteresis so that the equivalent primary resistance is proportional to
frequency and the equivalent secondary resistance is numerically
constant, but has the same sign as the slip.
Effect of Saturation on Leakage Reactance
In addition to the incremental losses described above, the relative-
ly large flux densities in the teeth cause the leakage paths to saturate
even though the main flux path is well below the knee of its magnetiza-
tion characteristic [2]. The leakage reactance is therefore reduced as
current increases and this effect can be modelled by the introduction of
a negative reactance parameter. Since slip is used as the independent
variable with the other variable parameters, it is also used with this
one. Also, since the distribution of the leakage reactance between
primary and secondary in the conventional model produces very little
difference in calculated performance, it should be sufficient to model
this effect using only one parameter in the secondary.
The Equivalent Circuit
Based on the above arguments, the equivalent circuit used in this
study is that shown in Figure 3 where Rcl and Rc2 represent the rotor
core losses associated with the main flux, and R107 and R20 represent
the core losses associated with the leakage fluxes. This circuit should be
modified to reflect a different approach to the modelling of second
order effects. It would certainly require modification for situations
where harmonic and skin effects are likely to be significant.
calculated from the parameters with the data measured. There are two
ways in which a digital computer may readily be used to achieve this
end.
The data points can be considered as a known function of speed
or slip and a strategy of least squares curve fitting used to determine
the values of the parameters. This process is especially simple if the
function is a polynomial although other forms are readily solved, the
basic forms of solution being well known [4]. Unfortunately neither
the conventional model of Figure 1 nor the more detailed one of Figure
3 produce a form of input admittance or impedance expression which
is amenable to this approach.
There is, however, an alternate form of the conventional model
[51 which has parameters obtainable from simple linear regression. If
the same transformation is applied to the model of Figure 3 the re-
sulting model is shown in Figure 4 and a, quadratic curve fitting process
yields a set of parameters. Although the model can be used directly in
this form, it suffers from the fact that some of its parameters cannot be
associated directly with physical concepts such as the resistance of a
particular winding or with the leakage flux. It is therefore desirable to
transform this model to the form of Figure 3. Thus this procedure,
although rather cumbersome in many respects, does provide an ana-
lytical solution to the parameter identification problem once the
modified input data has been modelled on the statistical basis of the
quadratic curve fitting process.
The other way in which a digital computer may be used to obtain
a set of parameters which will match the calculated characteristics with
the measured data is to define an error function of the parameters and
minimize it in a process of parameter optimization. Several methods
may be used [6] but only the methods of conjugate gradients [7] and
steepest descent [8] have been used in this study. Since this procedure
does not yield an analytic solution it is prudent to exercise some caution
due to the possibility that it may seek and obtain an undesired turning
point of the error function. The choice of function is to some extent
arbitrary but is likely to be some form of the standard error,

S2 = 1
n
2 (3)

where A is the difference between measured and calculated values. This

study has demonstrated that such a function produces a minimum which
:R, is sufficiently well defined that an initial parameter set based on ex-
S tremely crude interpretation of the input admittance at synchronous
speed and on that when stalled, together with the arbitrary assignment
of initial values to the second order parameters, yields a final set sub-
Fig. 3. The complete equivalent circuit. stantially in agreement with the results of the analytic solution above.

Experimental Procedure
PARAMETER DETERMINATION
The equipment necessary to acquire the data for the computation-
In any process of parameter identification there are two main al procedure must provide means for changing and measuring speed
aspects of the problem which are closely interrelated. These are the while the in-phase and reactive components of current are being
experimental procedure, and the general strategy of computing the measured. If the speed is changed continuously it is desirable that the
parameter values from data obtained by measurement. In general it acceleration be constant in order to simplify the correction for inertia
seems desirable to work with an analytic solution for the parameters, torque. The speed control system should therefore be capable of pro-
but the nature of the model, even in its simplest conventional form, viding either a ramp or a constant value of speed. The terminal voltage
results in sets of nonlinear equations which are usually not written must be monitored continuously and variations in its value kept to a
explicitly, yet nevertheless are made to yield approximate solutions by minimum.
means of judicious simplifications [3]. Also, the adequacy of any set of Speed control of the experimental equipment is by means of a
parameters can only be judged if the experimental procedure has in- Ward-Leonard system whose basic reference is obtained from a chopper
cluded operation over a reasonable range of speeds, preferably including stabilised operational amplifier which can be operated either as an
operation in generating, motoring, and braking modes. Thus the com- integrator or as a simple invertor. A thyristor bridge circuit and a syn-
putational process should be based on data measured in the three modes chronous motor-generator set provide the necessary power amplifica-
of operation, rather than at a limited number of speeds such as no-load tion for the d.c. work machine which provides an excellent ramp of
and stalled. speed whose only defect is a slight change of slope on passing through
the synchronous speed of the induction machine; this is due to hys-
Strategy of Computation teresis in the d.c. machines when the power flow reverses. The work
machine is rated at 7.5 h.p. and may be operated at speeds up to 2500
The essential purpose of the computation is to match a set of data rpm.
1494
 istic change in temperature as the measurements proceed rather than a
random fluctuation about a mean value results in a swing of some of the
characteristics which leads to erroneous results when using the quadratic
curve fit method, especially when starting at a slip of approximately
2.0 rather than near synchronous speed. For the machine used in the
investigation it may be noted that the -effect of a 5C increase in
temperature is to increase the input conductance by 1.25%, and the
torque when stalled by 1%. These are significant errors which are
I;KeJ9 certain to confuse the process of minimizing the error function when
Fig. 4. The modified Morris model.
optimizing the parameters. Thus it is essential to model the variation in
temperature and to compensate for it.

The components of the input current are detected by two sets of The Thermal Model
solid state, chopper type, phase sensitive detectors connected to the Accurate prediction of temperature variations in a rotating ma-
output of three current transformers. One set is switched in phase with chine over a long period of time has been the subject of much investi-
the line-to-neutral voltage, and the other set at a phase of 900, this gation in the past [ 10, 11, 12 ]. A detailed thermal model is complex
phase shift being accomplished by a set of three integrators. The com- and experimental determination of its parameters is lengthy and diffi-
ponents of any one of the three currents or their arithmetic mean are cult [ 13] . However in this case, because of the short time periods in-
then indicated on two d.c. milli-ammeters and there are corresponding volved and the relative constancy of conditions, a simple model in
signals available for recording. which the machine is regarded as a single homogeneous body with
Measurement of torque is accomplished by means of a torque- cooling dependent on speed should be sufficiently accurate. Any errors
meter of the magnetic anisotropy type which has been developed in can be minimized by using cooling curve data measured at two or more
previous projects at McGill University [9]. It is excited at 200 Hz to values of speed to provide the thermal conductance and its speed
reduce the influence of stray 60 Hz fields. dependence, and then iterating the computation of the temperature
All signals derived from the instrumentation are measured by a response to seek the thermal capacitance which matches the calculated
VIDAR digital voltmeter and multiplexer which are controlled by a and measured values of temperature at the end of the measurements.
General Electric model 4020 process control computer. Range, integra- The basic expression for the temperature variation of a homogene-
tion time, and scanning rate are programmed to suit the experimental ous body in which the losses are P watts is
conditions.
The d.c. resistance of the stator winding is measured just before d K
beginning a set of measurements, when the machine is running at the
P =C dt + K (O -'a): (4)
desired initial speed, precautions being taken to eliminate the effects of
remanence induced voltage ripple. At the end of each scan the computer where q is the temperature, ' a the ambient temperature, C the thermal
time count is stored so that the time elapsed between the resistance capacitance and K the thermal conductance. Hence
measurement and the first scan after the machine has been connected to
the supply time for conditions to become steady, the ramp is switched
on or the speed changed point by point and data acquired over the dt C
=
[P-K (-4ba) ] (5)
desired speed range. Since the voltage is low and constant during measurements the losses
Immediately after the last scan the machine is switched off and can be assumed proportional to the square of the
input current, and thus
the d.c. resistance is again measured. The speed is then returned to the
initial value so that it may be changed again over the same range under ==
the same conditions to determine the inertia and friction torque. After KC [i2 - KU (O aO) I (6)
some processing to take account of the ranges used, the data for the
complete run is stored on disc and the procedure repeated, the only where Kc and Ku are the revised thermal constants due to the change of
limit being that imposed by the space available on disc. The data is then variable from power to current. The initial slope of the cooling curve is
retrieved from the disc after the system has been shut down and compu- therefore given by
tation of the parameter values follows.
There are two effects which may cause difficulty with interpreta-
tion of data obtained with this procedure. The normal computation of d)
the characteristics of an induction machine assume that the temperature dto -Kc . Ku (O Oa)
is constant. This is clearly not correct and the d.c. resistance measure- = -Kn (Qo Oa) -
at speed N (7)
ments are taken so that the temperature variation may be estimated by
the method described below. It is also assumed that the machine is = -Ko (¢O - 'a) when stalled
electrically in the steady state. If the speed is being changed continuously
in the form of a ramp, the slope of the ramp must be small enough that The values of Kn and Kn are obtained by direct measurement and the
its electrical effects are negligible. This effect is also considered initial slop of the cooling curve at any other speed n is given by
separately below.
d K N

TEMPERATURE COMPENSATION
K(fOo-a )
=Kg (8)
One feature of this approach to the measurement of the param-
eters is the ability to take a complete set of experimental data in a time
period sufficiently small that the rise in temperature is kept to a reason- This value of K replaces Kc Ku in equation (6) and the change in
able value. It is tempting to conclude that a change of only a few de- temperature during a time interval can be calculated using the mean
grees ought to be negligible. However the fact that there is a determin- value of the square of the current during the interval.
1495
 ACCELERATION EFFECTS

It has been common practice until recently to assume that any

mechanical transient associated with an induction machine would take
place so slowly relative to the resulting electrical transients that
the electrical transients could safely be ignored and the machine re-
garded as being in a quasi-steady-state condition. However, recent S
E
studies [14, 15], have indicated that such a condition does not .C
0
necessarily exist, especially for the common switching-on transient. It
is therefore necessary to establish the errors likely to be introduced by
a ramp of speed, and note the parts of the characteristics which should X
b
be discounted in the modelling process.
The approach used here is to consider the application of a small
perturbation in the form of a ramp to the normal two-axis model trans-
formed to synchronous reference axes. The machine electrical equations
in this reference frame are:

di
v=(R+cFF+wmG)i + L- (9) 0.4
dt
_ 0.11 I_ -.r -
r - -- L- O
where R, F, G and L are respectively the resistance, reference frame,
torque and inductance matrices of the machine, X is the velocity of the Fig. 6. Ras and Xos as functions of slip, initial slip approximately -0.3
rotating reference frame, cim is the rotor velocity and v and i are the * points compensated for temperature variation.
o points uncompensated.
voltage and current matrices. For steady-state conditions
V = (R+Q2F F + 2mG) I (10)
A =-a(R+2FF+SmG)4l GI (15)
I = (R+QFF S+ mG)-I V (11)
B = a (R+tFF+lmG)-l L(R+S2FF+tmG)-l GI
where upper case letters signify the quiescent values for small pertur-
= error in current due to the ramp
bations v, i and
Computer solutions show errors in current which are completely
di
di negligible for the ramps used at all speeds other than very close to
v = (R+SIFF+tZmG)i+ comGI+L (12)
F m m ~~~~~dt synchronous speed. A typical set of results for an acceleration of 100
In this case the perturbation is a ramp of slope a and v = 0 since the
rpm/sec. is shown in Figure 5 for the only range of speed in which the
effect could be appreciable. Even with the extended scale used it is
applied voltage is constant. Thus difficult to see the difference between the points which include the
di effect of the ramp and the curve which is the normal steady-state
(R+QSF F + S2mG) i +L -= -aGlt
dt
(1-3) response. At lower values of ramp slope the effect is, of course, less and
the only points which need be discounted are those at very small values
The steady-state solution has the form of slip.

i = At + B (14) EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

where Tests were carried out on a 4-pole, 3-phase wound rotor induction
motor rated 7.5 h.p. 127 v, 20.4 A per phase. The sliprings were short-
circuited by means of a bolt to ensure consistency in the value of the
rotor resistance. A typical experimental run covered a speed range of
-1800 rpm to +2400 rpm at rates ranging from 12.5 to 50 rpm/sec.,
readings being taken at 100 rpm intervals. The range of supply voltage
was from 20 to 50 v per phase, the-highest value being dictated by the
maximum current available of 50 A. This value of 2.5 times rated was
sufficient to indicate some degree of saturation of the leakage flux paths.
o 0.2 Typical plots of the characteristics R0s and Xas are shown in
E
Figure 6 and 7, the resistive ones being shown with and without temper-
o 0.1 ature compensation. In addition to these curves the stalled torque is
required for the evaluation of R2or. Unfortunately it is impractical to,
'a0.0 measure the stalled torque when the machine is stationary as can be
seen by inspection of Figure 8 which is a reproduction of a measure-
Speed (r/min) ment of stalled torque as a function of shaft position. It is therefore
-0.1
necessary to extrapolate the torque-speed curve, Figure 9, from both
sides of zero speed noting that there is a discontinuity due to Coulomb
-0.2
friction. The apparent oscillatory torque at low speeds is due to me-
chanical difficulties in the alignment of the shafts. The effect is the
-0.3
same when the machines are unexcited and becomes troublesome only
Fig. 5. Effect of a ramp on the input admittance. when the machine is operated at low voltages which result in small
1496
 0-8 T r 3.2
5.00 Ta
0.74 2.8 3.75 S

odT -2.4 2.50 I-

60
E 5
*1.25 A
-Co 0.5- I 2.0 E
o

'o 0.4 1.6 '-

8OO 9oo 0 900 I800
Speed r/mit)
crM b
1.2 X Fig. 9. Shaft torque vs speed.
, 6S
0.24
/~~~~~~~ 0.8
(RI + Rg,) X1o, X2, X3ISI R2drSI
0.1 .0.4
R0
-r - Ia I
0.4 0 a2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1:2 1.4 1.6

-0.i -L
Slip ( . per unit) I -0.4
Fig. 7. R~,s and X,s as functions of slip, initial slip approximately 2.0. Fig. 10. The 8 parameter model.
* points compensated for temperature variation.
a points uncompensated

developed torques. At higher speeds this effect can be filtered but it is

impractical to do so at the lowest speeds and therefore the measured obtained after five searches are shown. The sets of parameter values
torques in this region are unreliable. after the five searches are shown in Table 2. The effect of using the value
Comparison of calculated and measured values for the purpose of of the stalled torque interpolated directly from the data, or of using a
error function minimization is based on the input conductance and value obtained from the X-Y plot of Figure 9, or of ignoring the stalled
susceptance. To make the value of the function more meaningful, the torque in the error function can be seen. In general these are not the
minima of the error function which can be further reduced although
differences are expressed as a ratio of the admittance corresponding to
full scale deflection of the ammeters. An alternate form in which the convergence may be slow. For example, the 8-parameter model F in
Table I having an error of 0.68% after 5 searches has an error of 0.67%
differences are expressed as a ratio of the measured value is also mean-
ingful and has been used successfully. Since the stalled torque is used after 10 searches, and it is the results of this model which are shown in
in the quadratic curve fit method it can also be included in the error
Figure 11. The parameters, in ohms at 60 Hz normalized to 50 C, of
this model are
function. However it is then a small component and makes only a small
difference to the final result, this being primarily in the value of the
stator resistance, (RI + Rla)
R1 = 0.2045
The results regarding the core loss parameters Rcd and Rc2 are Rio = 0.0061 xla = 0.5580
rather inconclusive in that although there is a tendency to reduce the R2 = 0.2941
value of the error function, it is quite insensitive to the values of Rc1
and Rc2 and therefore the optimization process is unable to change R2a = 0.0340 X2a = 0.5579
them from their initial arbitrary values. Most of the computation has x3 = 0.0093
therefore been done with the 8-parameter model of Figure 10 and Ro = 1.0592 Xo = 16.0998
comparison made with the conventional 6-parameter model of Figure
lb. the average value of the terminal voltage for these measurements being
A summary of the errors corresponding to different models is 30.2 volts per phase. The parameters vary somewhat with the voltage
shown in Table 1. The errors for several possible initial models and those level. The most significant changes are in the leakage reactances XI,

5.0 -

I.0.
a

.U)
o 2.5
I-

90 ISO 270 360

Shoft Position C degrees)
Fig. 8. Stalled torque vs rotor position.
1497
 TABLE I 0.6 T

Comparison of Mean Errors of Different Models

Conductnce.
8-parameter Initial Mean Mean Error after 0.2
model Error (%) 5 Searchers (%) 6
I I -
A 12.75 1.28 -1600 -800 : 0 sbo 1600 240D0
Speed (r/min)
B 2.32 0.98 - 0.2
C 2.97 0.65 <
D 0.89 0.59 -0.4]
E 3.88 1.06
F 1.32 0.68 -0.6
6-parameter model
SuSepf 000
A 13.12 1.88 -0. -

B 3.05 1.79
C 2.77 1.26 - 1.O-
D 1.53 0.59 Fig. 11. Input admittance vs speed.
A Initial model based on crude interpretation of data at synchronous
and zero speeds.
B Initial model incorporating common refinements to the interpreta-
tion of the zero speed data [3]
C Same as B, but value of stalled torque obtained from X-Y plot of
Figure 9 is used.
D Same as B, but stalled torque is not included in the error function.
E Result of quadratic curve fit used as initial model.
F Same as E, but value of stalled torque obtained from X-Y plot of
Figure 9 is used. IL. 6.

and X2, and RIa, R2c, and X3. There being approximately a 6% re- p
U.
duction in the leakage reactances, and a doubling of the values of RIO -
and X3over the range 20 to 50 v. These changes undoubtedly reflect 0

the onset of saturation of the leakage flux paths and will become more
pronounced as the voltage level is increased. Unfortunately the limited
current capacity of our equipment did not permit the use of voltages
higher than 50 i.e. 40% of rated voltage.
Final comparison is shown in Figure 12 using the input current
and power factor. Comparison of developed torque is shown in Figure
13 and it can be seen that if allowance is made for the effect of the
oscillatory torque at low speeds by extrapolating a smooth curve from
the points at higher speeds, the agreement is very good at zero speed
since the stray loss torque is zero. At other values of speed the differ-
ences appear to be typical of the stray losses in a machine of this size
and type.
The cost of determining a model using a parameter optimization
technique is clearly dependent on the number of searches required to
-1600 800 2400
Spe*d tr/min)
Fig. 12. Current and power factor vs speed.
yield an acceptable model. If convergence is slow, as is often the case, it
is unlikely that it is justifiable to continue the search process until the
actual minimum is found. The 8-parameter model generally results in
better agreement than the 6-parameter model, but it must be borne in
mind that each 8-parameter search takes more time than a 6-parameter
search and is therefore slightly more expensive. Although there is some
difference in the time per search, approximate figures for the IBM

TABLE 11

Parameter Values at End of 5 Searches

8-parameter
model
(R1 +RI 0) X1a x20 X3 X0
A 0.2015 0.2956 0.0599 1.051 0.5527 0.6055 0.0396 16.11
B 0.1967 0.3014 0.0449 1.051 0.5606 0.5601 0.013 1 16.10
C 0.2070 0.2950 0.0325 1.051 0.5615 0.5612 0.0155 16.10
D 0.2120 0.2905 0.0298 1.051 0.5601 0.5601 0.0147 16.10
E 0.1907 0.3001 0.0449 1.059 0.5562 0.5558 0.0078 16.10
F 0.2106 0.2945 0.0335 1.059 0.5581 0.5580 0.0093 16.10
6-parameter model
A 0.2004 0.3274 1.051 0.5362 0.5353 16.11
B 0.1985 0.3296 1.05 1 0.5392 0.5396 16.11
C 0.2067 0.3156 1.051 0.5427 0.5434 16.11
D 0.2337 0.2983 1.051 0.5521 0.5530 16.11
1498
 6-
4-
2-
-1600 -800 0 800
Speed Cr/min)
1600 240'
z -2
-4t+
-6t
Calculated N Values
- - - Measured V,alues
-8-
%s-v
Fig. 13. Developed torque vs speed.
360-75 system used in 'this study are 2.5 seconds for the 6-parameter
model, 3 seconds for the 8-parameter model and 3.5 seconds for the
10-parameter model. A typical run of five searches costs approximately
$4.00. The remainder of the program in which the data is prepared, the
temperature variations computed and the data and results are printed
requires approximately 5 seconds.
CONCLUSIONS
The feasibility and conditions required for the use of optimization
techniques as an aid to induction machine parameter identification have
been established. All the results shown were obtained using the method
of conjugate gradients and some have been checked using a more
simple algorithm based on the method of steepest descent.
Although the current capacity of the apparatus limited the ex-
perimental investigation to a maximum of 40% of rated voltage the
trend in the results indicates that these techniques could be successfully
applied at higher voltages.
The success in determining a particular complex circuit model for
a wound rotor induction motor illustrates the value of the experimental
and computational techniques for a wide variety of machine parameter
identification problems. Naturally the sophistication of the model is
strongly influenced by the ability of the experimental apparatus to
gather reliable data over a wide operating range. The regression analysis
of such data presents no difficulty to a medium sized computer and is
relatively inexpensive.
The use of an automatic data acquisition system in addition to
digital computation facilities enables the parameter values to be ob-
tained relatively quickly, especially if a ramp velocity source is available.
However it is necessary to estimate the temperature variations and to
acknowledge the impossibility of repeating a measurement at an in-
dividual point which is apparently in error. One way in which the
effect of such errors can be reduced is to repeat the set of measure-
ments with a view to averaging the resulting parameter values; this is
not difficult as the time required to acquire four sets of data such as
the one shown is less than one hour, although it does significantly in-
crease the cost of computation. Another way is to arrange the program-
ming to ignore such points in the computation of the error function,
this procedure being required in any case for the points very close to
synchronous speed (Isl< 0.01) at which the ramp may have an appreci-
able effect on the current. It is also necessary to avoid continuation of
the reduction of the error function below a value justified by the errors
in the instrumentation, at which point the parameter values start to
model these instrumentation errors in addition to the performance of
the machine. This is the main reason for the choice of error function to
correspond to the normal form of expressing the error of the instru-
1499
ments used. Nevertheless if the optimisation is stopped after the same
number of searches, the parameter values seem to be independent of
the function used.
The most important consideration in the choice of error function
is the inclusion of the stalled torque. Although the 6-parameter model
D in Table I, obtained without the inclusion of the stalled torque,
appears to give a small and therefore satisfactory error, the fact that
RIla is 18% of R 'suggests that this model may not really be satisfactory
and this has been confirmed by observing that the stray loss torques im-
plied are quite unreasonable. Unfortunately inspection of Table II makes
it clear that unless the stalled torque is very-precisely known, both the
clear that unless the stalled torque is very precisely known, both the
6-parameter and 8-parameter models may yield values of RI which
are negative. However the 8-parameter model D is very close to the
model obtained directly from the quadratic curve fit method, using
the best estimate of the stalled torque, in which the parameter RIa is
obtained indirectly from the stalled torque, the difference in the two
calculated values being less than 1%. It therefore seems reasonable to
conclude that, provided the model includes a parameter which is
capable of matching the calculated and measured values of stalled
torque, it is unnecessary to include it in the error function.
Thus the parameters of the 8-parameter model may be obtained
from an optimization process in which the initial parameter set is ob-
tained by conventional interpretation of the input admittance at syn-
chronous and zero speeds, and the arbitrary assignment of reasonable
values to those additional parameters modeling second order effects,
but without the necessity of an accurate measurement of the stalled
torque. The only additional information required is that for the thermal
model and is readily obtained from two short-term cooling curves.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to McGill
University for the provision of experimental and computational facili-
ties, to the National Research Council of Canada for financial support
and Professor P. J. Zsombor-Murray and Mr. L. J. Vroomen of the
McGill University Data Aquisition Centre.
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